Every NBA team has had good years and bad years. But what did rock bottom look like for each organization?
The Golden State Warriors are in the midst of a historic run, a dynasty the like we haven’t seen in years.
Things weren’t always so good in Oakland, though. Golden State went through years of heartache, years of bad management, poor draft selections, failed trades, disastrous ownership and losing season after losing season.
To commemorate the futility of Warriors past, we’re going to look at the single worst season for each NBA franchise.
There is no set criteria from which we’ll select the worst team in franchise history. I’ll use a combination of poor play on the court (the most important factor), where the season ranks among franchise history but disappointment, failure to meet expectations and public relations disasters will also be factored in.
Note: Throughout the piece I’ll be using Basketball-Reference’s Simple Rating System. If you’re unfamiliar with the metric, you can learn more about it here.
Without further ado, let’s celebrate the worst teams in each franchise’s history.
Atlanta Hawks (2004-05, 13-59, -9.62 SRS)
Nobody is going to confuse the Atlanta Hawks for being one of the NBA’s storied franchises. Yet, Atlanta has managed to avoid truly disastrous seasons since their first NBA season in 1950 as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks.
That is until 2004-05.
First-year head coach Mike Woodson inherited a team that had won only 28 games the year prior under then-head coach Terry Stotts. General manager Billy Knight retooled the struggling team in the offseason moving away from the core of Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Jason Terry, acquiring All-Star Antoine Walker, Al Harrington and combining them with draft picks Josh Smith and Josh Childress.
The Hawks got off to a terrible 0-4 start and never found their footing. By the beginning of December, Atlanta was 2-12. At the halfway point, they were 10-41. Walker was dealt to the Boston Celtics at midseason and Atlanta for a brief moment acquired Gary Payton, who was immediately (and mercifully) returned back to the Celtics.
Despite the dreadful year, Josh Smith won the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Weekend while both Smith and Childress made the All-Rookie Season Team. So, you know, it wasn’t all bad.
Atlanta finished with a 13-69 record and found themselves at or near the bottom of the league in most major statistical categories: 28th in points per game, 29th in opponent points per game, dead last in SRS and 29th in both OffRtg and DefRtg.
Things were so dreadful in Atlanta, the team failed to beat any NBA team more than once all-year and were swept by half the teams in the league.
On the positive, Atlanta’s dreadful season gave them great odds in the NBA Draft lottery and they would be rewarded with the #2 pick in the 2005 Draft. They would draft North Carolina star Marvin Williams with that pick and in doing so passed up the opportunity to draft Deron Williams or Chris Paul.
Whoops.
Boston Celtics (2000-01, 36-46, -2.40 SRS)
There have been worse Celtics teams—1996-97 Celtics (15-67) and 1978-79 (29-53) immediately come to mind—but this was a new level of futility for the celebrated Boston Celtics franchise. Though they finished just 10 games below the .500 mark at 36-46, Boston would miss the playoffs for unprecedented sixth straight season. Before this streak of futility, the Celtics hadn’t missed the playoffs for more than two straight season. Six-in-a-row was a crisis in Beantown.
This was also the final stand for Celtics coach and president Rick Pitino whose tenure with the franchise had gone up in flames and had reached its apex in the prior year with the famous “Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans.” rant.
After an exhausting 12-22 start to the season, Pitino bounced and gave way to replacement Jim O’Brien. For Pitino, this was the final chapter of his professional coaching career and his 102–146 record from 1997-01 left a lot to be desired.
Pitino entered the pro ranks fresh off a national championship with Kentucky and got to work immediately on the Celtics — being given unilateral power within the organization. The hope was that the Celtics would nab the No. 1 overall pick and select Wake Forest big man and future NBA Hall of Famer Tim Duncan. Instead, they got Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer with picks #3 and #6. Neither flourished under Pitino and were traded away for bit pieces just a few years later. Pitino did draft Paul Pierce, so it wasn’t all bad, but he failed to get the Boston franchise back to their winning ways.
Under O’Brien the Celtics went 24-24 the remainder of the 2000-01 season. Antoine Walker and Pierce emerged as true building blocks and by the following season Boston was in the Eastern Conference Finals against Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson and the upstart New Jersey Nets.
Brooklyn/New Jersey Nets (2009-10, 12-70, -8.93 SRS)
Picking the most miserable Nets season is no easy take. Any of the recent incarnations of Brooklyn Nets basketball would suffice (and, probably a few more years into the future too). But no Nets team was worse than the 2009-10 version.
Things got off to auspicious start for the then-New Jersey Nets when they traded franchise cornerstone Vince Carter and sharpshooting Ryan Anderson to the Orlando Magic for Rafer “Skip to My Lou” Alston, Courtney Lee and Tony Battie.
There was no sugar-coating it, the deal was designed to help New Jersey lose. And lose they did. After their 16th straight loss of the season, head coach Lawrence Frank was ousted. Two losses later, New Jersey had set the mark for the worst start to a season in NBA history at 0-18 (take that ‘88-89 Miami Heat!)
This Nets team came dangerously close for setting the record for worst season of all-time but thankfully for the New Jersey faithful, a late March win over the San Antonio Spurs gave them 10 wins on the year (Matt Bonner and Malik Hairston played over 26 minutes for the Spurs if you want to get an idea of what they thought of the Nets).
New Jersey finished the season 12-70 becoming only the fifth team in NBA history to lose 70 games in a season joining the 1972–73 Philadelphia 76ers (9–73), 1986–87 Los Angeles Clippers (12–70), 1992–93 Dallas Mavericks (11–71) and 1997–98 Denver Nuggets (11–71).
This was also the final year for the Nets in the Meadowlands Arena/Izod Center as they moved to the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey the following season as they awaited their new home (Barclays Center) in Brooklyn.
The horrid season had Nets fans hoping for the #1 overall pick and a chance to draft Kentucky standout John Wall. Instead, in perfect Nets fashion they got the #3 pick and selected Derrick Favors.
Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats (2011-12, 7-59, -13.96 SRS)
If I restricted this list to just Hornets seasons the easy pick is the 1988-89 expansion Charlotte Hornets. The new franchise won only 20 games in their debut season and finished in the bottom half of my statistical categories. Their best player was Kelly Tripucka who scored just 7.5 points-per-game in the previous season and upped his scoring to 22.6 on the fledgeling Hornets.
But… since the New Orleans and Charlotte franchise realignment, I have to count the Charlotte Bobcats in the Charlotte Hornets franchise lineage so there is really only one choice here: 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats.
It doesn’t get much worse than setting the all-time NBA record for worst winning percentage in a season (.106) — surpassing the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers (.110). This iteration of the Bobcats had the rare distinction of being dead-last in the league in both OffRtg and DefRtg while their -13.96 SRS is the second-worst in NBA history.
