30 Greatest Dallas Mavericks players in franchise history

17. Roy Tarpley

Tarpley is one of the biggest what-ifs in Mavericks' history. They took the 6’11 big man with the seventh overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft, and he immediately cracked the rotation. He quickly became a walking double-double that just kept improving.

Tarpley was arguably the team’s best two-way player in the 1988 playoffs as he averaged 17.9 points, 12.9 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 1.5 blocks in 33.1 minutes per game. He came off the bench, but they would not have reached the conference finals without him.

The sky was the limit for the 23-year-old, but he played just 124 more games in his career. Injuries, alcohol, and drugs ruined his promising career. Tarpley continued to produce when he was on the floor, but it was not a frequent occurrence after the team's run in 1988. Two knee injuries limited him to just 19 games in 1989. He was suspended for drunk driving twice in the next two years, including a ban that lasted three years before he was briefly reinstated. Tarpley tragically died at age 50 in 2015.

Roy Tarpley is second in Mavericks history in rebounds per game, and he is tenth in total rebounds and blocks. He could have been one of the best big men in the NBA, but he threw it all away.