If Only...The Six Biggest What Ifs in NBA History

In life, it is believed that everything happens for a reason. A series of events decides your fate and how you will live your life. It impacts all of our lives and it impacts sports more than you could imagine. We see how the NBA is shaped now with teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, and Orlando Magic holding a stranglehold on the league, while the Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Golden State Warriors are forced to wallow in the NBA basement due to the decisions they've made.

Imagine if we could go back in time and see what the NBA would have been like if executives and organizations had second thoughts on their decisions and changed the outcome of their franchise in the future. There could be teams that would still exist, teams that are great now that could be bottom feeders, and players that could have a completely different outlook on their careers.

The decisions that have been made were for a reason and those decisions have made the NBA what it is today, but think about if those decisions were never made and where we could be at today.

What if...Anthony Carter's agent exercised his option in the summer of 2003

The image you see would never have been taken if it wasn't for Anthony Carter's agent Bill Duffy.

On July 1, 2003, the Heat were expecting a call from Duffy who was supposed to contact the team and exercise Carter's option worth $4.1 million. Due to a lapse in thought, the agent never contacted the team and the Heat didn't have to pay Carter.

The money they were able to keep was used to sign a max-contract player, and after seeing the Los Angeles Clippers match their offer to get Elton Brand, the Heat instead gave Lamar Odom a deal he couldn't refuse.

Odom would play for a season on the Heat, leading the team to 42-40 record and a fifth seed before the unforgettable summer of 2004 came, and one of the biggest moves in recent NBA history occurred.

Mastermind Pat Riley managed to trade Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant to the Los Angeles Lakers for Shaquille O'Neal. Two seasons later, with the help of Shaq, the Miami Heat won their first championship.

See what I mean by a series of events?

What if...the Charlotte Hornets didn't want Vlade Divac

The 1996 draft is in competition with the 2003 and 1984 drafts for the best class of all time. Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, and Jermaine O'Neal were all success stories of the 1996 draft, but none of these players had the career that Kobe Bryant had.

Or could they have?

A few days before draft day, the Charlotte Hornets wanted to make a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers. Apparently they had an eye on Vlade Divac, the Lakers starting center at the time. The Hornets were willing to give up their No. 13 pick in return. The Lakers decided to go out on a limb and draft the first guard taken out of high school in NBA history.

Four years later, Kobe Bryant won his first championship with L.A. Then he won another....and another....and two more, making the Lakers into the dynasty they are today. With the help of Shaq, Bryant had revived basketball in Los Angeles.

The Hornets? Not so much. What if the Charlotte Hornets weren't so interested in Vlade Divac and they drafted Kobe Bryant. Chances are that New Orleans might not have a team, the Hornets would still be in Charlotte, and Kobe Bryant wouldn't have had the illustrious career that he's had in Los Angeles.

Thanks Vlade.

What if...the Portland Trail Blazers didn't want centers

You can't blame the Portland Trail Blazers for wanting a strong reliable center. They're hard to come by and if you get the chance to draft a seven footer with decent footwork, then you're going to be set for the next decade. So when the Trail Blazers decided to take Sam Bowie out of Kentucky in 1984 with the second pick, it was a good decision at the time.

Bowie had a good career in college, but he couldn't get adjusted to the pros and suffered, averaging 11 points, seven rebounds, and two blocks per game for his career. The man taken third went on to win a few championships, MVPs, and reinvented the game of basketball. You can understand the Blazers decision considering that they already had an All-Star shooting guard in Clyde Drexler, but I can just about guarantee that Portland still regrets the decision.

Can you say deja vu? In 2007, the Trail Blazers decided to take center Greg Oden with the number one pick instead of lanky small forward Kevin Durant. Oden was an amazing college player, but due to various injuries throughout his short NBA career, he hasn't been able to prove himself.

Durant on the other hand just led the league in scoring in his third year in the league and led a team of teenagers to 50 wins. It's a little hasty to jump to conclusions and consider Oden a bust, but by the way it looks so far I would say Portland is kicking themselves for making the wrong decision...again.

What if...Len Bias had listened to PSA's.

When it came to playing good college basketball in 1986, nobody did it better than Len Bias out of the University of Maryland. He won ACC Athlete of the Year and the ACC player of the year. He was considered to be one of the most dynamic players in college and it was no surprise when he was taken with the second pick by the Boston Celtics.

Bias was about to make an already powerful Celtics team into a dynasty. Two days after his selection, Bias died of cardiac arrhythmia that was brought on by cocaine use.

Len had never stepped on an NBA court and the future of the Boston franchise was in shambles. The team, along with anyone close to Bias, suffered greatly from the loss and Boston would not win another championship until the 2007-08 season.

What if...the Detroit Pistons knew better

LeBron James. Darko Milicic. Carmelo Anthony. Chris Bosh. Dwyane Wade.

One of those names stick out like a sore thumb. A 7' blond highlighted thumb.

If you ask anybody that knows the NBA and you ask them who was the biggest draft bust in NBA history, chances are that a majority will say Darko Milicic. They'll say it because not only is Milicic awful, but the players that he was picked ahead of have had illustrious careers.

Anthony has made the Denver Nuggets into a Western Conference power, Dwyane Wade led his Miami Heat to a championship, and Chris Bosh has become one of the more prominent post players. Don't even get me started on Chris Kaman and Kirk Hinrich.

It's hard to say why they made this decision considering that they already had Ben Wallace, but obviously players such as Wade, Bosh, and Anthony were lucky to not be drafted. Darko rarely saw playing time as a member of the Pistons and if one of the big three were drafted by Detroit instead, then we might have never been able to truly witness the potential that they had.

We would have never seen Wade heat up South Beach or have the team he has today. The Denver Nuggets would still be an obscure team if they decided to take a chance on Darko. Many player's career could have been changed forever if the Pistons had made the correct move.

The saddest statistic is that Darko is tied for championships with the rest of the top five picks.

What if...the Chicago Bulls knew how to finish the deal

When Kobe Bryant had Chris Mihm to look to in the post instead of Shaquille O'Neal, he was a little disappointed with the way the Lakers head office was handling the situation. For three straight seasons, the Lakeshow was an average team.

They missed the postseason for the first time in eleven years when they recorded a 34-48 record during the 2004-05 season, and then saw two straight seasons of first round exits. Bryant wasn't pleased and demanded a trade like his former counterpart did a few years prior.

The Chicago Bulls emerged as front runners and were a few moves away from securing arguably the best player in the league at the time. They were prepared to give up Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, and Ben Gordon in exchange for a Kobe Bryant in his prime.

The deal fell through and the Los Angeles Lakers gave Kobe a team in the near future by surrounding with players such as Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom instead of Smush Parker and Vladamir Radmonovic.

The NBA world today would be substantially different if this trade went through. Not only would the Bulls have been the newest Eastern Conference power, but both conferences would have seen teams that never thought they had a chance to win before emerge.

Western Conference teams such as the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, and Dallas Mavericks would be featured in the NBA finals instead of the Lakers for the past three seasons. Kobe and the Bulls would be in battles with the big three in Boston and Dwight and the Magic. Chicago would have never had to draft Derrick Rose and we could be talking about a possible Bulls three-peat this coming year.

Oh, and he would have played LeBron James four times a year. ESPN missed out badly.