Memphis Grizzlies: What if O.J. Mayo wasn’t a bust?

Year three is when things started to go downhill. Mayo would be removed from the starting lineup after being late for a pre-game shootaround. After this, he’d get into a scuffle with Tony Allen on the flight home after a card game.

Apparently, Mayo was trash-talking during the game but may have taken it a little bit too far. Allen and Mayo were friends, but on that flight, they were not. Apparently, teammates tried to calm the two down, but Allen would swing at Mayo, giving the former lottery pick a black eye.

Not long after, Mayo was suspended by the league after testing positive for an illegal steroid that he claims was in an energy drink that he bought from a gas station. Yeah, okay OJ.

By the 2011-12 season, Mayo was completely out of the starting lineup, showing up relatively sparingly as the team’s 6th man. He actually played a pretty solid year but was quickly proving that he may be a liability to have on the team.

As a result, the Memphis Grizzlies would decline to sign his qualifying offer sheet, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent.

He’d play four more years in the league, one on the Dallas Mavericks and three on the Milwaukee Bucks, before his time in the NBA was finished. All in all, he was never a huge bust, rather a player that carried more baggage than he was worth. That said, there is one question that goes along with his career.

What if OJ Mayo lived up to the hype?