10 Sports Stars Who Are No Longer Superstars
Sports stars can't stay on top forever. Almost every athlete eventually experiences a natural downward trajectory.
That doesn't mean someone will go from annual All-Star to scrub in an instant. When a top-shelf superstar suddenly stops dominating, his or her regression gets overblown. A former MVP candidate producing like a borderline All-Star feels underwhelming, but most athletes aspire to play at such a high level.
Aging has stripped many of these marquee players of elite billing. Injuries often intertwine with added mileage, and changing teams has hindered a select few.
There's also the matter of public perception contradicting reality, which especially applies to one former MVP who offers far more name recognition than tangible production.
Let's break down athletes with more to offer despite no longer performing at a luminary level.
Honorable Mentions
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Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili
The San Antonio Spurs now belong to Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge.
Tony Parker's scoring average has dipped in each of the past three seasons, falling to his lowest clip (11.9) since his 2001-02 rookie campaign. The 39-year-old Manu Ginobili was limited to 19.6 minutes per game off the bench last season.
Matt Kemp
Matt Kemp finished 2016 with 35 home runs and hit .280/.336/.519 after getting sent to the Atlanta Braves from the San Diego Padres. Nevertheless, the 32-year-old outfielder ended the season with a mediocre .304 on-base percentage while playing lackluster defense.
He also stole just one base on the singular attempt, a far cry from the stud who fell one homer shy of a 40-40 season in 2011.
Aaron Rodgers
It's still too soon to write off Aaron Rodgers, but this isn't the dominant quarterback football fans have enjoyed watching for years. Over his last 16 games, including the playoffs, the Green Bay Packers passer has completed an alarmingly low 57.7 percent of his passes.
Darrelle Revis
There aren't any Revis Island jokes left, so let's just say cornerback Darrelle Revis has lost a step.
Jamaal Charles
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In Week 6's 26-10 victory over the Oakland Raiders, Jamaal Charles scored his first touchdown since reaching the end zone three times on September 28 last year.
Returning from the second ACL tear of his career, the Kansas City Chiefs running back is easing back into action. During his second game back, he turned 11 touches into 47 yards.
Per ESPN.com's Adam Teicher, head coach Andy Reid praised Charles after the game:
"It was great to see him get in the end zone. It was great to see him run hard and not shy away from contact or anything. It looked like he was all in. There was a point there ... where he was breathing hard, but he was loving every minute of it and wanted more. That’s good. He came out of the game feeling good. He came out of the game wanting more, and that’s kind of how I wanted it.
"
Charles deserves more time before receiving an accurate evaluation. Maybe he once again averages five or more yards per carry for the ninth straight season. Yet there's too much working against him to anticipate another spectacular comeback.
History doesn't favor veteran rushers, and Charles turns the dreaded 30 in late December. Even if he finds his old form, Kansas City has no reason to sideline Spencer Ware, who has registered 646 total yards and 5.3 yards per rush.
It's best for Charles and the Chiefs if he splits the workload with Ware. Given his injury history, he's unlikely to embody a workhorse role again.
Roger Federer
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Stuck at 17 Grand Slam titles, tennis icon Roger Federer is in jeopardy of not bolstering his men's all-time lead.
The Swedish star has not won a major since 2012's Wimbledon triumph. Despite making two finals last year and two semifinals in 2016, he keeps falling behind the younger Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
In the latest ATP rankings, the 35-year-old slipped to No. 8. With Rafael Nadal dropping to No. 6, it marks the first time since 2003 that both mainstays have placed outside the top five. Having gone six straight Grand Slam tournaments without reaching the quarterfinals, the 30-year-old Nadal also needs a quick turnaround to rejoin the division's top tier.
Federer felt Father Time knocking when he injured his knee running a bath for his two daughters. The ailment flared up during his Wimbledon semifinal defeat, forcing him to withdraw from the Summer Olympics and U.S. Open.
Does he have enough in the tank to not only return, but do so on top of his game next year? It feels like a stretch to see a storybook ending to his legendary career. Even if he can't catch up to Djokovic and Murray, tennis fans should appreciate the veteran staying steady and avoiding an ugly decline.
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Dwight Howard
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A seven-time All-Star and three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner, Dwight Howard is still a highly effective center. Nobody should turn away a big man churning out 13.7 points per game on a 62.0 field-goal percentage with 11.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks.
The 30-year-old remained valuable enough to snag a three-year, $70.5 million contract from the Atlanta Hawks, but he's no longer the elite NBA superstar who carried the Orlando Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals.
