The 15 Most Disappointing NBA Players This Season

As the NBA regular season enters its final few weeks, playoff spots and MVP votes are primed for allocation. Teams like the Rockets and Warriors have exceeded pretty much everyone's preseason expectations, but within those squads are not only surefire MVP candidates, but massive disappointments as well. David Lee, Trevor Ariza, and Dwight Howard have produced way under their pay-grades and projections. Whether it's a genuine regression, an injury-riddled campaigned, or a square-peg-in-a-round-hole situation, these real-life sad emojis have hurt their teams and betrayed their own standards this season.

Check out who else didn't have the 2014-15 they imagined in The 15 Most Disappointing NBA Players This Season​.

Team(s): Cavaliers

Statline: 64 G, 16.8 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.5 BPG, 19.34 PER

Kevin Love’s role on the Cavaliers doesn’t mirror what Kevin Love sees in himself as an NBA player. “I heard some people calling me that but I know I’m not a stretch-four. I’m a post player who can shoot,” he told Cleveland.com. “Right now, I’m just doing what I’m called to do. For good, bad, or indifferent, I’m playing my role and doing what’s asked of me.”

You can sense Love’s disappointment in himself, and how this season has individually shaped up for him. When he came to Cleveland, he saw himself as a top 10 player—a superstar who wants to, and is perfectly capable of, putting up 25 points a night and shooting the ball as much as he pleased. Kyrie Irving’s wrecked all of that. Irving's become LeBron’s running mate, his No. 2—Love’s been Bosh’d, bruh. Kevin Love is far too pretty to be Bosh’d.

Like Bosh in Miami, he’s resigned to the corners on many offensive sets, rotating off the ball waiting for a catch-and-shoot opportunity. Per NBA.com, Love’s catch-and-shoot frequency is up 10.3 percent this season, and he’s attempting 8.7 percent more trey’s from catch-and-shoot situations. Love’s one of the league’s best post-up players and offensive rebounders, yet recently acquired center Timofey Mozgov is the man who’s scoring inside. Love might be facing a Bates Motel level identity crisis right now. Kevin, your post-up game will always be with you. It comes with the territory of being LeBron’s third option (the best damn third option LeBron’s ever had, BTW), but anytime a star player’s scoring average topples by 8 PPG while his minutes in the fourth quarter are also falling, he’s going to feel sad. Love is sad:

Team(s): Bulls
Statline: 55 G, 7.5 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 4.4 APG, 1.2 BPG, 15.37 PER

When Pau Gasol came to Chicago last summer by way of Carlos Boozer, the Bulls were positive about getting an upgrade at the power forward spot. Gasol is good, Boozer is not. Simple. As it turns out, Gasol is still really good, and Boozer is way worse than anyone could’ve imagined. Stuck in-between is Joakim Noah. While a handful of his teammates took leaps forward this season (Jimmy Butler’s scoring jumped over 7 PPG, Derrick Rose and his usage rate came back, Taj Gibson’s more out here than ever, and Gasol is back, baby), Noah’s individual game has suffered as a result. He’s been forced to take a backseat to the action. Nagging back and leg injuries have limited his playing time as well.

Noah’s scoring average, shooting percentage, rebounding, and assisting are all down from last season’s career year. Centers who shoot a career-low 43 percent from the field are worrying, especially when they’re on the least amount of shots per game since their sophomore season. The Bulls, formerly dependent on Noah’s passing and creative abilities in the absence of Rose, simply have other, better options to score points through now. Noah’s defense and rebounding are still as invaluable to the Bulls as ever, but this has undoubtedly been a trying season for him on the court and on the trainer’s table.

Team(s): Pelicans

Statline: 52 G, 14.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.6 SPG, 16.62 PER

Ryan Anderson’s slumping this year. On his night, he’s the deadliest stretch-4 in the game from three. He’s 6’10” and shoots the trey at 38 percent on his career. Anderson’s nice with the ratchet, and he was coming off career-highs in three-point percentage and scoring average. His shot’s been stuck in gear this season though. He’s chucking up too many goose eggs from three-point range, averaging a career-low 34 percent. He shot 24 percent from three in February before going down with an MCL sprain.

Maybe some time away from the court will allow him to refocus and get his timing back, or whatever he needs to start shooting the ball with the same reckless abandon and success that we’ve seen from him before. Or maybe he’ll need the summer to put his shot back together. This season’s just about lost, anyway.

