Rashad McCants was selected 14th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft.
Following a stellar career at the University of North Carolina, the shooting guard only lasted four seasons in the NBA, only averaging double figure points in two of those seasons.
He’s been out of the league since 2009 and is generally considered a pretty huge bust.
Because he only stood 6’4″?
Because he lacked the lateral quickness needed to play solid defense on the perimeter?
Because his lack of versatility meant he never averaged more than 2.7 rebounds or 2.2 assists per game?
Nope, nope and nope.
McCants says he flamed out of the pros due to his relationship with Khloe Kardashian! For real!
The ex-college star and the athlete magnet started dating in 2009 and, according to McCants, executives around the league stopped taking him seriously as a result of this romance.
He tells The Charlotte Observer that those associated with the NBA questioned his commitment in the wake of his Khloe dalliance.
“Without that situation in play, I’m a $ 60-70 million player,” McCants now says. “Easily.”
Yes, easily.
That’s a lot of talk from a guy who averaged just one-half of an offensive rebound per game.
The truth is likely that McCants simply played in the wrong era.
He’s a career 37% three-point shooter. In this day and age of pace-and-space basketball, you need to be a complete trainwreck on defense to not stick around the league on that ability alone.
The other truth, however, is that the Kardashian curse is considered to be real by many sports fans.
Khloe is currently dating Cleveland Cavaliers star Tristan Thompson and fans of the squad called for him to dump her back in April, prior to the start of the NBA Playoffs.
Thompson refused to cut ties with the reality star, however, and is currently playing a key role in likely leading Cleveland back to the NBA Finals.
So he appears to be above the curse.
The same cannot be said for Kris Humphries, Miles Austin, Reggie Bush and even James Harden, to an extent.
Yes, these sisters have dated quite a few athletes over the years. Just consider the following rundown:
Back in November of 2009, meanwhile, Keeping Up with the Kardashian aired a scene in which Kim Kardashian hacked into McCants’ voicemail.
The siblings listened in to what the show claimed was a voicemail from another woman.
But McCants told The New York Post at the time that the series “made the whole thing up” and Khloe didn’t even have his phone number at the time.
Why not?
Because the two had broken up in January, weeks prior to this scene’s taping.
So it’s possible that McCants have some ill will toward Kardashian and simply used this interview as a way to take a shot at his ex-lover.
Or McCants may truly believe that this relationship cost him millions.
That’s an easier reality to accept than the one in which you couldn’t cut it in the NBA, isn’t it?