Which of these teams do you think will be the last to win a championship?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fy1eGPbXgAEhU8M?format=jpg&name=large
My guess is Memphis.
Pelicans. Just a poorly run team. All the rest have at least something to hang their hat on– decent management, rich ownership, large market, history of success etc. Even the Hornets seem to be coming together.
It’s an incredible achievement to get lumped in with the all-time bad tanking discourse, but not have a pick 😭😂.
And tanking hasn’t even been good for them historically. They had Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, and zion, and havent done shit with it except be a minor league team for los Angeles
The Joe Dumas special. Thanks for taking Knicks Legend Dalen Terry in exchange for GTA. Those 2 2nds are not that good either, least favorable 2nd of ORL/MIL/DET in 2026 and 2nd most favorable of IND/MIA/HOU/OKC in 2027.
Pelicans have had every opportunity too and still can’t make it work, they’ve had won lotteries and hit on late picks. A lot talented guys have walk through their doors only to find more success later on other teams
I concur.
Yea but the pelicans don’t have the unbearable weight of being an Arizona sports franchise
Hornets might just have lamelo get injured in the coming months, miss him until all star next year and be back to a bad team unfortunately
The Hornets’ recent success is much more than just because of LaMelo
They’re 10 points better when he’s on the floor with any combination of their other ‘stars’ vs when the other guys are on the floor without him.
I think Lamelo is an inefficient chucker, but he’s also by far the most capable passer they have, and the only one who can (he doesn’t always mind you) make others better
Coby White should help them a lot
more interesting question imo is which one wins a chip first
Timberwolves will win one in the next ten years. They’re a very well managed franchise nowadays.
Everyone thought kd’s OKC were up next. Never happened
They really needed to win it that finals year, that was the chance. Maybe they would have stayed together if they had notched one
You mean 2012 or 2016? Imo 2013 had the best combo of KD-Russ-roster but it all went to hell after Beverly hurt russ in R1
2012, but yeah 2013 as well. They had a good window, I really liked that team. Though it always pissed me off that sefolosha started over harden
Man I recently rewatched 2012 WCF and that has to be one of my fave series ever. Electric team/crowd. Crazy they could’ve just kept Harden for 1 more year until RFA and they said fuck that
They could’ve just paid him instead of Ibaka and they said fuck that
I believe they didn’t even need to do that if they amnestied Perk, but cheap ass owner didn’t want to pay tax (ironically, they didn’t anticipate cap to balloon during 2010s so in hindsight it wasnt such a big ask)
It’s been so long, I don’t remember. But if this is true… fuck sakes..
The chance was 2012 but they weren’t good enough. 2016 was the year they were good enough but they choked. I think if that warriors series goes how it started out and they win it they would’ve had a great shot against Cleveland in those finals.
They looked scary g1-g4. Kd was playing lockdown defense and the starting five looked so athletic and long the Warriors looked helpless. Oh well
I mean they needed to keep Harden and didn’t, they were too young to beat the Heatles but another year they could have.
Theyre gonna be blocked by you guys and OKC
I do think they have a shot in the west but I wonder how their title odds improve if/when the league expands and Minnesota moves to the Eastern conference
Nah it’s gonna be a Minnesota sports ending forever. Other than the Lynx and 87 and 91. It’s always the same story for MN sports
This mindset always makes me laugh. Basically, you believe either A) an entire state can actually be cursed in some mystical way…or B) you believe the powers-that-be are conspiring against our state across all major sports.
Wolves but imo should be pacers. Hoosier country and they got so close last year. Their time is here and its a crying shame the state of Indiana doesn’t have a title of all states.
Nah that’s an easy one
As a Lakers fan: hopefully the Pacers. Not only would it prevent other West teams to win one, and more importantly it would mean the Celtics wouldn’t be in the finals, but after what happened last year, Haliburton deserves to get his. Hopefully he does, as long as it’s not against the Lakers (of course).
You know the problem with that question is visions is gonna say Pacers because they are the best and closest. Fair answer of course. But then what if they don’t win one in this window? What if none of these teams win one in the next five or so years? After that it’s impossible to tell. Players, coaches, competitive balance rules, front offices all get shaken up, it’s impassible to predict the landscape of the league IMO anyrjing after five years.
No idea since none of us will be alive
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Let’s assume each of these teams have only a 1/50th chance each of winning a title any given year (instead of a perfectly random 1/30th chance).