Team(s): Thunder, Pistons

Statline: 60 G, 13.1 PPG, 4.8 APG, 4.1 RPG, 0.8 SPG, 15.28 PER

Only 18 games to paydirt. Or really, getting paid dirt. At the trade deadline, Reggie Jackson forced a trade to become a starter for the Detroit Pistons after rejecting a 4-year/$48 million contract extension to remain a backup with the Thunder. His market value, to this point, has been set at $12 million a year. This summer, he’ll be eligible for a maximum contract of $17 million a year. Before the trade, there could've been some team out there desperate enough to throw somewhere near that figure at Jackson. The cap's going up and all, so screw it, right? A rising tide rises all boats. Not anymore. Jackson's is capsizing. There’s no chance he'll even be able to ask for anything close to $17 million, and given how he’s played as the Pistons’ starting point guard thus far, he’s not getting $12 million a year this summer either.

Since the trade and subsequent promotion, Jackson’s only making 0.9 more shots per game, but he’s taking over four more attempts. His assist to turnover ratio hasn’t budged, but that’s fine—it was decent in OKC, and with starter’s minutes in Detroit, he’s out here averaging 7.3 dimes as a Piston. Jackson’s got 18 games to sort out his shooting and flip the double-bird at the Thunder. Right now, however, he’s only proven that he’s not entirely ready to make the leap as a starter. That’s okay—he’s 24-years-old and clearly an ambitious type—but Stan van Gundy has quite a bit of melding and molding to do with Jackson before he’s worth a $48 million deal.

Team(s): Warriors

Statline: 36 G, 8.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.6 BPG, 19.68 PER

David Lee is making $15 million this season, and he’ll make another $15 million next. He’s averaged 11.3 MPG in March, down from 17.5 MPG in February, which was down from 21.5 MPG in January. Three makes a trend, no? These days, Lee only fits in with the Warriors’ third unit. After suffering a hamstring injury in the preseason, he lost his starting power forward job to Draymond Green, and has been gently sliding down the Warriors’ totem poll since. He’s gone from averaging 18.1 PPG and 9.6 RPG to barely getting enough minutes to get off a shot.

Under Steve Kerr, Harrison Barnes is preferred to Lee as a backup 4, and Marreese Speights​ and Festus Ezeli split minutes between center and forward in the Warriors’ second unit. The Warriors run and shoot at all times—inserting Lee into any lineup slows the pace, takes a shooter off the floor, and leaves the backdoor open on defense. He could easily average 20 and 10 in the right offense, but this Warriors team can’t allow Lee the post-ups and touches he’d need for his statline to reflect his paycheck. Lee hasn’t been a backup since 2007, and this time next year, he’ll likely be starting again for someone else—anywhere else but the Bay.

Team(s): Rockets

Statline: 65 G, 12.3 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.9 SPG, 11.97 PER

Why won’t the Rockets learn to NOT pay Trevor Ariza? He played his best ball in New Orleans and Washington, but on a contract that he had originally signed with the Rockets (5-years/$34 million). He was traded to the Pelicans after his first season in Houston, and then onto the Wizards. Last summer, he scored another huge deal from the Rockets as a free agent: an annual pay increase of $1.2 million in the form of a 4-year/$32 million contract.

He’s rewarded Daryl Morey’s Ariza soft-spot by shooting a career-low 38 percent. His numbers are down across the board, and he’s getting to the rim less all while taking (and missing!) a career-high in three-pointers. Ariza should really just stop shooting, but teams don’t pay $8 million in salary to threes who can’t score. That’s unfortunate, because his 35 minutes a night of defense are key to the Rockets. He’s a predator on the wing, with his length helping make up for an undersized Rockets frontline. Ariza’s averaging a career-high in steals, which is great and all, but he’s costing the Rockets more possessions than he should be because of his inefficient shooting.

Make him put a quarter in the jar for every bad shot he takes, whether it goes in or not. Just do anything but let him keep shooting the ball, Kevin McHale. Please make it stop.

Team(s): Nuggets, Trail Blazers

Statline: 62 G, 13.9 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.6 SPG, 11.23 PER

As terrible as the Denver Nuggets have shaken out to be, Arron Afflalo’s ended up worse off. After averaging 18.2 PPG, 3.6 RPG, and 3.4 APG on an efficient 46 percent shooting last season in Orlando, he returned to Denver on a 5-year/$36 million deal this year to inject some sharpshooting wing play into a fast team. Afflalo, however, saw his shooting opportunities and touches decline this season, making him subject to the bouts of really stinky streakiness that he’s become now known for.

The Nuggets shipped him off to Portland at the trade deadline. Brought in as a bench scorer, an injury to Wesley Matthews has pushed Afflalo into the starting five. A classic dribble, drive, and pull-up wingman, Afflalo's an awkward insertion into that offense. He's not capable of taking advantage of the looks Matthews was getting in their system. Afflalo’s never been a particularly strong catch-and-shoot guy, while Matthews took more and made more catch-and-shoot three-point looks this season than Afflalo ever has. He’s going to struggle to find a groove in that offense, and if his 31 percent shooting in March is any indication, that struggle shooter life will carry on for Afflalo into the postseason.