The Bobcats were just 4-28 at the All-Star Break (this was a lockout shortened season) and on March 28, they were officially eliminated from playoff contention. They won their 7th game of the season on March 17 and proceeded to lose their final 23 games. That streak of futility was the fifth-longest losing streak in NBA history tying the ‘95-96 Vancouver Grizzlies and 1997-98 Denver Nuggets.
Not a single player on the Bobcats had a positive Box Plus/Minus with their team leader—rookie Kemba Walker—finishing at -1.2. Only had three players on the Bobcats had a positive VORP: Walker, Derrick Brown and Eduardo Najera.
Chicago Bulls (1999-00, 17-65, -9.23 SRS)
The 1999-00 Chicago Bulls posted the worst SRS in franchise history (-9.23) and finished with 65 losses. The following year Chicago would “top” that with a 15-67 record. In those years though, there was hope. Elton Brand emerged as a potential building block and won a share of the Rookie of the Year. Ron Artest, Brad Miller, Jamal Crawford and a litany of other players started showing that there was light at the end of the Bulls tunnel.
In 1998-99, there was no light. Only darkness. While the Bulls finished with 17 wins, it was a far cry from the, oh, 62 they had won the year prior. And you know, the third straight NBA Championships and six titles in a decade. Michael Jordan was gone. Scottie Pippen was gone. Dennis Rodman was gone. Phil Jackson was gone. What was left was a rag-tag group of mediocre veterans coupled together with also rans and never-heard-ofs topped off with Toni Kukoc.
People around Chicago affectionately call this the “Kornel David-era” (they don’t). The 1998-99 Bulls finished 13-37 and while statistically not the worst Bulls team in franchise history, it was certainly the most depressing. They finished dead last in the league with a 92.4 OffRtg, the worst mark of any team in the offensive-depressed 90s and the second worst of all-time.
Kukoc was a lone bright spot on the team leading the Bulls in scoring, rebounding and assists. Only Kukoc, Brent Barry and 35-year-old Ron Harper scored in double figures. Dickey Simpkins started 35 games. On consecutive days, the Bulls lost to Detroit by 32 points (107-75) and Orlando by 46 (111-65).
As a team, Chicago shot 40% from the field, 28% from three and most pathetically, 70.9% from the free throw line.
Cleveland Cavaliers (1970-71, 15-67, -12.04 SRS)
There are no shortage of lean years for the Cavaliers. 2002-03 stands out as one of their worst as the team finished 17-65 but that netted them LeBron James, so we’ll call that one even. When James left to take his talents to South Beach the team cratered without their star finishing 19-63, but that got them Kyrie Irving. Fair play.
Regardless of those and unfortunately many other bad years, there is only one contender for the worst Cavaliers team in history: 1970-71.
I don’t like choosing expansion teams for this list because NBA expansion teams usually don’t stand much of a chance. Saddled with mediocre players in a league driven by star power, they have almost no chance of competing with the rest of the year.
But, the 1970-71 Cavaliers added a new level of futility. Under legendary coach Bill Fitch, the inaugural Cavaliers finished 15-67 but worse than that finished dead-last in nearly every statistical category across the league.
Points per game? Dead last. OffRtg? Dead last. DefRtg? Dead last. These Cavaliers lost their games by an average of 11 points per game and have the third-worst SRS in league history.
The team’s leading scorer: Walt Wesley failed to average double-digits in scoring during the first four years of his career and shot up to 17.7 with the new Cavaliers. Wesley would average 12.4 the following season for Cleveland then upon leaving the franchise, never get more than five a game.
The misery would be short lived for the Cavaliers as by the mid-70s they had become a competitive team and many of the players on the original team were long gone by “The Miracle of Richfield.”
Ted Stepien took over ownership of the team in early 1980s, and, well, there’s a rule named after him that says you can’t trade first-round picks in consecutive years, so you can probably assume how that went.
Dallas Mavericks (1992-93, 11-71, -14.68 SRS)
It can’t get much worse than having the worst SRS in NBA history so there’s almost no question the worst Mavericks team of all-time is the 1992-93 squad.
Success came early to the Mavericks franchise as after a handful of expansion team blues the team became a staple of the Western Conference playoffs even making it to the Western Conference Finals in 1987-88.
Things unfortunately fell off a cliff in the early 1990s and the veteran-laden team quickly became old in a hurry. Players like Rolando Blackman, Rodney McCray, Fat Lever, Roy Tarpley and Alex English were all in the final stages of their career and couldn’t get the Mavericks back on track.
That all came to a head in 1992-93 when the franchise went into an aggressive rebuild. Blackman was sent to the New York Knees, Herb Williams left as a free agent and Lever missed the entire season due to injury. The Mavericks draft pick in 1992—Ohio State’s Jim Jackson—couldn’t come to terms on a contract and held out for half of his rookie season.
The Mavericks started a pathetic 2-27 leading to the ouster of coach Richie Adubato. The Mavericks appeared on a path towards all-time futility (7-63 after 70 games) until Jackson was finally signed. The team went 7-14 in their final 21 games and won two straight to close out the year and bring their final tally to 11-71.
The 1992-93 Mavericks finished with the NBA’s worst record and were dead last in both OffRtg and DefRtg. Things got so bad that NBA Jam legend Mike Iuzzolino appeared in 70 games and started 23 in what would be his final NBA season.
Denver Nuggets (1997-98, 11-71, -11.74 SRS)
I wanted to add some variety to the list and find a year off the grid that could be pegged as the Nuggets’ worst. I couldn’t. The 1997-98 team was so pathetically bad that it would be criminal not to add them to this list.
After a down year in 1996-97 (21-61), Denver sent their star Antonio McDyess to Phoenix and shipped Dale Ellis off to Seattle. This set the stage of an all-time bad season from the Nuggets. Denver nearly set the record for fewest wins in a season with just 11. They had a then-NBA all-time worst single-season losing streak of 23 games and found themselves at 2-36 during one point of the season. 2-36!
The Nuggets were 2-36 at one point in 1997-98. Through 64 games, Denver was tied for the third worst start in NBA history at 6-58. The Nuggets top player (Win Shares) was Anthony Goldwire at 3.0. Goldwire wouldn’t play in the NBA the next season. Only one player—Cory Alexander—had a positive Box Plus-Minus (1.1).
Head coach Bill Hanzlik survived the year—his first ever as an NBA head coach—but was replaced in the offseason by current Houston Rockets coach and the architect of the “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns Mike D’Antoni. This would be Hanzlik’s last stint as a basketball coach on any level.
Today, he still owns the worst mark ever for a rookie head coach.
Hanzlik was just one of many career casualties from this historically awful team that featured guys named Kiwane Garris and Priest Lauderdale. Dean Garrett—who had originally been drafted in 1988 NBA Draft and had not played in the league for eight season prior to signing with the Timberwolves and then the Nuggets—had the most starts on the team.