Therefore the expected wait time until all 10 of these teams win a chip is 146 years. Although we don’t really need to wait for all of them to win, only 9. Because then we know which one is the last one by process of elimination. It takes an average of 96 years to get the ninth team to a title.
I am only 4 years old. Scientist believe that first human to live to 150 has already been born. I believe I am that human.
Bro will be immortal just to watch the Nets win a title in 2400
Damn, I just came to a realization that probably one of my kids will live to see 2100
And now his watch is ended
what the fuck lmfao what an uncomfortable scolding
Hey! Leave it
What a childish response
It just means he thinks one of these teams will remain winless in our lifespan, but I guess he also doesn’t really need to be alive when it happens to answer this lol
Kings.
As long as Vivek Ranadive is the owner, they’ll always have instability.
Royals won a championship in the Stone Age so they don’t count
He is 68 so maybe things change when Anjali takes over?? She has ways to motivate the players.
Gotta agree with you on the Kings, that ownership situation is just messy. Vivek seems like he changes direction every other season and never lets anything actually develop properly
I was thinking Charlotte might be up there too though - they’ve been stuck in mediocrity for so long and don’t really have any clear path forward. At least Memphis has some young talent they can build around, even if they’re dealing with all the Ja drama right now
The Kings have had decent pieces over the years but they always seem to mess it up somehow. Remember when they had that solid playoff team a couple years back and couldn’t capitalize on it at all
This gotta be a bot…? Memphis young talent? Huh? Hornets have one of the strongest young star cores in the NBA and they have a few young role players around them as well, not to mention good draft capital as well…
I don’t agree with OP whatsoever and Charlotte is absolutely ahead of us with their awesome young core, but Memphis also has young talent, yes. Why did you end that with a question mark?
Hornets not having any clear path forward? Did you just wake up from a month long coma or something
Hornets def had a direction. It just took them a really long ass time and slowly acquiring top picks through the draft and absorbing bad contracts/mediocre players with draft picks.
Kings have like a few decent players and now they’re just swapping star players that failed to make the play-in/playoffs for other teams.
Memphis is full rebuild mode and Zach Edey is probably their only good young piece. Ja Morant has negative trade value and is a headache both on and off the court.
Cedric Coward erasure
“Brooklyn” Nets
I don’t even consider them a serious basketball team. They’re more like the apartments rich people buy as an investment to sell down the line.
Joe Tsai seems like he actually cares about the team as does his wife with the liberty
They just got unlucky with COVID and the Kyrie debacle / Harden injury torpedoing their 2020s
Sean Marks is a hell of a GM and made a super team out of nothing. Unfortunate how it turned out but it was a chance you take 10⁄10 times. Currently looking like a solid rebuild. Jordi Fernandez is a great coach
Nah, Brooklyn actually have a decent young team right now.
Fuck you
Unfortunately teams don’t hand us superstars for nothing
Great owner who’s actually interested in the team, a GM with a track record of doing more with less and making good draft choices, and an exciting young HC. I’m not saying we’ll win a chip real soon but the building blocks are there
Normally I’d say Charlotte. But not this time
Whatever your favourite team is
It’s so fucking hard being a Grizz fan 😭
Considering how by the time every team in the NBA wins a championship, it’ll be at minimum 50 years away, nobody in the world could possibly have a good answer to this question.
I’ve lived long enough to know the answer is the Jazz
There’s decent odds that Gayle Benson dies and the next Pels owner moves them to a different city and rebrands the team before they win a title
Wolves gotta get out of this company quick.
If you watched the last 30 years of wolves basketball you’d understand why we fully deserve to be on this list.
I use this stupid logo for my flair as a reminder of the shit years we went through to get to where we are now.
By decree of prima nocta I award you 5 Lakers titles. Also I hope you are the last. Specifically you
The Suns are cursed. We will never win or the world will end
at least memphis has an organization w some legitimacy. to me its gotta be new orleans. that team is run like nobody knows what sport they play
Kings???
They have won one when they were Rochester Royals
As the only team to ever have a 3-0 lead in the Finals and get pushed to Game 7.
If we’re going back that far, I am counting ABA championships. So both the Pacers and Nets would be off this list.
By that logic the nets also have won one then
Yep.
I tried to ninja edit my comment to include the Nets before you saw the original text, but I clearly failed.
lol wut
Kangzzz???
Speaking from history of how a team has been run and its luck?
