Ranked: The biggest chokers in NBA history

The NBA’s biggest games demand the very best from the league’s brightest stars, or anyone who is in a position to get their team over the top. Throughout the course of basketball history, there have been massive collapses and choke jobs that have defined legacies. We’ll rank the 15 players who have choked the worst in a big moment, or have consistently not gotten the job done in clutch situations.

Lee is probably the least recognizable name you’ll find on this list, but he came up short during a huge moment in the 2009 NBA Finals. Hedo Turkoglu threw a perfect pass to Lee, who had a layup to win Game 2, but he couldn’t finish the play. Had the Orlando Magic gone back home tied 1-1, who knows how the series would’ve unfolded. Former Magic teammate Marcin Gortat told Basketball Network that if Lee made the layup, they might have been champions.

Kobe Bryant lambasted Williams’ approach to playoff basketball, telling Sports Illustrated, “0-9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game, because Deron Williams can get more shots in the game. The only reason is because you’ve just now lost confidence in yourself.” Williams didn’t take kindly to those comments, but the fact of the matter is that the talented point guard couldn’t seem to rise to the occasion when it mattered most.

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George’s 'Playoff P' nickname told a wrong turn during the 2020 NBA postseason in the bubble, and he hasn’t really recovered from it. One particular moment comes to mind; a corner three-pointer he attempted hit the side of the backboard, which is embarrassing for any player, let alone a star like George.

The Sacramento Kings were poised to make a trip to the NBA Finals in 2002, and had the mighty Los Angeles Lakers on the ropes at home. Stojakovic wasn’t 100 percent in that series, but his Game 7 performance left a lot to be desired. He shot 3-12 and 0-6 from long range, including an airball in the waning moments. Stojakovic told Grantland, “Sometimes I do blame myself… Maybe that could have made a difference. It’s still in my head.”

Smith established himself as one of the better sixth men in NBA history, but had one of the most unforgivable mistakes in NBA Finals history. During Game 1 of the 2018 Finals, Smith grabbed a rebound right under the basket with time winding down, with his Cleveland Cavaliers tied 107 all with the Golden State Warriors. Smith dribbled the ball out of the lane and time expired, with LeBron James yelling at him the entire time.

The Magic have had a couple of players fall short on the NBA Finals stage. Lee did it in 2009, and Anderson did in 1995. Anderson missed four three throws in Game 1 that could have sealed a victory for Orlando, and clearly lost his confidence at the line. Anderson said after the contest, “I tried not to let it affect me, but my confidence wavered.”

Starks was a confident player for the New York Knicks in the 1990s, and is beloved by fans of the franchise. With that said, he authored a horrendous performance in Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals. He shot 2-18 from the field, and it still haunts him to this day. He told Sports Illustrated, “You never get over it. You just kind of put it in a little box in your mind and keep it there.”

McGrady was one of the most popular players during the 2000s, but his talent never translated into playoff success. He made it out of the first round as an end of the bench player in 2013 with the San Antonio Spurs, but was unable to overcome that threshold in a leading role with the Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets. McGrady never thought he should be penalized for that, telling the NBA’s website in 2017, “Never really had a championship-contender team.”

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It’s a singular moment that has ruined any type of goodwill Simmons earned early in his career with the Philadelphia 76ers. In Game 7 of the 2021 second round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks, Simmons decided not to shoot a wide-open layup or dunk in fear he might be fouled. That was the end of the line for him with the franchise and the fan base.

There are plenty of players whose numbers go down in the playoffs as compared to the regular season, but DeRozan’s struggles in the postseason always seemed to be more pronounced. Early in his career, he would lead the Toronto Raptors to a strong seed in the Eastern Conference, only for them to get bounced before many expected them to. Owen Crisafulli of Basketball Network wrote, “DeRozan has been a completely different player in the playoffs.”

Gobert is one of the most decorated centers in NBA history, having won four Defensive Player of the Year awards. With that said, his impact on that end of the floor in the playoffs has been limited. Throughout Gobert’s career, teams have tended to go small against him in the postseason, and his coaches have pulled him off the floor in an attempt to matchup.

Few players have been more talented than Embiid in recent NBA history, but massive expectations have not been met by him in the playoffs. The Ringer’s Bill Simmons said in the spring of 2024, “Embiid was bad… and in general has just been over and over again really subpar in these playoff games.”

Malone’s career narrative could have been very different had he led the Utah Jazz to an NBA title in 1997 or 1998, but he was beaten out by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls both times. There’s no shame in that, but it’s not a great look when Jordan swiped the ball out of his hands in 1998 before making the game-winning shot. Malone also missed two free throws with Game 1 of the 1997 Finals tied in the waning moments.

Sports Illustrated’s Grant Afseth wrote in May 2022 that Chris Paul has been on five teams in his career that have blown 2-0 series leads. As one of, if not the primary ballhandler on each of those teams, Paul’s reputation takes a huge hit with that stat. He’s one of the greatest point guards ever, but his effectiveness has diminished once the regular season ends.

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There’s probably no player in recent NBA history who has received more grief for disappearing during the playoffs as consistently as Harden has. Andrew Sharp of Sports Illustrated wrote about his inexplicable meltdown in 2017, and similar pieces have been appropriate in subsequent seasons.