The Most Overhyped Foreign-Born Players in NBA History

Image via Complex Original

Country: France
Team(s): Boston Celtics, Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets, Toronto Raptors, New Jersey Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers
Career stats: 2.7 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 0.3 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.5 BPG

While there wasn't much talent to speak of in the 2000 NBA draft, the Celtics probably could've done a lot better than Jerome Moiso. They used the No. 11 overall pick on him, but after just one year sent him off to Charlotte because it was clear that he could not actually play basketball. Moiso was supposed to anchor the frontcourt for the future, but instead quickly became something more akin to dead weight. His horrible rebounding and blocking numbers reflect a big man who actually plays small, something that no NBA team ever needs.

Country: Czech Republic

Team(s): Washington Wizards, Denver Nuggets

Career stats: 3.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 0.6 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.5 BPG

The unequivocal highlight of Jan Vesely's NBA career was draft night in 2011, when the world was introduced to his stunningly beautiful girlfriend and Washington drafted him No. 6 overall ahead of the likes of Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson. It was pretty much all downhill from there for the former Wizard, who failed to actually do any of the things they drafted him for like “score” or “rebound.” After a brief stint with the Nuggets last season, he signed with Fenerbache of the Turkish league this summer.

Country: Yugoslavia
Team(s): Chicago Bulls, Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks
Career stats: 11.6 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG

OK, so how is it possible that a guy who won three rings and a Sixth Man of the Year award in 1996 counts as overhyped? It doesn’t really have anything to do with how Toni Kukoc played in the NBA, and instead is about how he played in Europe. Kukoc was basically the Michael Jordan of his era, winning countless championships in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and also taking home numerous individual awards. The expectations when he came over here were that he was going to be nearly on Jordan’s level, and indeed functionally replace him following MJ's first retirement. Kukoc never quite got on that level, but nevertheless had a strong NBA career.

Country: Jamaica
Team(s): Atlanta Hawks, New Jersey Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns
Career stats: 7.6 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 3.5 APG, 0.9 SOG, 0.2 BPG

Rumeal Robinson qualifies for this list because he was actually born in Jamaica, although he went to high school and college in the United States. He became a national sensation after hitting two of the most clutch free-throws in college basketball history to help lead a Cinderella Michigan squad to the 1989 NCAA title, and was selected No. 10 overall by the Atlanta Hawks in 1990. He never lived up to the expectations set on him after his college heroics though, and he bounced around to six different teams over the course of his very brief pro career.

Country: St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Team(s): Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic, Memphis Grizzlies
Career stats: 4.1 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 0.5 APG, 0.4 SPG, 1.6 BPG

The Warriors drafted Adonal Foyle instead of Tracy McGrady in 1997. How long do we think it took them to regret that? A week? Maybe two? While Foyle went on to have a pretty long NBA career and to make a lot of money given his ability, he never really was anything other than a backup. That's certainly not what you want out of the No. 8 overall pick in the draft, and qualifies him as one of the great draft flops of the last two decades.

Country: Brazil

Team(s): Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz

Career stats: 2.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 0.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.1 BPG

This one was hard to see coming, given Araujo’s excellent college career at BYU. He had been named Mountain West player of the year in his sophomore year, and at 6’ 11” had the kind of size that teams salivate over. The Raptors decided in 2004 that the Brazilian was worth taking at No. 8 overall instead of guys like Andre Iguodala, Al Jefferson, and Josh Smith, and almost immediately surely regretted that decision. Araujo lasted just three years in the NBA, played a few years abroad, and has already retired.

Country: Senegal
Team(s): Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, New Jersey Nets, Charlotte Bobcats
Career stats: 2.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 0.4 APG, 0.4 SPG, 1.0 BPG

Before LeBron James arrrived in 2003, the Cavaliers basically couldn't do anything right in the draft. In 2001, they used their No. 8 overall pick on DeSagana Diop, a seven footer whom they had hoped would be their center for the next decade. They had hoped that, like Hakeem Olajuwon, Diop would only improve as he began to refine his game at the pro level after learning how to play at age 15. While he never quite developed into a lineup fixture like Cleveland had hoped, he has enjoyed a solid career and is currently still playing.

