Toronto Raptors: 30 greatest players of all-time

15. Keon Clark

Sadly, Keon Clark had a short-lived NBA career. Drafted by the Orlando Magic in 1998, Clark was traded to the Denver Nuggets where he spent the first three years of his career before moving to the Raptors.

He holds the franchise record for the most blocks in a single game with 12, an incredible feat set back in March of 2001, a few months after the Raptors picked Clark up.

He was an efficient player who could attack the rim as well as he could defend it.

Clark would stack up fairly well as a rim-protector in today’s NBA, it’s just a shame we never really got to see his true talents. He currently holds the best defensive rating in Raptors history at 99.2, as well as being in the top 10 for blocks, even though he only played in 127 games for the Raptors. Furthermore, Clark only started in 31 of those games.

Clark admitted to “never having played an NBA game sober” and that he would usually drink during halftime. Clark would drink “half a pint, to a pint of gin daily” during his NBA career, that’s not a healthy revelation for anyone.

His bouts with addiction wound up with Clark spending time in prison for weapons charges. Hopefully, Clark’s time in prison has been a rehabilitation period for the former NBA big man and judging by a recent interview with Sportsnet, it seems like the time away is what was needed.

A great career cut short, but a life given a second chance.