Team(s): Clippers

Statline: 56 G, 6.6 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.9 BPG, 11.06 PER

The Clippers were kinda counting on Spencer Hawes to patch up their second-unit problems. Right now, as it has been for eons it feels, Jamal Crawford is the only man who can come off the bench on that team and score. Perhaps Nate Robinson can help now that he's under Doc again. The Clips signed Hawes to a 4-year/$23 million contract last summer after he put up a strong season split between Cleveland and Philadelphia. He shot the three-ball at over 40 percent, and rebounded well for a deadly perimeter big. I mean, 7’1”, shoots the three, rebounds at around 8 per game, capable of giving you 30 minutes—what a steal!

Nope. Hawes’ three-point accuracy has tanked over 10 percent, his rebounding opportunities are nonexistent since he’s now just a stretch-4 and nothing else, and his confidence seems shot. Let’s see how far the Clippers can go now that they’re only six or seven players deep. Hawes is a $6 million seventh or eighth man on 19.1 MPG. Dammit, GM Doc!

Team(s): Pelicans

Statline: 37 G, 15.2 PPG, 7.1 APG, 3.5 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 18.71 PER

Dang, Jrue Holiday. He’s out injured, again. It’s again, too bad, because he’s got a chance to be a really damn good NBA point guard. Just being on a team where you’re the second-best player to Anthony Davis is an accomplishment, and for Holiday, that’s certainly within reach.

But for a second straight season, Holiday’s suffering from a leg injury. Acquired on draft day in 2013 for two first round picks (that ended up being Nerlens Noel and Elfrid Payton), Holiday has yet to play more than a half-season for the Pelicans. They’re almost halfway through their 4-year/$41 million investment, and what they’ve seen from Holiday hasn’t even been as good as his final season in Philadelphia. As an underperforming asset also suffering from injury, he’s close to wandering into Eric Gordon territory, and as Eric Gordon will tell you now, you don’t wanna be there, man. Here’s hoping he gets back in shape and gives Davis someone worthwhile to run pick-and-roll with.

Team(s): Rockets

Statline: 32 G, 16.3 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.4 BPG, 18.17 PER

Do the Rockets even need Dwight Howard anymore? Any team can use a 6’11” big who can still get up and down (vertically, and end-to-end) as well as Howard does, but as a prospective 30-year-old center on a max contract, he can’t be all that attractive to GM Daryl Morey right now. What’s more concerning: Howard hasn’t played a completely healthy season in arguably four years. A player who missed a total of seven games in his first eight NBA seasons has been surgically repaired, consistently sore, and underperforming in his last four seasons.

Even worse: Terrence Jones, 2012’s D-League revelation, has been filling in admirably in Howard’s absence. In fact, the Rockets might be better off with Jones. At 6’9”, he’s an undersized replacement for Howard, but the early results have been very favorable. So far, the Rockets are 11-5 with Jones, and are better defensively. On offense, Jones’ outside shooting ability gives the the NBA’s third fastest team even more speed and spacing. Chucking the ball into Howard every few possessions runs against how the Rockets want to play—Jones seems intent on filling that stretch-4 role the team had envisioned for Chris Bosh last summer.

Kevin McHale will probably slide Howard right back into the starting lineup once he’s healthy, but that may be just to save face. In the NBA, it’s not about who starts games, but who finishes them. If Jones starts seeing more fourth quarter time than Howard, the writing could be on the wall for him in Houston.

Team(s): Knicks

Statline: 40 G, 24.3 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.0 SPG, 21.82 PER

I don’t want to write about the Knicks in 2015. Not until the ping pong balls are pulled, at least. The Knicks suck, and nothing’s changed since we last visited their suckiness in December. But allow me to add one final point on the season, its expectations, and where Carmelo Anthony falls into all of this.

Let’s start with where the Knicks are at right now. They’re the worst offensive team in basketball, can’t do anything but foul when drivers find a lane, and maybe two or three of the guys playing for the team right now will be around next year. One-legged Melo shut it down after the All-Star game.

A healthier Melo said he thought the Knicks would be a playoff team this year. In September, he told Newsday, “I don't think we will have another season like we had last year. I believe that we will make the playoffs. I think we will have a much better season than we did last year. As far as putting a number on the games we want to win, it's hard to say that right now. But I believe we will be in the postseason.”

Well, the Knicks won 37 games last year, so Melo’s once again, wrong about his preseason win prediction. They’ve got 13 now!

Phil Jackson chimed in a month after Melo’s psychic abilities spoke up. “We believe we’re going to be a playoff team,” he told AP.