Detroit Pistons (2009-10, 27-55, -5.02 SRS)
The Detroit Pistons franchise has experience plenty of winning since the creation of the NBA. The then-Fort Wayne Pistons began the winning ways leading to 13 straight playoff berths in the ’50s and ’60s. In the 1980s, Detroit made the playoffs nine times including two NBA Championships and of course, found tremendous success in the 2000s winning an NBA Title and making five straight Eastern Conference Finals.
There have been lean years, though. The 1979-80 Pistons come to mind immediately as the Dick Vitale-coached Pistons finished 16-66 with a league-worst -7.57 SRS. The early ‘90s saw a few bad teams as well as the franchise was slowly rebuilding under bugenenoing star Grant Hill.
The year that sticks out most isn’t the worst Pistons year by any means but certainly one of their most disappointing and you could argue the Pistons are still today paying for the mistakes of the 2009-10 team.
In November of the prior year, Detroit began breaking up the team that had given them so much success for the last decade. Chauncey Billups moved to Denver and Allen Iverson was brought into Detroit. Iverson wasn’t long for the team as his free agent status all but guaranteed he’d be gone the next season. The Pistons sputtered but still managed a playoff berth at 39-43.
The Pistons used their new-found salary cap space to sign two dynamic new players: former Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon and former Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva. Both men were signed to five-year deals ensuring they would be the building blocks of the Pistons’ future.
Well, not exactly. The team got worse. Much worse finishing with a 27-55 record, their worst since 1994. Detroit missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
The much-heralded Detroit defense fell off a cliff as the team became one of the league’s worst defenses. Coupled with a bottom-barrell offense, Detroit was in trouble. Gordon regressed seeing his scoring average fall from 20.7 to 13.6 and Villanueva, despite signing a massive deal, found himself coming off the bench throughout the season.
After seemingly decades of success, the Pistons have struggled to get back to their winning ways with 2009-10 Pistons beginning a streak (current) that has seen the franchise miss the postseason in seven of the last eight seasons.
Golden State Warriors (1997-98, 19-63, -9.20 SRS)
The Golden State Warriors recent success as the dominate team of the current day NBA has made many forget just how bad thing were for the Warriors. Thankfully, Twitter accounts like @ThisDayInSuck can easily remind of us the Chris Cohen years.
No single year of that or any era of Warriors misery is as downtrodden as 1997-98. This is an all-timer, where to begin?
We’ll start with the obvious one: the Warriors star player choking their coach and threatening to kill him.
Latrell Sprewell, who was already on thin ice within the franchise, lost his temper during a practice and choked first-year head coach PJ Carlesimo. The entire saga has many layers to it with blame being placed on several different parties but regardless, it was a black eye on an organization already in turmoil.
The early 1990s success of the Don Nelson-led Run TMC Warriors was long gone giving way to a team that had destroying any good will in their community with terrible, unlikable teams, horrible draft picks and now, a player attacking a coach.
On the court things were equally awful as the Warriors—who finished 30-52 under Rick Adelman the year prior—were in a nosedive.
They’d finish the season 19-63, post a franchise-worst -9.20 SRS and finish dead last in the NBA with 88.3 points-per-game despite being in the top half of the league in pace. To date, the 1997-98 Warriors are one of only seven teams to have a pace above 90 and score less than 90 points per game.
Houston Rockets (1982-83, 14-68, -11.12 SRS)
Just two seasons after making a miracle NBA Finals run in 1980-81, the Houston Rockets fell on hard times finishing a league-worst 14-68.
Houston star Moses Malone was sent him in a sign and trade to the Philadelphia 76ers. Houston was worried they would no longer be able to afford Malone’s salary and parted ways with their dynamic scorer. With him went his 31.1 PPG scoring average. As you can probably assume, Houston struggled to score without Malone and fell to the bottom of the league in offense.
Moreover, Malone had led the team and league in rebounds and minutes while his league-leading 15.4 Win Shares left a huge void on the Rockets.
Allen Leavell, bless his soul, tried to pick up the scoring load left in Malone’s void but Allen Leavell ain’t Moses. Leavell led the team in scoring at 14.8 points per game.
That’s not good.
Caldwell Jones—who Houston acquired for Malone—was fine but he wasn’t Moses. Elvin Hayes, now 37-years-old, couldn’t possibly make up for Malone’s impact.
As a result, Houston tanked falling to the bottom of the league, missing the playoff for the first time in five years.
Del Harris, who had coached Houston to the finals just two years ago, was let go in favor of Bill Fitch. The losing did help Houston secure a top draft pick which they would use on University of Virginia big man Ralph Sampson.
Malone, of course, would join an already stacked 76ers team and win an NBA Title his first year in Philly.
Indiana Pacers (2004-05, 44-38, 0.49 SRS)
The 2004-05 Indiana Pacers came into the season with lofty expectations. Indiana had won 61 games the year prior making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. In 2004-05 they would bring back most of their core roster including Jermaine O’Neal, Ron Artest, Reggie Miller and Jamaal Tinsley while also upgrading their defense with the acquisition of Stephen Jackson.
Indiana shot out of the gates with a 6-2 record… then November 19, 2004 happened (The Malice in the Palace). Two of the Pacers top players received the largest suspensions with Artest being suspended for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs and O’Neal receiving a 25-game as well. Artest’s suspension was the longest in NBA history for any non-substance abuse issue.
The Pacers cratered after the Malice hovering around .500 for the remainder of the season. Things got so bleak between suspensions and injuries that the Pacers needed to find creative ways just to meet the NBA’s minimum player requirements.
One game saw the Pacers activate and dress an injured Jeff Foster just so they didn’t have the forfeit the game. Fred Jones—who wasn’t a bad piece to have on your team—became one of the Pacers key players playing in 40+ minutes six consecutive times because the Pacers literally had no other shooting guards after an injury to veteran Reggie Miller.
Overall, 20 different players suited up for the Pacers throughout the year with also-rans like Britton Johnsen and John Edwards receiving stars throughout the year.
Indiana miraculously ended the year above .500 at 44-38 and made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Semifinals where they faced off with a familiar foe in Detroit. No punches were thrown but tensions were high. Detroit, however, had more firepower than Indiana defeating them in six games and making their third consecutive Eastern Conference Final and back-to-back NBA FInals.
For Indiana, it was a bitter end to a season that started with so much promise. You wonder without the Malice and the Pacers at or near full strength with Artest, they could have made a real run at the NBA Finals and maybe even won their franchise’s first NBA Championship.
Los Angeles Clippers (1986-87, 12-70, -11 SRS)
Welp. Where to even start with this franchise?
(First off, that mascot. WHAT IS THAT?! Apparently, that thing is named Sam Dunk.)
