The NBA draft is often as big as the NBA Finals or free agency. The crowd appeal is clear: whether your team is one of the worst and needs a talent injection or your team is the best and you have to reload to compete again, adding a new player is exciting. This is why the archetype of boom-or-bust players are some of the most polarizing types for NBA fans.
The boom-or-bust player is all about what they can do very well and what they can’t do that could get them out of the league before their second decade. Taking on a player with this kind of reputation is often a bet on the team and staff development plan to highlight the positives and eliminate the negatives in their games.
Some recent examples of boom-or-bust players in a handful of earlier drafts are Shaedon Sharpe, Jonathan Kuminga, Jaxson Hayes, Aleksej Pokusevski, and RJ Hampton, to name a few. Each player had some excellent qualities, but either because of some major flaw in their games or their certain lack of success, they were all considered to be bankrupt.
On one end of the spectrum, Sharp looks like a future star for the Trail Blazers. On the other hand, RJ Hampton is hardly par at the end of the list for the Pistons. The jury is still out on Kuminga, Hayes, and Pokusevski, because they didn’t become stars and weren’t bad enough to lose their spot on their respective rosters.
In the 2023 renewal class, there are few players who offer the same boom-or-bust and downside aspects of previous prospects. Each of the five players on this list has high potential along with notable flaws that could see them either dominate the league or not make it to their next contract.