Country: France
Team(s): New York Knicks
Career stats: N/A

It's never a good thing when your signature moment is being on the receiving end of one of the greatest in-game dunks in the history of the sport. Frederic Weis’ victimization during the 2000 Olympics punctuated what was already a non-existent future as an NBA player. The Knicks had used the No. 15 overall pick to get him in 1999, even though Weiss was unsure if he was even willing to come to America. He never did, and the Chicago Bulls took Ron Artest with the next pic, solidifying what was already a disastrous sequence of events for New York.

Country: Poland
Team(s): Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Hornets, Houston Rockets
Career stats: 3.4 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 0.3 APG, 0.1 SPG, 0.2 BPG

Everyone should've known something was up when Maciej Lampe was projected as a potential top five pick in the 2003 NBA draft, yet somehow slid into the second round. The Knicks grabbed him at No. 30 anyway, and quickly realized why everyone else was passing on him. The 6’ 11” center/power forward didn't have much power in his game, providing little paint presence to speak of. As a result, Lampe never actually played in a game for the Knicks, instead getting sent over to Phoenix in a trade and bouncing around to numerous other teams before falling out of the league entirely in 2006 at age 20.

Country: Georgia
Team(s): Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns
Career stats: 2.9 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.3 BPG

There was plenty of talent in the 2002 draft available at No. 5. Amare Stoudemire and Caron Butler were both still on the board, but the Nuggets decided that neither of those guys were worth the risk. Instead, they took Nikoloz Tskitishvili, a big man who played small and who had a decent but unspectacular international career in Italy. He had played for coach Mike D’Antoni overseas, however, and D’Antoni had just joined the Nuggets organization before the draft, which in turn led to the pick. Predictably, this move flopped spectacularly, and Tskitishvili lasted just four years in the NBA.

Country: China
Team(s): Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards, Dallas Mavericks
Career stats: 7.9 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.7 BPG

We’ll say this about Yi’s NBA career: the chair simply could not guard him. Unfortunately, the same is not true when Yi went up against real humans after being drafted No. 6 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2008. A seven footer with supposedly elite skills around the basket, he was simply overpowered by anybody he tried to go up against. Yi bounced around to four different teams—including a stint in the D league in 2012—before returning to play in his native China.

Country: Tanzania
Team(s): Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City Thunder
Career stats: 2.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 0.1 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.8 BPG

Anyone who watched Hasheem Thabeet play at UConn could tell you that there were few more dominant shot blockers in college basketball. But what happens when you go up against guys who are used to playing against guys who are 7’ and above? How do you adjust and remain elite? That is a question that Thabeet still cannot answer, and it's the reason why he has bounced all over the NBA since being drafted at No. 2 overall in 2009. He was let go by the Detroit Pistons on Monday, and may be out of luck in his NBA career.

Country: Spain
Team(s): Minnesota Timberwolves
Career stats: 10.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 8.1 APG, 2.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG

The Minnesota Timberwolves moved heaven and earth to get Ricky Rubio over to the United States, drafting him at No. 5 overall in 2009 and stashing him in Spain until 2011, when he finally agreed to come and play for Minnesota. While Rubio hasn't been bad since he's been in the states, we are still waiting to see the guy who was supposed to be arguably the best point guard under the age of 22 in the entire world. His shooting, in particular, has been frightful, as he supports a career field goal percentage of .368.

Country: Nigeria
Team(s): Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics
Career stats: 8.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.4 BPG

The burden of being the No. 1 overall pick in the draft is significant. To have to be the No. 1 overall pick for the Los Angeles Clippers, at the nadir of their existence? Unthinkable. But these are the circumstances Michael Olowokandi was facing in 1998. It also didn't help that, coming out of the University of the Pacific, he was used to being a big fish in a very little pond. It wasn't that he didn't belong in the NBA; he actually enjoyed a long and entirely decent career. It just doesn't make a lot of sense as to why LA thought he could be a franchise player.

Country: Serbia

Team(s): Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics

Career stats: 6.0 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.4 SPG, 1.3 BPG

It's kind of hard to see anybody taking this title away from Darko. When you're drafted over multiple future Hall of Famers, you better be good, or at least have a decent career. Darko was a spectacular failure in every sense, enjoying only one or two mediocre seasons among a sea of bad ones. He finally ended his NBA journey in 2012, playing exactly one game for the Celtics before returning home permanently and launching what will likely be a comically bad kickboxing career.