5 times the Chicago Bulls missed on a superstar in the NBA Draft

As was already mentioned, the Bulls missing out on the likes of Jokic was more excusable given where he was taken in the 2014 NBA Draft. But a move that is also less excusable to the Bulls was missing out on the former Cypress Creek High School product and Florida native 6-foot-10 and 245 pound big man Amar’e Stoudemire.

Now starring in Ice Cube’s three-on-three basketball league, called the BIG3, Stoudemire is still playing professionally somewhere. But he might still be playing in the NBA if his knees didn’t work against for much of his career. The end of Stoudemire’s run in the NBA was plagued by injury, as is the unfortunate storyline for so many big men with a ton of promise.

Stoudemire spent most of his playing days in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks (13 seasons combined). He was the ninth overall pick of the Suns in the 2002 NBA Draft, as one of the final star selections straight out of high school. He was picked in a very solid draft class that also included Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, Cleveland Cavaliers big man Carlos Boozer, and Miami Heat guard Caron Butler.

Arguably Stoudemire was the best draft pick in this class, while the Bulls took a flier out on the unfortunate tragedy that would be former Duke Blue Devils point guard Jay Williams. A motorcycle accident would prematurely end the NBA career of Williams. Meanwhile, Stoudemire would go onto have six All-Star selections, five All-NBA honors, and be the recipient of the 2002-03 Rookie of the Year award.