There have been more downright embarrassing seasons for the Clippers than seasons of success so there are no shortage of contenders for this list.
Think about this: the Clippers have had 12 seasons in their entire franchise’s history with a positive SRS. 12 positive seasons out of 48. Seventy-five percent of Clippers seasons have been below league average. Eric Piatkowski is 11th all-time in Clippers career Win Shares. We’re talking some lean years here, people.
However, no seasons exemplified Clippers failure more than 1986-87 and 1998-99. In particular, 1986-87 when the Clippers won only 12 games against 70 losses. At the time, Los Angeles’s 12-70 finish was the second-worst single-season record in NBA history. Thankfully, it’s now only third (thanks Bobcats!)
Making matters worse this was the 11th straight season in which the Clippers failed to make the postseason, a streak that spanned three different franchise locations: Buffalo, San Diego and Los Angeles.
Los Angeles was dead last in the league in both OffRtg and DefRtg but perhaps most embarrassing, the team finished dead last in the league in attendance. While I don’t blame the fine folks of Los Angeles for avoid the Clip Show like the plague, this team had just moved to the city two years prior. The honeymoon period didn’t last long.
The 1986-87 Clippers featured eight players who averaged double figure points with future NBA head coach Mike Woodson leading the charge at 17.1 points per game. The team played a high-tempo style—fourth-highest pace in the league—but could never get on track. Los Angeles lost the last 14 games of their season.
Adding insult to injury, their counterparts across town (Lakers) defeated Boston in six games to win an NBA Championship, their third championship in eight years.
Los Angeles Lakers (2015-16, 17-65, -8.92 SRS)
Finding failure in one of the sport’s most heralded franchise is no easy task.
However, recent history has not been kind. The Lakers franchise has only missed the playoffs 10 times in their 70 year history but five of those have come in the last five seasons.
The leanest it got in Los Angeles was 2015-16 when the Lakers posted a franchise-worst -8.92 SRS, record-low 17 wins and a pathetic 20.7 win percentage.
This lost Lakers season seemed to focus more on franchise legend Kobe Bryant’s send off into retirement than winning or developing future Lakers stars. Bryant— who led the team in scoring despite shooting 35.8 percent from the field—was showered with gifts and pageantry at every NBA arena across the country on his retirement tour.
Lost in BryantMania was a team still trying to coalse under young players D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson. There wasn’t much coalsing going on. Los Angeles started the year on a four-game losing streak and would continue their losing ways carrying a 11-44 mark at the All-Star Break. The Lakers struggles were exemplified by a horrid 10-game losing streak in January.
Los Angeles’ roster was an odd collection of broken down talents, young players trying to prove themselves, Bryant and oh yeah, Metta World Peace who was brought back to the team after being out of the NBA for a year. Roy Hibbert, once a dominant big man in Indiana, was no help.
The Lake Show couldn’t score and couldn’t defend en route to the franchise-worst finish. In a perfect representation of their season and his career, Bryant rode off into the sunset with a 60-point (22-50 shooting) performance in a victory over the Utah Jazz. Bryant attempted 21 (!) 3s in the game and somehow managed to also grab four assists along the way.
After the season, Bryant retired while head coach and former Lakers star Byron Scott was relieved of his duties.
Memphis Grizzlies (2017-18, 22-60, -5.81 SRS)
Any of the first, well, four years of the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies could fit as the worst iteration for the franchise but as mentioned in other team’s I just don’t feel right choosing expansion teams.
With that said, man were the Grizzlies abhorrent their first few years in the league. They came into the NBA in 1995-96 and went 15-67 (-9.55 SRS) under head coach Brian Winters. Things got much worse in 1996-97 as the Grizzlies go off to a 8-35 start. Winters was let go in favor of Stu Jackson. Jackson went 6-33. The Grizzlies finished 14-68 with one of the worst SRS numbers in history at -10.17. It would take until 1999-00 for the Grizzlies to win 20 games (they won 22). The team wouldn’t be above the .500 mark until 2003-04, three years into the team’s tenure in Memphis.
Despite the horrid first years in the league, we don’t have to look too far into history for the absolute worst iteration of the Grizzlies: 2017-18.
After years of instability and up and down play the Grizzlies established a winning culture in Memphis beginning with a Western Conference Semifinals run in 2010-11. Over the next six seasons Memphis would make it to the playoffs each year, win more than 50 games three times and even make it as far as the Western Conference Finals in 2012-13. The team that was once the laughing stock of the league became one of its model franchises establishing a model of “Grit and Grind”
Then 2017-18 happened.
Sitting at 7-12, Memphis fired head coach David Fizdale. The firing had less to do with results on the court (though the team did lose eight straight games) and more to do with a growing friction between Fizdale and one of his star players Marc Gasol. Fizdale was launched and all the Grizzlies problems were solved.
Not exactly. The team cratered going 15-48 the remainder of the season under interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. Reliable star Mike Conley missed all but 12 games of the season, Marquis Teague played three games and overall Memphis suited up 24 different players with 17 getting starting nods. Tyreke Evans—he of just 52 games and 32 starts—was the team league in VORP at just 2.3.
Miami Heat (1988-89, 15-67, -11.13 SRS)
The Miami Heat have been one of the NBA’s most successful franchises, missing the playoffs just 10 times in their 30-year history and winning three NBA championships along the way.
Things did not start out well for the Heat though as their expansion team wasn’t just expansion team bad, they were legendarily awful.
Miami’s -11.13 SRS is the seventh-worst in NBA history. Miami’s expansion mate (Charlotte Hornets) were bad in their own right finishing at 20-62 under head coach Dick Harter (heh-heh) but still, they weren’t expansion Miami Heat bad.
To date, only the 1971-72 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 1949-50 Denver Nuggets (different franchise than the current Nuggets) had worse years as expansion teams.
Miami was brutal, losing by an average of -11.23 points per game. The Heat were anything but losing their first 17 games as a franchise before finally (mercifully) getting their first victory December 14 in a one-point win over the Clippers.
The Heat were “led” in scoring by rookie Kevin Edwards with just 13.8 points-per-game, Rory freakin’ Sparrow was their second leading scorer at 12.5. All three of Miami’s draft picks (Edwards, Rony Seikaly and Grant Long) played big minutes and seemed to be solid building blocks for the future but overall the team was a mess. It’s hard to build much when Arvid Kramer is the first pick in your expansion draft. Kramer didn’t play a single game for Heat and was only picked as a trade provision with the Mavericks to keep the Heat away from Uwe Blab, Steve Alford and Bill Wennington — a whose who of late 80s basketball talent.
Milwaukee Bucks (2013-14, 15-67, -8.41 SRS)
The 2013-14 Milwaukee Bucks didn’t know they had a future superstar on their hands with rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo but what they did know is they had the worst team in their franchise’s history.
