Athletes - Ed O'Bannon

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	Athletes - Ed O'Bannon

Edward Charles O'Bannon, Jr. (born August 14, 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a former basketball player, who was a star small forward for the UCLA Bruins, where he was known as "Ed-O," but had a less-than-illustrious career as a professional basketball player. He is the older brother of former Detroit Pistons guard Charles O'Bannon, who also played collegiate ball at UCLA.

He was a star high school player and was all set to go to UNLV when the program came under probation due to recruiting improprieties, and he switched to UCLA. He had little impact, however, at the beginning as he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and was not able to play again for 18 months. However, when he did return, he played with a vengeance. He was the key to UCLA's 1995 NCAA Basketball Championship scoring 30 points and taking 17 rebounds. For the season, he averaged 20.4 points (.533 field-goal percentage, .433 3-point percentage) and 8.3 rebounds, enough to earn him the John R. Wooden Award. His number 31 was then retired by the Bruins.

Selected ninth by the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the 1995 NBA Draft, he entered the league with high expectations, but was unable to find a place in the professional game, being too small for an NBA forward and too slow to be a guard. In his two seasons for the Nets, he averaged 6.2 points per game and 4.2 points per game, respectively. He was unloaded to the Dallas Mavericks in his third and final NBA season, where he had even less of an impact. His final indignation was being traded to (along with Derek Harper) and then promptly released by the Orlando Magic on the 24th of September 1997. He is now universally considered one of the biggest all-time draft busts.

After his NBA career, O'Bannon played professional basketball in Italy, Spain, Greece, Argentina and Poland. He decided to retire after arthroscopic knee surgery. Ironically, he is now attending UNLV to finish his bachelor's degree. He also volunteers as a coach at a Las Vegas high school.

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Athletes - Ed O'Bannon

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