- Four seasons with Timberwolves (1993-96)
- Averaged 17.2 points and 8.1 rebounds per game
Some combination of attending Duke University and being drafted right after Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning ensured that poor Christian Laettner would probably never get his due as a downright solid NBA player. (After all, there was a documentary created with the title: I Hate Christian Laettner.)
Of course, being drafted third overall obviously comes with expectations, and while he turned in a lengthy and productive professional career, there seem to have been a wide range of where those expectations landed.
As a rookie with the Wolves in 1993-94, Laettner started 81 games and put up 18.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. The next year, his shooting percentage dropped from 47.4 percent as a rookie to just 44.8 percent, but Laettner still scored 16.8 points per contest.
His numbers dropped just a bit more in his third season, and he was traded midway through the 1995-96 season to the Atlanta Hawks, where he notched his only career All-Star appearance.
That means that Laettner left right before the Timberwolves broke through the playoff barrier, further cementing his reputation as somewhat of a draft bust in Minnesota. Again, this is surely more due to Shaq and ‘Zo being picked right before him.
And the return for Laettner simply wasn’t much; the former No. 3 pick was sent along with Sean Rooks for rentals Andrew Lang and Spud Webb.
Laettner was an efficient scorer and a decent rebounder. While injuries derailed the later portion of his career, his consistency when he was on the court was vital to the teams that he played on.