Milwaukee had a horrendous year in head coach Larry Drew’s one and only season at the helm. The Bucks coupled a league-worst defensive rating with a bottom half offensive rating, a bad recipe for any team. After finishing a respectable 38-44 the prior year, things fell apart fast in Milwaukee.
In the offseason, Milwaukee looked to re-tool their roster bringing in players like O.J. Mayo, Gary Neal and Zaza Pachulia.
Monta Ellis—acquired from Golden State for Andrew Bogut—opted out of the final year of his contract while emerging scorer Brandon Jennings was sent to the Detroit Pistons for Brandon Knight and Khris Middleton.
Breakout performer Larry Sanders was rewarded with a huge new contract and Caron Butler was brought in to add a veteran presence. The revamped roster looked great on paper.
Then the games started.
The Bucks started out flat and things got worse in a hurry. In December, Sanders was sidelined for 25 games after hurting his thumb in a nightclub altercation. Mayo appeared in a career-low 53 games due to issues with his conditioning. In February as things had spiraled out of control, Butler was bought out.
Middleton and Antenekompo emerged as potential building blocks for the future but 2013-14 was quickly a lost year. Ultimately, Milwaukee finished the season a franchise-worst 15-67.
Minnesota Timberwolves (2009-10, 15-67, -9.06 SRS)
The story of the post-Kevin Garnett Timberwolves is not a kind one to the fine folks of Minnesota, beginning with KG’s last season on the team Minnesota missed 13 straight postseasons. Coach after coach came in to revitalize the franchise but were quickly sent packing: Dwane Casey, Randy Wittman, Flip Saunders (twice) and Rick Adelman just to name a few.
Starting in 2010, Minnesota finally felt like they had their new “KG” in energetic big man Kevin Love. The UCLA product teamed with reliable post scorer Al Jefferson and for the first time in a long while, it seemed there was promise in the Land of a 10,000 Lakes.
Except… there were growing pains. Most notably the 2009-10 season.
This was not a great showing for first-time head coach and former Lakers standout Kurt Rambis. He was inheriting a team with some talent but very little cohesion. Rambis somehow created less cohesion. Minnesota was abysmal in 2009-10 finishing second-to-last in the league in OffRtg and third-to-last in DefRtg. Their -9.06 SRS was a franchise-worst and far and away the worst in the NBA that season.
Love seemed poised for a breakout after a solid rookie campaign but Rambis and team management didn’t seem to have much faith in him. While Love’s minutes and numbers improved, they were certainly not the leap others had expected. Jefferson remained solid but unfortunately that was the extent of the Timberwolves’ positive production on the year.
Rookie Johnny Flynn put up gaudy counting stats but was a liability on defense putting up a ghastly -3.6 Box Plus/Minus. Flynn shouldn’t feel bad though as Love was the lone Minnesota player to finish the year with a positive mark in BPM.
Remember Oleksiy Pecherov? The guy that looked a lot like Stewie from Family Guy? He started five games for the Wolves. The team acquired Darko Milicic in hopes he could resurrect his career with the team.
The team’s second highest paid player was Mark Blount who hadn’t played with the Wolves since 2007.
It was an absolute disaster for Minnesota in 2009-10 and only got worse as the season went on. The team carried a respectable (okay, not really) 13-40 mark heading into the All-Star break. They’d win only two more games the rest of the season while losing 27 to finish a franchise-worst 15-67.
New Orleans Hornets (2004-05, 18-64, -6.30 SRS)
We’re using the NBA’s official franchise distinctions for this list so the New Orleans Pelicans are technically the New Orleans Hornets beginning in 2002-03 leading to the current day Pelicans.
Our worst iteration for this franchise is pretty easy: 2004-05, a year that saw the New Orleans Hornets win only 18 games after consecutive 40+ win seasons and two straight playoffs as the newly-christened New Orleans Hornets.
It seemed all but destiny for the bottom to fall out of the franchise after Paul Silas, the Hornets first coach in New Orleans was fired after a 47-35 season. His replacement was former Chicago Bulls head coach Tim Floyd. The Iowa State product got New Orleans back into the playoffs but the regression of the team (41-41) got him sent packing as well.
In their place was former Los Angeles Lakers guard Byron Scott. The first-year head coach had a tough assignment on his hands as New Orleans, who had played in the Eastern Conference for the first two years in New Orleans were moved to the Southwest Division in the Western Conference. At the time, the Southwest Division featured four playoff teams and much stiffer competition than the Hornets had faced early in their tenure.
As you can predict, things didn’t go well. Hornets veterans Baron Davis, Jamaal Magloire and Jamal Mashburn had struggled with injuries throughout the year and the team did not adjust well to the West losing their first eight games.
Things spiraled out of control and by the All-Star break, New Orleans was a pathetic 11-42. Most embarrassingly the Hornets lost a one-point overtime game to the expansion Charlotte Bobcats. That had to hurt.
Sensing this season and core group of players were toast, New Orleans shipped Davis and Mashburn out of town and began their rebuilding process. The year was particularly disappointing for the Hornets as they finished dead last in attendance just three years into their stay in New Orleans.
All’s well that ends well. The franchise-worst 18-64 mark allowed them to be in a position to draft future Hall of Famer Chris Paul in the following year’s NBA Draft.
New York Knicks (2005-06, 23-59, -6.30 SRS)
The 2014-15 Knicks are no doubt a great contender for worst Knicks ever — they finished a franchise-worst 17-65 with a horrid -9.50 SRS but there’s another Knicks team with far too much baggage not to be our “winner”: 2005-06.
By this point, the Knicks had missed two straight playoff series, something New York hadn’t done since 1987. Legendary head coach Larry Brown was brought in to change the culture in New York and bring his winning ways (just two years removed from leading Detroit to a championship) to The Big Apple. He would be replacing another legendary coach, Lenny Wilkens, after Wilkens resigned with a 17-22 record.
Brown was seen as a savior for the franchise, someone who could finally, thankfully bring New York back to the center of the basketball world.
Yeah, it didn’t happen. The Knicks finished 23-59 in Brown’s lone season with the franchise. Brown had the Knicks play a slow, methodical pace that didn’t do much for their offense (24th in offensive rating) and made their defense that much worse (26th in defensive rating).
At the conclusion of the season, New York had the NBA’s highest payroll with players such as Allan Houston, Stephon Marbury, Penny Hardaway and Antonio Davis all making in excess of $13+ million. Those four highest-paid Knicks played just 100 games during the season.
The 2004-05 offseason is also well known as the year New York Knicks president Isiah Thomas backed a truck full of money (or large burlap sack with the dollar sign on it) to Jerome James. That was not a wise move.
