Top 5 NBA players of all time to have never played in the Playoffs
Appearing in the NBA Playoffs seems like an afterthought when analyzing the careers of any star player in the NBA. While winning the championship might be a feat that evades a superstar for the entirety of his career, making the NBA Playoffs isn't usually seen as a prohibited destiny to some. However, never making the postseason has happened before and it is currently happening to some great players in the league.
If this list had been made before the 2020-21 NBA season, the Phoenix Suns' Devin Booker would've arguably been at the top. However, a year in which the Suns reached the NBA Finals made a difference for Booker's career (he had gone five seasons without entering the postseason).
Not making the NBA Playoffs for an entire career is a sentence that yells mediocrity, but that isn't the case. Some players simply ran into troubled franchises, injuries or other circumstances that simply did not allow them to reach the first step towards an NBA title.
In this article, we will have a look at the top 5 players in NBA history who never made it to the NBA Playoffs and active players who have also been unable to do so so far.
Without further ado, let us start.
#5 Clark Kellogg
Clark Kellogg's NBA career looked like one that would be talked about for many years to come after a solid rookie campaign with the Indiana Pacers in the 1982-83 season.
The Pacers had drafted Kellogg eighth overall in 1982, and he delivered 20.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game as a rookie. Terry Cummings took the Rookie of the Year award in that season, but Kellogg finished second ahead of James Worthy.
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The power forward gave Indiana two more solid seasons in 1983-84 and 1984-85, playing roughly every regular-season game and putting up 18 points and nine rebounds per match.
However, knee issues started to bother him in the 1985-86 season, in which he only played 19 games. Then, Kellogg played just four games before retiring at the end of the 1986-87 season.
He appeared in 260 NBA games before retiring, and posted averages of 18.9 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in his career. However, injuries kept him away from the court and also away from postseason action.
#4 Geoff Petrie
Geoff Petrie was definitely a great guard during the early 1970s, and he was probably destined for good success in the league. He managed to achieve some accolades though, as Petrie won the Rookie of the Year award at the end of the 1970-71 NBA season, tied with Hall-of-Famer Dave Cowens.
He was also an All-Star in his rookie year, and made it back to the ASG in his fourth NBA season.
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However, Petrie could not add much to his resume, as knee injuries hindered his playing career and put an end to it. Petrie played in 446 NBA games with the Portland Trail Blazers before being traded in 1976 to the Atlanta Hawks.
He did not play a single minute for Atlanta after multiple knee surgeries kept him off the court. Petrie retired as a 27-year-old without a postseason appearance, while the Blazers went on to win the title in their first year without him.