10 Most Unprofessional NBA Players

There's a rule in the NBA they call the "five to one" rule. It speculates that a person with a positive attitude will affect five teammates in a positive way.

Similarly, a player with a negative attitude will affect five teammates in a negative way.

That's one reason players like Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant have been so coveted. Beyond their obvious and amazing talent, they are extremely professional players who receive coaching and work hard both in practice and in the offseason to get better.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who have a negative impact on the locker room. These are unprofessional players who poison a locker room and cause problems on their team.  

Here are the 10 most unprofessional players in the NBA. 

Russell Westbrook

Russell Westbrook barely makes the list, but how can you not put him here?

He's a fantastic talent.

He's hugely productive, and he forms part of a tandem that could become one of the best in the history of the NBA. Believe me, this isn't hating. 

Getting into shouting matches with the team's leader is not professional. Doing it in front of a packed stadium is really unprofessional. 

I know that this has been glossed over, but it's a symptom not a disease.

Westbrook's ambition is greater than his ability, and if he doesn't get it checked, he's going to end up going the way of Stephon Marbury. 

Josh Howard

Josh Howard is now on his third team. 

It's not that he told everyone that he smokes pot that makes him unprofessional.

It's that he smokes pot that makes him unprofessional. 

Call me old-school. I just don't think getting stoned is an appropriate professional attitude. 

Metta World Peace

Let's start with bringing up that he changed his name to Metta World Peace. 

There was the Malic in the Palace. 

There were the ejections in the Lakers series while he was playing in Houston. 

There seems to be the constant offers to donate his salary. 

Whether it's just ranging form the goofball to the violent, one thing is consistent with MWP—he's unprofessional. 

Nate Robinson

Recently when Jermaine O'Neal made a comment about how much more "professional" the Celtics are this year, there wasn't a lot of question as to who he was talking about or why. 

Nate Robinson has a tendency to act immature and childish.

He's not mean or ill-tempered, he's just immature. 

Just because you're about as tall as sixth-grader, you don't have to act like one, Nate!

OJ Mayo

Let's see if we can get all this straightened out. 

First, there were the rule violations at USC. 

Then there was the whole missing practice thing. 

Then there was the gambling/fight incident. 

Then there was the drug test. 

Why isn't OJ Mayo getting more playing time again?

Delonte West

Delonte West threw what is tantamount to a tantrum when he wasn't invited to go to the White House with the rest of the Mavericks (even though he wasn't with the team when they won their rings).

Way to show them up, Delonte!

Tracy McGrady

Last year, Tracy McGrady joined the Detroit Pistons, and the team promptly became infested with a mutinous attitude. 

Then there was the recent admission that he didn't practice hard because he had too much God-given talent to do so.

No, seriously, he did. That doesn't exactly spell "team player" in my book. 

Rashard Lewis

Rashard Lewis recently got in a shouting match with assistant coach Sam Cassell and then refused to play after the event. 

Lewis is the veteran on the Wizards, and really he should be the one who is showing leadership, but that' not the kind of leadership they need. 

I wonder if the Wizards are wishing they'd exercised that amnesty clause yet. 

DeMarcus Cousins

DeMarcus Cousins might have won his war with head coach Paul Westphal.

That doesn't mean he's professional, though. 

It's not just about the team's success but his own personal success both as a player and a man.

He needs to grow up. Screaming "Trade me now!" is not professional. 

Gilbert Arenas

I mean, how many ways are there to justify this?

How about the fact that he can't even get a job at the NBA minimum now?

I mean no one wants this guy poisoning their locker room. 

He pooped in Andrey Blatche's shoes and then, in defending himself, said that no one asked what Blatche did to deserve it. 

When you think of unprofessional things, pooping in your teammate's shoes is hard to top.