Most Disappointing NBA Playoff Exits Since 2015
Only one franchise can leave the NBA playoffs as the champion, but some playoff losses can leave an especially sour taste. Chris Paul knows that feeling better than most.
The last decade-plus of the NBA postseason has included gut-wrenching collapses, shocking no-shows and missed opportunities for what seemed like some of the best teams in the league.
Here, we've highlighted the worst of the worst. Key factors considered were each team's regular-season performance and the context of the respective playoffs. Bonus points (in a bad way) were awarded to blown series leads.
One important note: The 2020 campaign is not included here because of the midseason stoppage and the Orlando bubble.
2015 Los Angeles Clippers
1 of 9
For a solid half-decade in the 2010s, the Los Angeles Clippers had excellent teams. They consistently won 50-plus games and often looked like a legitimate championship threat.
However, they never advanced past the second round of the playoffs.
The most painful elimination happened in 2015, after the Clips opened the postseason with a dramatic Game 7 victory over the reigning-champion San Antonio Spurs.
Los Angeles jumped out to a 3-1 lead on the Houston Rockets, with each victory coming by 16-plus points. However, the series slipped away from the Clippers as the James Harden-led Rockets cruised in Game 5, pulled away late in Game 6 thanks to a fourth-quarter barrage from Corey Brewer and never trailed for a second in Game 7.
The trio of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan never won another playoff series together in L.A.
2016 Oklahoma City Thunder
2 of 9
One season later, two teams endured a similarly miserable defeat.
First up, the Oklahoma City Thunder collapsed in the Western Conference Finals against the 73-win Golden State Warriors. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook put OKC in a brilliant spot to stop the historic Dubs, jumping out to a 3-1 advantage in the series.
Three contested games went Golden State's way, though—including a frustrating Game 6 in which OKC squandered an eight-point lead during the fourth quarter at home.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the Game 7 loss ended up being the final game of the Durant/Westbrook era. That summer, Durant left OKC for the Warriors.
2016 Golden State Warriors
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At least the dejected Thunder had a chance to revel in some schadenfreude before Durant's departure, right?
Golden State headed to the NBA Finals as the favorite over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Early on, the Warriors backed up their billing and strolled to a 3-1 advantage.
Then came the groin slap heard—seen?—around the world.
Draymond Green lost his temper in Game 4, smacked LeBron in the nether regions and served a one-game suspension. That alone didn't cost Golden State the series—he returned in Game 6—but the Warriors still dropped the next two games.
LeBron's chasedown block on Andre Iguodala and Kyrie Irving's winning triple in Game 7 serve as the iconic memories from the 73-9 Warriors falling short of a title.
2018 Toronto Raptors
4 of 9
In a bad year for conference-best teams, the Toronto Raptors experienced a nightmare in the second round of the 2018 playoffs thanks to LeBron James.
Toronto posted an Eastern Conference-best 59 wins and arrived as a slim favorite over the Cavs, who'd barely outlasted the Indiana Pacers in a seven-game opening-round series. Cleveland's midseason roster upheaval only added to the questions surrounding the Cavs.
But in Game 1, Cleveland pulled out a 113-112 overtime victory. The peak of "LeBronto" arrived in Game 2 as James racked up 43 points, 14 assists and eight rebounds in an emphatic 128-110 win that gave the Cavs a demoralizing 2-0 lead. James also banked in a game-winning buzzer-beater in Game 3.
Cleveland then finished off the sweep, sparking a wave of major changes in Toronto. The franchise fired head coach Dwane Casey and traded a package including DeMar DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard.
Fortunately for the Raptors, that overhaul became a rare success story when they won a championship in 2019.
2018 Houston Rockets
5 of 9
Kevin Durant went to Golden State in 2016-17, and the Warriors immediately won a championship. On the Dubs' path to a repeat title, however, the NBA-best 65-win Rockets could have stalled the growing dynasty.
Instead, we remember 27 missed three-pointers in a row.
That shocking drought looms as the defining memory of Game 7 in the 2018 Western Conference Finals. Houston made the most threes of any team in the regular season but went Antarctica-level cold at the worst moment—and still somehow only lost by nine points.
Houston had taken a 3-2 series lead, but Chris Paul exited Game 5 with a hamstring injury. He wasn't available to play in either of the Rockets' next two losses.
Ultimately, the Rockets exited the playoffs at the hands of the Warriors for the third time in four seasons. They did so again in 2018-19, too.
2022 Phoenix Suns
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There are blowouts. There are embarrassments. And there is whatever the heck happened to the Phoenix Suns in 2022.
Phoenix won an NBA-leading 64 games in the regular season, bounced the New Orleans Pelicans in the opening round and took a 2-0 edge on the Dallas Mavericks in the second round. Even after dropping the next two tilts, Phoenix hammered the Mavs 110-80 in Game 5.
Everything went haywire from there. Dallas cruised to a 27-point victory in Game 6 and annihilated the Suns in the winner-take-all clash.
By halftime of Game 7, the Mavericks had built a stunning 57-27 advantage. The lead ballooned to 42 points in the third quarter, peaked at 46 points in the fourth and ended with a humiliating 123-90 loss for Phoenix on its home court.
2023 Milwaukee Bucks
7 of 9
During the 2023-24 regular season, the Milwaukee Bucks boasted a potent offense and quality defense. Giannis Antetokounmpo guided the team to an Eastern Conference-leading 58-24 record.
The playoffs turned into a disaster.
Antetokounmpo left Game 1 with a back injury and didn't play in the next two contests. He returned in Game 4, but the Bucks couldn't dig out of the 2-1 hole they fell into without him against the eighth-seeded Miami Heat.
The manner in which Milwaukee lost was the issue. Miami scored 118-plus points in regulation during each game, drilling an absurd 45.0 percent of its threes in the series and embarrassing the Bucks, who finished the season with the NBA's fourth-best defensive rating.
Milwaukee won an NBA title in 2021, but this meltdown—a second straight early playoff exit—cost head coach Mike Budenholzer his job.
2024 Denver Nuggets
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As the reigning NBA champions, the Denver Nuggets opened the postseason with dreams of a repeat. They rattled off a gentleman's sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, too.
Next up? Only an emotionally exhausting seven-game loss to the upstart Minnesota Timberwolves.
Denver dropped the first two matchups of the series at home, sparking a bit of worry for three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and Co. Although the nerves diminished when the Nuggets ripped off three straight wins, Game 6 reignited the concerns. Minnesota flat-out steamrolled Denver in a 115-70 laugher.
And somehow, it got worse.
Early in the third quarter of Game 7, the Nuggets held a 20-point advantage. It should've been insurmountable, but the Wolves battled back to secure a 98-90 victory, stun the hometown crowd and eliminate Denver.
2025 Boston Celtics
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Speaking of reigning NBA champions, the Boston Celtics headed into the 2025 postseason with immense confidence. The star-studded team posted a second straight year of 60-plus wins in the regular season.
Right away, the Celtics dominated. They cruised past the Orlando Magic in the opening round and took a 20-point lead on the New York Knicks in Game 1.
And that was as good as it would get.
Not only did Boston squander that first opportunity, it blew another 20-point lead in Game 2. The emotional dagger arrived in Game 4 when Jayson Tatum, with the result basically decided, tore his right Achilles in the final minutes while the Knicks jumped ahead to a 3-1 series advantage.
After a Game 5 rally extended the series, Boston would then exit the playoffs in a blowout Game 6 loss.