No longer a top scoring option, his days of averaging 20-plus points per contest are long gone. So are his rebounding titles, five of which he earned during a six-season window.
Four years ago, his free agency sparked a frenzy comparable to Kevin Durant hitting the open market last summer. Yet back injuries stifled his greatness, and he has since fallen out of the elite discussion. Heading into the new season, Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal ranked him as the NBA's No. 73 player.
Per USA Today's Ray Glier, the jovial big man hopes a change of scenery will reignite his career after the Houston Rockets deprioritized him as a scorer.
"Playing with this team, they are not just going to keep me in a box," Howard said. "They are going to let me be who I am and just let me play basketball. When you can just play and be who you are, great things tend to happen."
If expecting Atlanta to post him up as often as Orlando, Howard is likely in for a rude awakening. He's more of a finisher than a shot creator, and the Hawks have flourished by playing selfless team basketball.
Kevin Love
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How did Kevin Love—once as good as a top-five player—turn into a clear third wheel whom fans from his own team wanted benched during the NBA Finals?
Does Love as a top-five star seem outlandish now? After watching him average 16.0 points per game with a 41.9 field-goal percentage for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, it's understandable. But as the Minnesota Timberwolves' top draw, he finished No. 5 or better in player efficiency rating (PER) through three of his final four seasons with the team. (He only played 18 games in the outlier.)
His defensive flaws lingered well before joining Cleveland, and nobody expected him to drop 26 points a night alongside LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Most observers also, however, didn't anticipate a decline in his shooting and rebounding efficiency.
Two years later, the heavily dissected Love-for-Klay Thompson trade rumors, reported by the San Jose Mercury News' Tim Kawakami among others, look laughably absurd. Don't feel embarrassed for believing the Golden State Warriors should have made the deal before morphing into a juggernaut.
Winning a championship after locking down Stephen Curry during a crucial Game 7 possession will pause the Love backlash. Maybe the diminished scrutiny frees him up to play like the third star Cleveland anticipated, especially if head coach Tyronn Lue realizes his talents are considerably floundered when parked on the three-point line.
The 28-year-old still has time to rediscover his All-Star form, but Love peaked as a stat-stuffer in Minnesota.
Andrew McCutchen
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Let's hope Andrew McCutchen's inclusion seems silly by next year.
One of MLB's steadiest superstars, the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder had accumulated an on-base percentage of .400 or higher in four consecutive years before 2016. By only hitting .292/.401/.488 in 2015, he snapped a three-season streak of slashing at least .300/.400/.500.
Few stars flaunted a higher floor than McCutchen before a terribly disappointing 2016.
He suddenly looked 39 during his age-29 campaign, batting .256/.336/.430 with a career-high 21.2 strikeout percentage. After averaging 22 stolen bases per season, he swiped six bags in 13 tries.
Although never a Gold Glove defender, he played an abhorrent center field with minus-28 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS). Once a nearly complete package and face of the franchise, he suddenly decayed into a decent power source and Pittsburgh's third-best outfielder behind budding stars Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco.
While this is perhaps a false alarm, decaying contact, speed and defensive mobility are all disturbing signs. McCutchen should bounce back, but not near his old MVP form.
Albert Pujols
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Los Angeles Angels fans likely view Albert Pujols as an over-the-hill and overpaid one-dimensional slugger. Everyone else should still remember him fondly as baseball's premier superstar from 2001 to 2010.
In five years since signing a massive contract, the first baseman has hit .266/.325/.474 with 9.8 WAR. His .339 weighted on-base average (wOBA) over this stretch matches marks from Melky Cabrera, Adam Eaton, Curtis Granderson, Anthony Rendon and Neil Walker. Those are all above-average hitters, but not future Hall of Famers midway through a $240 million arrangement.
Late in his career, Pujols has reinvented himself into a pull hitter to preserve some value with power. This guy is a far cry from the the career .309/.392/.572 monster who batted above .310 in each of his first 10 MLB seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. He has drawn more walks (1,214) than strikeouts (1,053) over 15 years, but not in a single season since leaving St. Louis.
The three-time MVP, who finished second four times, could have won the trophy seven times if not for Barry Bonds and writers tired of annually voting for him. Teammate Mike Trout is likely to once again suffer from the same unjust ballot fatigue.
Assuming Alex Rodriguez doesn't return, Pujols leads all active players with 591 home runs and 91.2 WAR. He's a first-ballot lock for Cooperstown and a long shot to reach 700 long balls. He can still clear fences, but struggling to regularly reach base as a frequent designated hitter is not how the Angels and MLB fans hoped the icon would age.