Hornets.
But as of recently their luck has been looking up so I would say the Pelicans.
Most likely to win a championship? Pacers, after that Timberwolves.
Some probably never due to its location. Hard to attract free agents. Cleveland was the only exception due to a once in a few generational talent.
In a strictly legal sense the Clippers have won 13 championships. Indiana also has three and the Nets two, though both won them in the ABA. The Timberwolves, that have been sad as hell through most of their history, are maybe an injury or two from opponents away from a title. The Hornets have not been total dogshit this season, and are maybe 10-20 injuries away from the title. That said, I’m going with the Pelicans. They wouldn’t win a title even if they were the last team in the league.
I could see any of them winning one at some point. The Pelicans just seem like the least probable. Poorly run, small market, and always whispers of them potentially relocating. It would take a generational draft pick who also wants to stay, and has the ability to attract other stars.
Whatever ownership doesn’t wanna pay the tax
Nobody in this thread will be alive to find out unless there is a CBA that makes the chances of each team winning a title a lot more random.
We’ve had 7 consecutive years with a different team winning the NBA Finals. What more could you ask for?😂
Sure, and what are the odds of one of these 10 ringless teams winning this year? About 4% combined between the Wolves/Magic/Hornets.
I think parity has improved, but still not random enough where we will live to find out which team is the last ringless org (exempting expansion teams).
By the time there are only two of these bad teams left it might still take an extra 30+ years for one of them to win.
So what changes would you propose to fixing the CBA?
I’m just saying the way things are set up, it would take 100+ years for 9 of these 10 teams to win a title.
Now if there was an ultra aggressive CBA that forced parity even closer, then it could happen a little faster. I don’t think that is needed nor do I have a suggestion for one.
Gonna be a very long time lol
The browns
despite being a relatively new franchise, we’ve had two really good chances to not be on this list
those damn free throws…
Idk, but I do know all of these teams will win one before the Hawks win a chip in Atlanta
Charlotte winning this year, so not the Bugs
The phrasing implies that each of those teams will eventually win one. I think it is very likely that at least one of those teams will cease to exist (or even the entire league) before winning a championship.
It’s nice to not be included in this image.
Clippers or Pellies
Oh clippers definitely.
Even with two superstars in their primes while doing that with under-the-counter ghost checks, they STILL weren’t able to get to the WCF. Absolutely pathetic franchise lmfao.
At least the other teams don’t have any excuses other than being small markets and poorly run. The clippers are in LA of all places with an owner willing to spend more than whats legal yet only peaked in the second round.
Hey they made it once! It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to the Clippers and they lost the elimination game by 30 but they got there!
Ay we don’t know where sports will be in 50+ years. I put the over under at 3.5 of these teams fold (or move and rebrand like the thunder) before they win a championship.
Kingz
Clippers cheat and cant even win a title let alone come close. Ill put them on the list as last. Theres some incompetence there with bringing in older players and bad choices all around that money alone wont fix
I’d say Utah. It’s not a destination team so attracting free agents would be difficult. If they can home grow everyone they may have a chance but marquee free agents I doubt would want to end up there.
Pelicans and Nets are my guesses
Clippers
My prediction is that there will never be just one team that hasn’t won one, but if I had to pick JUST one it would be the Pelicans. Worst run franchise in the league by a mile. Wizards will never win one, either, though, if you ask me. Hornets? Come on, man! And don’t get me started on my Grizzlies! Grit&Grind4Life, but it just ain’t happening.
Clippers, only because they are cursed.
Pelicans
Bulls
The Charlotte Hornets
Suns. Have had some stretches during their history why they have been legit contenders. Had some bad luck, shot themselves in the foot a few times, had great players but always ran into a team with a more dominant player, Jordan/Hakeem/Duncan/Kobe/Giannis. They just seem destined to be an almost team.
I can only pick one? Lol
Not sure if Memphis, NOLA, or Charlotte will ever win. At least not before relocating and seeing some ownership changes that possibly alter franchise & history rights.
Edit: love that this whole post is people giving honest opinions well within the context of the question and other people still downvote them. Like, I see simple one word answers like “Charlotte” below that are downvoted into negative territory. Charmin soft.
Utah
Clippers. They are cursed
Unless you believe in Aspiration
Kings. Forever dogshit franchise
Some of these teams have been around for a long time and I have no sympathy for how trash they are and why they’re cheered for