During the Parity Era, out of those that lost in the Finals, which teams did not have a “They’ll be back” assumption from the people right after they lost?
After the Spurs lost to the Knicks, there is a sentiment from fans that “They will be back” sometime in the next seasons with at least the same core. We know there’s 0 guarantee of it happening at all but there are still factors that make people believe it’s more likely for a certain team to be back than not.
So from the past defeated teams of the Finals from 2019 up to now, which teams did not exude that energy at all after they lost? There are obviously teams in this list that did come back and even won.
2019 - Warriors (came back and won in ‘22)
2020 - Heat (came back in ‘23)
2021 - Suns
2022 - Celtics (came back and won in ‘24)
2023 - Heat
2024 - Mavs
2025 - Pacers
2026 - Spurs