In perhaps a more dumb move, Thomas traded a collection of first-round picks (ones that would eventually turn into Joakim Noah and LaMarcus Aldridge) for Chicago Bulls big man Eddy Curry. The seven footer had put up gaudy numbers in Chicago but was dealing with an irregular heartbeat. After refusing to submit to a test that would determine if Curry had congenital heart condition, he was sent to, who else, the Knicks.
Curry’s game regressed under Brown and the Knicks two offseason acquisitions were a complete disaster. Brown was bought out after the season ending this horrid chapter of Knicks history.
Seattle SuperSonics (2007-08, 20-62, -8.04 SRS)
This is going to sting Sonics fans but I have to do it. The Thunder pretty much from the moment they became the Thunder (save for a horrendous first year) have been a competent team. Propped up by three future Hall of Famers in Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, the Thunder made the NBA Finals just four years into their tenure in Oklahoma City and have only missed the playoffs twice.
The Sonics had their ups and downs. Thankfully for the fine folks of Seattle, there were more ups but there was no season more down than 2007-08, the 41st and final season of the Seattle SuperSonics.
Seattle went out with a whimper limping to a franchise-worst 20-62 record. The team was gutted prior to the season with star Ray Allen moving to Boston for a collection of pieces most notably Jeff Green. Rashard Lewis—Allen’s right-hand man in Seattle—was dealt in a sign and trade to the Orlando Magic.
These moves opened up the team financially for their move to Oklahoma City but also gave Seattle a chance to see what they had in No. 2 overall pick Durant.
The Sonics lost plenty throughout the year (including a 14-game losing streak in December and January) but Durant easily cruised to Rookie of the Year, a sollem sight for SuperSonics fans who were seeing a franchise savior playing a lost year in their uniforms.
Durant and the Sonics left Seattle on a high-note winning their final game in Seattle over the Dallas Mavericks (99-95) but the damage was done, Seattle’s last season was the franchise’s worst yet.
Orlando Magic (2003-04, 21-61, -7.25)
When Tracy McGrady signed with the Orlando Magic in the 2000 offseason it signified a new era in Orlando. Gone was the vestiges of Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway, now it was up to the dynamic McGrady to turn Orlando back into title contenders.
McGrady became one of the league’s most dominant scorers immediately becoming the superstar Orlando was looking for. The results didn’t immediately bear out as Orlando would hover around the mid-40s win mark and unfortunately find themselves ousted in the first round three consecutive seasons. Still, momentum appeared to be building.
Then 2003-04 happened.
For reasons unexplainable, the Magic were now terrible. And not even just a little bad but downright awful. Orlando started the year 1-10 leading to the firing of Doc Rivers. They’d lose another 9 in a row with Johnny Davis installed as head coach. A team that won 42 games the year prior was now 1-19. What the hell?
Orlando became a shell of themselves overnight falling to the bottom of the league in defensive rating allowing 110.4 points per 100 possessions. The Magic were by no means a great team the year prior but this? It made no sense.
McGrady once again led the league in scoring at 28 points per game but at the center of blame for the precipitous drop in the Magic’s fortunes.
When the dust finally settled, Orlando finished with a 21-61 record, the worst in the league and the franchise’s worst mark since 1991-92, just three years into their franchise’s existence.
Philadelphia 76ers (1972-73, 9-73, -11.50 SRS)
Six years after winning an NBA Championship with Wilt Chamberlain, Chet Walker, Hal Greer and Billy Cunningham, Philadelphia became the worst team not only in 1972-73 but one of the worst teams in major American professional sports history.
The season got off to a tumultuous start when Cunningham bolted for the American Basketball Association—ironically it was the threat of Chamberlain bolting for the ABA years prior that led to Philadelphia trading their star big man.
Either way, this left the 76ers with a depleted roster. Greer was 36 and no longer much of a factor on the team. Fred Carter—acquired the prior year—was thrust into the unfamiliar role as team leader.
Philly lost the first 15 games of the season and followed that up months later with a record 20-game losing streak. At the conclusion of the 20-game skid, the 76ers had lost 34 of 35 games and saw their season record sit at an unbelievable 4-58.
Head coach Roy Rubin lasted only half the season—his first and last season at the helm of an NBA team (could you blame him?). Rubin initially got the job because, well, nobody else wanted it. The Sixers reached out to both Al McGuire and legendary college coach Adolph Rupp who both turned them down. Desperate for someone to take the role, the 76ers put an ad in a local paper looking for a head coach. One of Rubin’s friends saw it and informed the then-Long Island University head coach.
Player-coach Kevin Loughery took over for Rubin and improved the team…kind of. They still went went 5-26 under Loughery but were not the destitute, aimless team they had been prior.
Still, the season was a lost cause and the team had to do everything to avoid being one of the worst ever. At the 1973 All-Star Game Loughery was asked what it would take for his team to make the playoffs. His response: “three airplane crashes.”
The season was filled with record-breaking futility for Philadelphia: they finished 59 games behind the Boston Celtics in the Atlantic Division and their 0.110 winning percentage was a record worst at the time (currently the second lowest in NBA history).
Philly’s nine wins is the fourth fewest in NBA history trailing only the Providence Steamrollers in a 48-game 1947-48 season (6 wins), Charlotte Bobcats in the lockout-shortened 66-game season in 2011-12 (7) and the Vancouver Grizzlies in the lockout-shortened 50-game 1998-99 season (8). The Sixers couldn’t use lockouts or a prehistoric NBA as an excuse, they were a special breed of awful. Their -11.50 SRS still stands as the fifth-lowest in NBA history. Just six seasons earlier, Philadelphia had set an NBA record for most wins in a season and highest winning percentage.
Phoenix Suns (2017-18, 21-61, -8.80 SRS)
The Phoenix Suns have historically been one of the NBA’s most successful franchises. While team success hasn’t translated to any championships quite yet, Phoenix has missed the playoffs just 21 times in their team’s 50 years history.
Unfortunately, nine of those playoff misses have occured in the last nine season and the worst Phoenix team of all-time is very fresh in our minds.
The famous last words from Suns guard Eric Bledsoe who tweeted the above just days into the NBA season.
Those would be the last words Bledsoe would say as member of the Suns, who traded him just weeks later. This was only the beginning of a whirlwind season for the franchise.
Bledsoe, once Phoenix’s featured star, was out after just three games, traded to Milwaukee for Greg Monroe and draft picks.
Head coach Earl Watson also lasted only three games—two of which were 40+ point losses—before finding himself on the outs.
Veteran international coach Jay Triano was installed as interim coach and despite a blistering 2-0 start to his Phoenix, things cooled off fast.
Triano and the Suns went 21-58 the remainder of the season as the youthful team never found their footing. Phoenix finished dead last in both offensive and defensive rating while carrying an NBA-worst -8.80 SRS and losing games by an average of -9.37 points (also an NBA-worst mark).
