During his rookie year in the 1997/98 season, Keith Van Horn had a legitimate argument for being the best first-year player in the league. Of course, the Rookie of the Year honors were given to San Antonio Spurs star Tim Duncan.
In the next few years, he continued to be a reliable focal point in the offense, but that changed when Jason Kidd arrived in 2001. The point guard became the superstar for New Jersey which left Van Horn to get his role reduced and eventually getting traded a year later.
“I don’t think Keith wanted to be a great player,” The Nets’ coach at the time Byron Scott said. “I think he was pretty satisfied with what he had. He worked hard in practice, but he never went the extra mile. He seemed to be kind of fine with the skills that God gave him.”
Van Horn started to falter
Van Horn was a budding star as he averaged 21.8 points per game in his second season, good for fifth-best in the league. Additionally, he also grabbed 8.5 rebounds per game. He was proving coach John Calipari right in believing in him as the team’s star player. However, that all ended when Calipari was fired and the Nets started to look into other options like Stephon Marbury.
In the 2001/02 season, Van Horn’s numbers started to dip as he was only scoring 14.8 points per game, a far cry from his 1998/1999 run. Despite making it to the 2002 NBA Finals, the Nets sent Van Horn to the Philadelphia 76ers, getting a good return in Dikembe Mutombo who helped the Nets return to the NBA Finals in 2003.
Van Horn still had a solid post-Nets career
After he got traded, Van Horn remained a solid player, scoring 15.9 points per game when he was in Philadelphia. He then kept moving teams from the New York Knicks then he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Ultimately, he landed with the Dallas Mavericks where he played as a sixth man. The 2005/06 season was his last year in the NBA as he retired after to spend more time with his family.
However, he would have a unique ending to his career as he signed a three-year deal with the Mavs to help complete the deal that sent Jason Kidd to the Mavs, which is kind of a full-circle moment between the former Nets stars.
More must-reads: