The Charlotte Hornets finished the 2024-25 NBA regular season with a record of 19-63 (a .232 winning percentage).

They went 44-38 (a 53.7% winning percentage) this past season. Granted, they didn’t make it out of the play-in tournament but they were legitimately one of the hottest teams in the league starting midway through the season. Had they not sucked so badly the first half they could’ve probably made the playoffs bypassing the play-in altogether.

Aside from the Detroit Pistons turnaround over the past couple year stretch from setting the record for longest consecutive losing streak in NBA history to being the #1 seed in this year’s playoffs (just two seasons apart if my memory is serving me correctly), what are some other teams in recent history who have had complete and utter shocking turnarounds that legitimately no one could’ve seen coming?

Sorry if this question has been asked.

Sharp-Selection-3541

28 | 3 hours ago

Didn’t Detroit go to the playoffs recently right after having Monty Williams break the all time losing record

dafdiego777 | Rockets

7 | 3 hours ago

Pistons went from 14-44-60 and rockets went from 22-41-52. I think both of those second seasons are among the biggest increase in wins in league history.

Anxious_Ad_3570

4 | 3 hours ago

Yep. That’s extremely impressive turnaround

Variation99a

11 | 3 hours ago

Their turnaround is more impressive since it occurred intraseason too with the same roster besides Kon Knueppel (the difference is Miller and Ball returned from injuries in the middle of the season).

Most of the other turnarounds are with full roster changes that were obvious preseason.

2coolcaterpillar | Thunder

3 | 2 hours ago

Reminded me of the heat from like a decade ago. First half of the season they went 11-30, then they finished 30-11 in the second half.

Clippers turnaround last year was also pretty awesome but having kawhi helps

_Juntao | Celtics

8 | 3 hours ago

2027 pacers

127crazie | Timberwolves

1 | 2 hours ago

2028 Timberwolves, after going 82-0 and winning the championship

StrategyTop7612 | Clippers

6 | 3 hours ago

Nash Suns, 2008 Celtics, Spurs after the tank year for both Robinson and Duncan are the first few that come to mind.

Confident-Unit-9516

4 | 3 hours ago

I feel like 08 Celtics, and maybe even the Spurs Duncan year to a lesser extent, don’t really count because nobody was shocked those teams were significantly better

Vegetable-Tooth8463 | Hornets

3 | 3 hours ago

I mean, going from not making the playoffs to winning the chip is a huge turnaround haha

Confident-Unit-9516

2 | 3 hours ago

But the 08 Celtics weren’t really a surprise. They added two all stars and a litany of bench pieces in the offseason. It was a completely different roster.

The 2022 Celtics making the finals was more shocking. Pretty sure they were sub .500 and 9th/10th seed in December and then completely turned it around

StrategyTop7612 | Clippers

2 | 3 hours ago

I mean they had a 49.5 O/U were only 5th faves behind the Mavs, Spurs, Suns and Cavs, so it wasn’t insanely shocking, but they weren’t faves or anything.

Confident-Unit-9516

1 | an hour ago

5th favorite to win the title is still pretty high lol

Vegetable-Tooth8463 | Hornets

0 | 3 hours ago

I’ll take your word for it since you were following the NBA at the time

Grooviemann1 | Suns

1 | 2 hours ago

Nash Suns are obviously who I thought of first. Went from 29-53 to a league best 62-20.

Zestyclose-Number224

7 | 3 hours ago

Celtics were 29-53 in 1979.

After drafting Larry Bird they went 61-21 in 1980.

+32 year over year.

hoopbag33 | Celtics

1 | an hour ago

This is the answer

PAWGle_the_lesser | Raptors

4 | 3 hours ago

The 2009-10 Cavaliers won 61 games, the next season they won 19 games

house_of_great | Cavaliers

4 | 3 hours ago

The Uno Reverse card has been played

Tight_Invite2579

5 | 3 hours ago

If we’re talking in-season turnarounds, the 2017 Heat went 11-30 in their first 41 games and 30-11 in their last 41.

cl353 | Heat

2 | 3 hours ago

the ripple effect from this is that we went from a top 3 pick to 14 which was bam, we managed to avoid all the busts at the top and get a heat lifer plus it firmly established the “never tank” reputation that led to players like jimmy, dame, giannis wanting to come here

StrategyTop7612 | Clippers

1 | 3 hours ago

They still missed the playoffs though didn’t they?

cl353 | Heat

2 | 3 hours ago

yea we fumbled the last 5 games or so

toodarkmark

3 | 3 hours ago

Spurs when David Robinson joined them from the Navy. They went from something 26 wins to 56 wins.

Then there’s LeBron, who’s Cavs team went from 33 wins to 53 wins when he joined. Consequently his Cavs team went from 61 to 19 wins when he left. Man he carried some garbage teams.

shu-to

1 | 3 hours ago

Yes, he used to get criticised a bit when he was younger for trying to do too much for some of those playoff runs, but he did not have a good supporting cast the first few years. My guy Larry Hughes notwithstanding.

Frustratedtx | Spurs

2 | 3 hours ago

This is an odd question because the Spurs had a larger turn around last season alone than the Hornets… Hornets won 25 more games than the previous season. Spurs won 28 more going from 34-48 to 62-20

Confident-Unit-9516

4 | 3 hours ago

Yeah but the Spurs improvement was significantly less surprising

Frustratedtx | Spurs

2 | 3 hours ago

was it? Most pundits had the Spurs as a play in team. Their over under was 44.5. They ended up the #2 seed, beat the defending champs 4 times in the regular season and in the playoffs, and went to the finals. I’d say that’s more surprising than going from bad to the play in and missing the playoffs…

Confident-Unit-9516

2 | 3 hours ago

The Hornets over/under was 27.5, plus with Wemby you could always see the potential

Felt like the Hornets fit the “came out of nowhere” bill a lot better

Frustratedtx | Spurs

-1 | 3 hours ago

Hornets beat their projection by 16.5 games. Spurs beat theirs by 17.5. Even by that metric Spurs were more of a surprise.

Confident-Unit-9516

2 | 3 hours ago

Idk, I guess it’s close. But I’m less surprised by a team with a guy who has been pegged as an all time great prospect making a leap in his third year than the Hornets, who have been a dumpster fire for most of this century, becoming decent

Frustratedtx | Spurs

-1 | 3 hours ago

I’d argue a team jumping from out of the playoffs, projected as a play in team, and then making the leap straight to the finals is way more surprising than a bad team getting to mid but still missing the playoffs, especially considering how many teams were trying to tank.

Don’t get me wrong the Hornets were a fun story last year, but they’ve also soured it by trading 2 of their 4 best players instead of trying to keep the momentum.

Godszgift | Knicks

0 | 3 hours ago

yeah spurs is the only right answer. went from not even in playoff convo to making it to the nba finals and beating the defending champs

the hornets had a nice little run but they didnt even make the playoffs and were forgetten quickly

ExcellentPlant2055

2 | 2 hours ago

People simply forgot how the Spurs was viewed before the season. We now take it for granted that a team led by Wemby and co would be to- tier but that’s not how we look at it then. We thought Wemby is great, but not MVP great, and the other Spurs players are nice but not playoff nice.

Rathskellarington [OP]

1 | 3 hours ago

That’s what I’m saying

gaxkang | Spurs

1 | 3 hours ago

Was gonna say this. Plus straight to Finals appearance

Szobortz | Mavericks

2 | 3 hours ago

you have multiple criterias. but hawks with like 15 game winning streak and spurs both qualify from last season.

the only shocking one is detroit. it was out of nowhere with a coach like JB Bickerstaff who was discarded and a team that didn’t have anybody. people blamed monty a lot without giving credit to JB so it wasn’t praised as much

CodymartinSimp

2 | 3 hours ago

In 1989 the Spurs won 21 games and the following season they added David Robinson and won 35 more games, in 2004 the Suns won 29 games and the following season swapped Marbury for Nash and that led to 62 wins and a top 3 relative offense of all time

Foi_ | Knicks

2 | 3 hours ago

2020-2021 knicks. thibs inherited garbage and made it smell good.

fenikz13 | PHO

1 | 3 hours ago

Nash Suns and CP3 Suns

Exotic_Pension_9993 | Suns

1 | 3 hours ago

suns were one of the worst teams in the league in 2019, mid in 2020, went 8-0 in the bubble, then made the finals in 2021.

and it’s not like they were some upstart 6 seed that made the finals either, they had the 2nd best record in the league in 2021 too

AzTrix22 | Suns

1 | 3 hours ago

CP3 led Suns was a big turnaroud tbf, from missing playoffs altogether to a 2 seed and a finals run the following season.

69420LebumJames69420 | Thunder

1 | 3 hours ago

08 Celtics went from 24 wins to 66 wins and a title

frostfeint3 | Heat

1 | 3 hours ago

Pistons

Besides the Charlotte Hornets last season, what are some of the biggest turnarounds we’ve seen from one season to another?