Devin Booker continued to show potential as one of the NBA’s most dynamic scorers (24.9 PPG) but few other Suns showed much in the way of growth. The roster’s lone 30-year-olds Tyson Chandler and Jared Dudley both aged rapidly while Phoenix’s young core failed to gain much traction or show much promise.
The losing wasn’t for naught as at the 2018 NBA Draft lottery Phoenix received the #1 overall pick for the first time in their franchise’s history. You’ll recall Phoenix had a shot at the #1 pick in 1969. The Suns died expansion-mate Milwaukee for the NBA’s worst record. A coin flip was chosen to determine who would get the coveted No. 1 overall spot. Milwaukee won the flip and drafted a pretty good player: UCLA center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Phoenix drafted Neal Walk. Oof. Walk was fine and actually good but he wasn’t Kareem. Hopefully for Suns fans, Phoenix makes the right choice at No. 1 in 2018.
Portland Trail Blazers (2005-06, 21-61, -8.91 SRS)
Starting with their NBA championship season in 1976-77, Portland made the playoffs 26 out of 27 years. Along the way they made two additional NBA Finals berths and were a constant in the Western Conference Playoff picture. In 2003-04, the Blazers missed the playoffs for the first time since 1982. In 2004-05, Portland missed consecutive playoffs for the first time since 1975 and 1976.
Issues throughout the organization including Darius Miles arguing with head coach Maurice Cheeks, director of player-personnel Kevin Pritchard coaching the team for on an interim basis and a number of off-the-court issues with a team dubbed by many to be more “Jail Blazers” than “Trail Blazers”.
In 2005-06, the bottom finally fell out. Portland posted a league-worst 21-61 record and the season was mired in talks that owner Paul Allen would sell the team with the threat of franchise relocation being a real possibility.
On the court, things were also a disaster as Portland featured the NBA’s worst offense (101.1 points per 100 possessions) and a defense that ranked third worst in the league.
Zach Randolph led the team in scoring at just 18 points per game while their third leading scorer was Juan Dixon. Dixon was out of the league entirely just three years later. Talent was not plentiful on the Blazers. Only four players scored in double figures one of them was Juan Dixon, another was Ruben “Kobe Stopper” Patterson.
Things were bleak. Portland played a boring brand of basketball finished last in the league in Pace and issues with the team, front office and arena caused the once proud Portland fanbase to turn on the Blazers — they finished 2005-06 with the NBA’s lowest overall attendance. The team’s -8.91 SRS remains the worst in franchise history.
Cincinnati Royals (1958-59, 19-53, -7.88 SRS)
The Rochester Royals sat atop of the NBA in 1951 winning the franchise’s first (and to date) only championship. Six seasons later, the Royals were on the move to Cincinnati. During the team’s inaugural draft as the Cincinnati Royals, the franchise acquired Clyde Lovellette and George King. Lovellette and King joined up with Maurice Stokes and Jack Twyman (both under 25) to form one of the NBA’s most promising young teams. Despite finishing six games under .500 on the season, the Royals made it to the 1958 Western Division Semifinals.
It was there that the franchise’s course would take a dramatic turn. In the 1958 season finale vs. Minneapolis, Stokes—who averaged 16.9 points on the season—struck his head on the floor. Stokes thought nothing of in the injury at the time shaking it off and returning just three days later for the beginning of the Kings’ playoff run. During the flight back to Cincinnati for Game Two of the Western Division Semis, tragedy struck. Stokes suffered a seizure and was left permanently paralyzed.
Stokes meant a lot to the team both on and off the court so the tragedy put them on a horrible path. After losing in the Western Division Semifinals, the Royals traded their leading scorer Lovellette to the St. Louis Hawks setting the stage for one of the worst seasons in franchise history.
Cincinnati dropped to 19 wins in 1958-59 unable to whether the losses of Lovellette and Stokes. Tywann turned into one of the team’s strongest assets but he couldn’t do enough to get the franchise back on track. Bobby Wanzer—who had coached the Royals for the last three seasons—was sent away after a 3-15 start. Tom Marshall took over but only went 16-38 the rest of the way. The Royals were dead last in the league in defensive rating—after finishing second the year prior— and second-to-last in offensive rating.
Cincinnati finished worst in the league with only 19 wins and lost their games by an average margin of 8.88 points. The team’s -7.89 SRS is still the second worst in franchise history.
San Antonio Spurs (1988-89, 21-61, -7.45 SRS)
The San Antonio Spurs franchise dates back to the Dallas Chaparrals of the American Basketball Association. In the 51 seasons the Spurs have existed, they have missed the playoffs only five times.
Five times in 51 seasons!
That’s not fair.
As a result, there aren’t a whole lot of seasons to highlight here. I have five contenders to choose from and one of their worst (1996-97) featured their best player (David Robinson) out for most of the season with an injury and the (gasp!) intent to lose as many games as possible in a season. The result was the Spurs getting the first overall pick and Tim Duncan, setting up another two decades of success for the franchise. You can’t pick that year.
Thus, my pick is 1988-89. The Spurs went 21-61 that year under head coach and former ABA player Larry Brown. Brown was brought in fresh off winning a National Championship at the University of Kansas.
San Antonio was in the midst of the first true “dark period” as a franchise. Despite going 31-51 the prior season, they were awarded a playoff berth (eventually losing in the first round to 62-win, eventual NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers). That year they were without their number one overall pick as United States Naval Academy graduate Devin Robinson had a two-year commitment he had to serve with the US Navy. That meant despite using the top pick on the dominant big man, San Antonio would have to wait until the 1989-90 season to see him in action.
This was a monumental risk at the time but one that absolutely paid off for San Antonio in the long-term. Robinson accrued the most career Win Shares among players in his draft class (including Reggie Miller, Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant) despite playing less years.
Not having access to their number one overall pick coupled with a deep but star-lacking roster led to the disastrous 1988-89 season as San Antonio finished with a record of 21-61, the worst in franchise history.
Six players on the 1988-89 Spurs finished with double figures in scoring led by 1988 first round draft pick Willie Anderson’s 18.6 PPG. The remainder of the Spurs double figure scorers—Alvin Robertson, Johnny Dawkins, Greg Anderson, Frank Brickowski and Vernon Maxwell—were under 30 and the team seemed to be developing a strong core for the future.
The present, though, was not bright.
San Antonio’s average margin of victory was well over seven points per game. The Spurs were near the bottom of the league in effective field goal percentage and despite playing at the sixth-highest pace in the league (104.1), they finished 23rd (out of 25) in offensive rating at 100.9.
Throughout the year, San Antonio battled injuries and poor play across their roster. In total, 22 players suited up for the Spurs in 1988-89 including Over and Back Classic NBA podcast favorite Mike Smrek and someone named Dallas Comegys.
