Len Bias is often considered one of the biggest nba what ifs, but Tarpley is also up there.

Tarpley, however, actually played in the NBA. And in the short window before addiction consumed him, he looked like a perennial All-Star. He wasn’t just good, he was already leading the NBA in rebounding metrics ahead of Hakeem, Barkley, and Malone at just age 23

He was drafted 7th overall in 1986 by Dallas. The Mavericks were stacked: Rolando Blackman, Mark Aguirre, Sam Perkins, James Donaldson, and even Detlef Schrempf and Dale Ellis buried on the bench. (Both Ellis and Schrempf later became All-Stars once they left Dallas.) Even on this deep team, Tarpley forced his way into the rotation.

And as a rookie he made NBA All-Rookie First Team.

1987–88 was Tarpley’s masterpiece, an amazing sophomore season:

• 13.5 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 2.4 STL+BLK, 52% FG in just 28.5 minutes.
• NBA Sixth Man of the Year, beating out Thurl Bailey, who nearly averaged 20 PPG.
• Led the entire NBA in REB% and OREB%, ahead of Barkley, Malone, and Hakeem.
• At 23, he was the best rebounder in the world, while spacing the floor with midrange jumpers and handling the ball in transition.

In the playoffs, Dallas unleashed him:

17.9 PPG, 12.9 RPG, 2.7 STL+BLK in 33 MPG.

In the 1988 Western Conference Finals vs. the Showtime Lakers:

• Game 3: 18 PTS, 20 REB, 6 AST.
• Game 4: 21 PTS, 20 REB.

The Mavs pushed Magic, Kareem, and Worthy to 7 games — the closest Dallas would get to the Finals until Dirk. And Tarpley, at just 23, looked like their future superstar.

You can watch him against the Lakers in game 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JIA1fW3Y4M

From game 2 of the Denver series to game 5 of the Lakers series, he averaged 19/15/2 off the bench on 55% TS(+1 defense adjusted rTS%)

As you can see in the footage from the 1988 Western Conference Finals, Roy Tarpley wasn’t the mold of a traditional 1980s power forward or center. He looked different. Most bigs of that era lived strictly on the block or in the paint, playing back-to-the-basket offense or cleaning up misses. Tarpley could absolutely do those things, he led the league in total rebounding percentage at 21.9% and offensive rebounding percentage at 17.6%, outpacing Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and Hakeem Olajuwon while being a year or two younger than all three, but he also stretched the floor in a way that felt ahead of its time. His midrange jumper was reliable, a real part of his offensive game rather than a rare bailout attempt, and unlike most of his peers, he could put the ball on the deck in transition and make advanced reads as a passer. Watching him glide down the court at 6’11”, grabbing rebounds and initiating fast breaks, it’s not hard to see a proto-version of the versatile, “point forward” style that would become prized decades later.

What makes it even more remarkable is the context: Tarpley was reportedly drinking heavily and using drugs during this exact period, before and after games. Even at less than full capacity, he was producing at a level that suggested perennial All-Star upside. In the 1987–88 season, at just 23 years old, he averaged 13.5 points and 11.8 rebounds in under 29 minutes per game while shooting over 52% from the field. Per 36 minutes, that translated to roughly 17 points and 15 rebounds, numbers that would have put him in line with the best rebounders and interior scorers in the league. When Dallas finally gave him starter-level minutes in the postseason, his production only jumped higher. Across the Mavericks’ playoff run, which ended in a Game 7 loss to the Showtime Lakers in the Conference Finals, Tarpley put up 17.9 points and 12.9 rebounds per game, including multiple 20-rebound performances against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy’s front line. At times, he was Dallas’s best player on the floor, which says something for a team that included Rolando Blackman, Mark Aguirre, and Sam Perkins.

The following season confirmed that this wasn’t a fluke. Tarpley opened the 1988–89 campaign averaging 17.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, and over three combined steals and blocks while having a 54% FG%. Those numbers almost certainly would have earned him an All-Star selection. But Tarpley’s promising start collapsed in January when he was suspended indefinitely under the NBA’s substance abuse policy. Despite earlier stints in rehab and public acknowledgment of his struggles, he could not keep clean, and this began a vicious cycle.

Tarpley returned briefly the next year, only to be suspended again. Not long after, he tore his ACL, a devastating injury in that era, and soon after that came a third suspension. This one was permanent: the NBA banned him for life. Just two years after dominating the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals and looking like a future franchise cornerstone, his career was effectively over. He did eventually earn reinstatement in 1994, but the years of abuse had taken a visible toll. Though he put up respectable production in limited minutes, the explosiveness, rebounding dominance, and versatility were muted, and he was quickly suspended again for violating the terms of reinstatement. His NBA career ended with only 278 games played.