This year’s on Melo, guys. The Knicks were trash even with him hobbling around, doing the best he could to make some offense happen. These rose-colored shades don’t fit the Knicks well. Melo and Phil sold Knicks fans some thick smoke six months ago. Thirteen wins is the current ROI. I’m selling until the draft.

Team(s): Lakers

Statline: 35 G, 22.3 PPG, 5.6 APG, 5.7 RPG, 1.3 SPG, 17.77 PER

Let’s not sugarcoat this shit: Kobe Bryant’s having a crummy season. He's out for the season, again. The Lakers have 17 wins, Nick Young is leading the charge, and they’re on track to finish with less than 30 wins in back-to-back years for the first time in team history. Kobe’s Lakers are about to finish the season as the worst Lakers team since their move to Los Angeles. And I say “Kobe’s Lakers,” because the team really is his. He didn’t pick the sorry ass squad he has around him—the Buss children have contributed their fair share of terribleness since their father’s passing—but given that Kobe’s making $23,500,000 million this season and $25,000,000 in 2015-2016, the Lakers are bound to Kobe’s nuts until they can rid his cap number and use that space on someone who deserves it. Until then, Kobe can enjoy rocking out into the sunset with Swaggy P, Bob Sacre, and that asshole Rajon Rondo (if he comes to L.A.).

He’s played 41 games in two years, shooting 37 percent over that half-season of ball. He’s perpetually banged up. He’s a guaranteed loser under the guaranteed years he has left on his contract. He’d probably be the 3rd or 4th best player on a championship roster anyway. It’s not Kobe’s individual downfall that’s so disappointing. That’s expected with age—Father Time wins eventually. It’s that he’s got nobody around him to care for him now that he’s old, and that it’s his own damn fault. There's no young buck in training (best of luck to Julius Randle tho) to keep Kobe's Visions of the 6th alive. As frightening as a post-Kobe Lakers is to fans, what’s scarier is that Kobe’s set to close his career as grumpy and lonely as Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino—although Kobe probably wouldn’t have it any other way. Except, of course, for the whole winning less than 20 games thing.

Team(s): Bulls

Statline: 46 G, 18.4 PPG, 5.0 APG, 3.1 RPG, 0.7 SPG, 16.11 PER

Last weekend, a mural in Chicago was dedicated to Derrick Rose's knees. It was trashed hours after being put up. That should tell you all you need to know about the sorry state of D. Rose. He had his first knee surgery in 2012, and has yet to really get over that first one. The next two were just cruel. He's played 56 regular season games since tearing his ACL the first time, and while healthy, has struggled for form, rhythm, and more than just flashes of his 2010-2011 MVP season. Get well soon, D. Rose.

Team(s): Celtics, Mavericks

Statline: 31 G, 9.3 PPG, 6.1 APG, 4.5 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 13.19 PER

Rajon Rondo’s having about as bad of a contract year as one can have. He’s got enough of his health back to potentially play more than 60 games for the first time since 2010-2011, but there’s been a killer deal with the devil here: In return, Rondo’s shooting has fallen off a cliff, particularly his free-throw shooting. He’s had a few months as a below 40 percent shooter, but in Dallas right now, he’s only hitting 29 percent of his free-throws. Twenty-nine percent! Absolutely pathetic, no? DeAndre Jordan’s free-throw shooting has never been that bad.

The Dallas version of Rajon Rondo—the one that’s driving his career into a ditch—needs to die. Get him out of there. We want this Rajon Rondo back. The one who carried the corpses of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett further than they should’ve gone in the 2012 Playoffs. The Rondo who dropped 44 points in the Eastern Conference Finals, stood up to Miami’s Juggernaut for seven games, and forced one the best elimination game performances you’ll ever see out of LeBron James.

Maybe Rondo just needs to be on a great team again to conjure great play out of himself. Maybe he’s just damaged goods at this point. Either way, there’ll probably be a handful of teams betting on the former this summer. In the meantime, this season can’t end soon enough for Rondo.

Team(s): Hornets

Statline: 49 G, 8.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 4.6 APG, 0.7 SPG, 9.23 PER

This season's been a complete disaster for the Charlotte Hornets, and Lance Stephenson epitomizes the team's failures. Signed to a $9 million a year contract this summer, Stephenson was low-hanging fruit at the trade deadline. Not even Billy King, the worst GM New York City basketball's ever seen, wanted to take on Stephenson's awful statline and uglier-by-the-night contract. The Hornets basically offered Stephenson to the Nets for Free-Ninety-Nine, and King passed! That's how bad of a year it has been for Lance Stephenson. His shooting's fallen off as badly as Rajon Rondo's—it's like he took two years backwards. The good thing is, he's still only 24-years-old, but right now, age is all he's got on his side. He needs Larry Bird, man.