Toronto Raptors (1997-98, 16-66, -8.33 SRS)
Expansion teams are always going to struggle (let us ignore the Las Vegas Golden Knights) but the Raptors, stocked with a giant purple dinosaur pouncing on the DinoMania of the 1990s, seemed to have a good head on their shoulders. Before the team even began operations they appointed Hall of Fame point guard Isiah Thomas as their general manager.
Thomas got to work immediately and with the first choice in the 1995 expansion draft (along with the Vancouver Grizzlies), Toronto selected Chicago Bulls point guard and former Thomas foe B.J. Armstrong. There was only one problem: Armstrong didn’t want to play for Thomas or the new franchise. He refused to report for training camp.
Okay, maybe things weren’t off to a great start.
Toronto lost a lot of games over the next handful of seasons but things seemed to be getting on the right track. Damon Stoudamire, the first draft pick in franchise history, gave Toronto a solid base from which to work. Center Marcus Camby was selected with the second overall pick the following season giving Toronto a potent 1-2 punch going into the 1997 season. In the 1997 NBA Draft, Toronto went with unproven commodity, high schooler Tracy McGrady as their ninth overall pick. McGrady would slide into a team that was already gaining momentum having improved to 30 wins in only their second season.
Welp. Things didn’t go quite as planned.
Injuries became an issue early for Toronto and they suffered a debilitating 17-game win streak early in the season to bring their overall record to a disastrous 2-19 by early December. Sitting at 11-38 just after the All-Star break the Raptors fired head coach Darrell Walker but that would be the least of the personnel changes in Toronto.
In November, after a power play to try and gain power within the organization, Thomas resigned his General Managers position and left the team. Damon Stoudamire immediately sought a trade from the team. In February, “Mighty Mouse” was traded to Portland for a package of players highlighted by Kenny Anderson.
There was another problem. Like Armstrong before him, Anderson had no interest in playing for the young expansion team. Anderson refused to report to Toronto. Eventually, he was chipped off to Boston for a package of players including Chauncey Billups, Dee Brown and Roy Rogers.
When the dust finally settled, Toronto was the NBA’s youngest team with five rookies on the roster (McGrady, Billups, Chris Garner, Ed Stokes, John Thomas and Alvin Williams). Toronto finished 26th (out of 29) in DefRtg and 25th in offensive rating losing games by well over nine points per game.
After winning 30 games the year prior, Toronto fell to a still-franchise-worst 16-66 overall. Toronto won only one game from March 10 to the season’s final night on April 19. Twenty-one players on Toronto’s roster finished with a negative Box Plus-Minus on the season while the team carried a ghastly 50.8 effective field goal percentage, far and away worst in the league.
Utah Jazz (1974-75, 23-59, -7.30 SRS)
When a franchise makes 20 straight playoffs like Utah did from 1984 to 2003 you’re limited in the number of truly horrible individual teams. Sure there have been ups and downs along the way for the Jazz but it’s hard to get much worse than the team’s debut season: 1974-75.
The New Orleans Jazz began the 1974-75 season as the NBA’s newest expansion franchise. Desperate to make a splash right away, New Orleans traded two first-round picks, three second-round picks and a third-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for star Pete Maravich. “Pistol” Pete has played college basketball at nearby LSU making him an ideal fit for the new franchise in New Orleans. The picks were no doubt valuable to a new franchise but establishing a strong foothold with a local legend was top of mind for the fledgeling franchise.
In another move to shore up the local awareness of the new Jazz team, New Orleans hired Louisiana Tech head coach Scotty Robertson as the franchise’s first head coach.
Things were in place. New Orleans had shored up their team with local connections, a star player and a coach to led the new franchise to the promised land.
Yeah, not quite. New Orleans lost their first 11 games finally winning the franchise’s first game on November 10 (a one-point victory of Portland). 15 games into the season Robertson was launched, replaced by Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor on an interim basis. Baylor lasted only one game before former Lakers head coach Butch van Breda Kolff was brought in. New Orleans was 22-44 under van Breda Kolff, certainly better than with Robertson but not exactly what New Orleans was expecting in their first season.
Dead last in the league in offensive rating despite playing with the NBA’s highest pace. Even on a per-game average they were at only 101.5.
Those numbers give New Orleans the second-lowest points per game average of any team with a 105+ pace and makes them the worst scoring team in history with a pace above 109—their 101.5 average is over five points less than the next closest team.
Maravich played well his first year in New Orleans but his scoring average dipped to 21.5 after averaging 24.3 during his four seasons in Atlanta. The Jazz roster was very shallow behind Maravich as only Nate Williams, Aaron James, Louie Nelson and veteran Jim Barnett managed to score in double figures on the year.
New Orleans had one of the league’s worst turnover percentages and coupled that with low overall shooting percentage numbers — the result: a league-worst -7.85 Margin of Victory.
The Jazz won six in a row in late February to get their season towards a level of respectability but overall it was too little, too late. New Orleans finished the season a pathetic 23-59 with a league-worst -7.30 SRS.
Over 40 years later, those are still franchise-worst marks.
Washington Bullets (1994-95, 21-61, -5.55 SRS)
After spending most of the 1970s and 1980s as playoff contenders, the Washington franchise fell into disarray. The once-proud Bullets became one of the NBA’s worst teams drafting and developing talented players along the way but failing to gain any year-to-year momentum.
The 1994-95 season stands out as one of the franchise’s worst. Not only were the Bullets in the midst of a franchise-worst six-year playoff drought but injuries and inconsistent play from their top draft picks began to make the franchise feel cursed.
In the 1994 NBA Draft, Washington went for the sure-fire pick selecting University of Michigan big man Juwan Howard with their top pick. That same night, Washington made another move traded their 1992 first round pick Tom Gugliotta along with three future first-round draft picks to the Golden State Warriors for Howard’s former Fab Five teammate at Michigan, Chris Webber.
The duo was to form the next great Washington Bullets team and get the franchise back to their winning ways. Or not. Howard sat out the first month of the season amid a contract holdout.
Washington started 4–1 on the season then promptly lost 25 of their next 28. Webber went down with a major shoulder injury and missed 19 games. Once Howard arrived he battled injuries throughout the year.
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The team that was at the beginning of the season pegged as a potential Eastern Conference champion had seen their season completely unravel sitting at 11-34 by the All-Star break. On paper, the Bullets looked like a fine team with Webber and Howard joining a solid core of Calbert Cheaney, Rex Chapman, Scott Skiles and young big man Gheorghe Muresan.
They just weren’t, well, good. Washington scored well but struggled on defense all season finishing near the bottom of the league in points allowed per game and defensive rating. A 13-game losing streak in the season’s final month sealed the deal as Washington limped to a franchise-worst 21-61 record.