Greg Oden was taken No. 1 in the 2007 NBA Draft, and Kevin Durant was selected as the No. 2 pick. Oden was believed to be a future Hall of Famer and the next Shaquille O’Neal, but multiple knee injuries kept him sidelined and in five seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers he only played 82 games. Durant, on the other hand, has grown to be one of the biggest stars in the league. Oden recently called himself one of the biggest busts in NBA history, but his draftmate Durant doesn’t agree.
“Nonsense. That’s nonsense,” Durant adamantly told ESPN on Sunday night. “In order for you to be a bust, you have to actually play and show people that you progressed as a player. He didn’t get a chance to.”
Oden had previously told Sports Illustrated that he was “one of the biggest busts in NBA history” and that “it would only get worse as Kevin Durant continues doing big things.”
Once again, Durant defended his draft classmate.
“He didn’t want to get hurt. That was the last thing he wanted to do was to get hurt,” Durant told ESPN. “That wasn’t even in the cards, and he got injured and that was unfortunate. But when he did play, he was a force. Protecting the paint. They were so good with him and LaMarcus down low, with Brandon Roy [and] Andre Miller at the time. They had a nice team. So he was a big part of that.
“He’s not a bust. He just didn’t play a long time because of injuries, and that’s just what it is.”