Pekka Rinne
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Entering his ninth season as the Nashville Predators' starting goalie, Pekka Rinne must prove last year wasn't the beginning of the end.
Sixth among active NHL goalies in save percentage and goals-against average, he blemished both rates by posting a .908 save percentage with 2.48 scores relinquished per contest. His 108 adjusted goals against depicts a below-average season in relation to his peers.
Rinne, who turns 34 next month, will earn $7 million in each of the next three seasons, per Spotrac. Only Henrik Lundqvist and Sergei Bobrovsky have a higher base salary at the position.
To justify those earnings, he must return to the 2014-15 Rinne who oversaw 41 victories in 64 games with a .923 save percentage. Or at least establish a compromise closer to his .917 career norm.
Otherwise, Nashville will lament paying a declining star top dollar deep into his 30s.
Tony Romo
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Most football fans—particularly those who have ingested any debate-style talk show over the past decade—will first ask whether Tony Romo was ever a superstar.
This depends on one's threshold for earning the label. If only future first-ballot Hall of Famers with MVP hardware and a championship can apply, he was not. If wielding the third-highest career quarterback rating behind Rodgers and Russell Wilson counts, and it does, Romo certainly deserves the honor more than Eli Manning or Joe Flacco.
Romo was criminally underrated throughout his career, but his loyalists must now face the cold truth. He's a 36-year-old who hasn't played a regular-season game for the Dallas Cowboys since last Thanksgiving, when he surrendered three interceptions against the Carolina Panthers.
Back problems don't always go away, so he's no lock to return from a broken back bone at full strength. If he does, he'll have to live in fear of the next major injury ending his playing days.
This doesn't necessarily mean Romo shouldn't take the starting job back from Dak Prescott when healthy. With all the punishment his body has taken, he may not receive another chance to chase a championship. Now that Dallas finally has a strong supporting cast, it seems cruel to let someone else reap the rewards.
If he returns and misses a step, however, the Cowboys can't derail their success out of loyalty to Romo. Prescott is making their decision tougher every week, and at this point, it'd be hard to argue with them keeping the rookie under center.
Derrick Rose
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Some people still believe Derrick Rose is a superstar. This batch of mistaken souls apparently includes Derrick Rose, who classified the New York Knicks as a superteam alongside the Golden State Warriors, per Lang Whitaker of NBA.com.
With a superstar point guard like Chris Paul, the Knicks would at least make a potent adversary for the Cavaliers. With an ill-fitting Rose, they're a playoff hopeful at best.
Remember the explosive point guard who registered 25.0 points and 7.7 assists per game in 2010-11, leading the Chicago Bulls to the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed over the newly formed Miami Heat superteam? He's just that. A distant memory.
Rose lasted 66 games last season—his most games played since his MVP campaign—but mustered an uninspiring 44.8 effective field-goal percentage and 0.4 win shares. With him on the court, the Bulls scored 96 points per 100 possessions while yielding 110.
Langston Galloway, who signed with the New Orleans Pelicans, posted a 45.8 effective field-goal percentage and 3.3 win shares for the Knicks last season. He also stayed healthy and played all 82 games.
Rose is no longer a superstar. Nor is he a star. Probably not an above-average starting point guard, either. Yet the public remains in denial over injuries squashing a potentially incredible career.
Troy Tulowitzki
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MLB's premier shortstop for years, Troy Tulowitzki is currently the fourth-best one among the final four playoff teams.
All-Stars Corey Seager, Francisco Lindor and Addison Russell, all in their first or second season, are huge reasons their respective teams are fighting for a World Series bid. And there's also Javier Baez, a massive October breakout star who shifted from shortstop to second base or wherever else the Chicago Cubs have needed him.
A once scarce position has suddenly passed by Tulowitzki, whose offense has drastically waned away from Coors Field.
As a member of the Colorado Rockies, he hit .299/.371/.513 from 2006 to 2015. Since last year's midseason trade to the Toronto Blue Jays, he's batting a mundane .250/.318/.427 with 4.2 WAR over 172 games.
That's not bad at all for a shortstop north of 30. The fact that Tulowitzki is now a borderline top-10 shortstop says as much about the position's resurgence as his decline, but he's certainly not the guy who boasted a .341/.432/.603 slash line before injuries dashed his 2014 MVP hopes.
Note: Advanced stats courtesy of Sports-Reference.com and FanGraphs.
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