10 biggest North Carolina basketball NBA Draft busts of all time

North Carolina basketball NBA Draft bust No. 3: Rashad McCants (2005: Round 1, Pick 14)

Rashad McCants was a 5-star shooting guard who did incredible work at the high school level in New Hampshire before heading back to his home state of North Carolina. He’d spent three seasons with the Tar Heels and built an incredible legacy with this program.

He averaged 17 points a game as a freshman and continued to blossom when Roy Williams took over the program the following season. He led the ACC in points (20.0 a game) and 3-point percentage as a sophomore and helped lead the Tar Heels to a national championship in 2005 as a junior, scoring at least 14 points in all six postseason wins.

A major scorer and presence at North Carolina, McCants declared early for the Draft and was taken 14th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, he really did not pan out at the professional level. McCants struggled with injuries early in his career, though he did have a decent third year with the Timberwolves in 2008. His shooting numbers would drastically decrease and he was out of the NBA after just four seasons.

Names like Danny Granger, Jarrett Jack, and David Lee were selected later in the first round of that draft, but this bust was as much about McCants as anything else. He had his chances and did score plenty of points early in his career, he just didn’t stick around with injuries and other inconsistencies.

McCants did spend another half-decade playing mostly overseas, but he never shined at the pro level like many expected after his dominance at North Carolina. He’s still a national champion, he just wasn’t a force in the NBA.