2. Larry Johnson, Forward
A player that had his career cut way too short by weird off-the-court distractions and chronic back problems is the former Knicks and Charlotte Hornets 6-foot-7 forward Larry Johnson. At the outset of his NBA career, it looked like Johnson would be a regular NBA All-Star selection and possible future Hall-of-Famer.
But all that hype died down fast as the Hornets usually couldn’t make it out of the early rounds in the playoffs. On one of those occasions, it was Jordan and the Bulls that would wipe out Johnson and the Hornets in four games during the 1994-95 season. Johnson would never face Jordan again in the playoffs after 1995.
However, Johnson also held a pretty poor 5-15 regular season record in his career against Jordan. Johnson averaged 15.9 points per game, 7.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 0.7 steals in his career against Jordan in the regular season. Although there were a few truly tremendous performances from Johnson mixed in there. He had 31 point and 14 rebound night in April 1993 in a win over Jordan and the Bulls where he shot an ultra-efficient 81.3 percent from the field.
In the early years of his NBA career, the former first overall pick in the 1991 NBA Draft out of UNLV would put on a show. Johnson was an All-Star in two of his first four seasons in the league. He was also the 1991-92 Rookie of the Year and was an All-NBA selection just one year later. But Johnson would never have a single All-Star selection again in the back half of his career.