Power Ranking the NBA's Most Cursed Franchises

Every professional sports league has a group of teams that just can't find a way to win regularly.

The NBA has their own share of cursed teams that often find themselves in the cellar, probably more than other sports leagues, because of the historic lack of parity in the league.

After all, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have combined to win close to half of all NBA championships. 

Because of the lack of competitive balance throughout the years in the NBA, there are more than a handful of franchises that can't compete with the big guns. The legacies of these franchises have been marred with relocation, years of futility and decades of losing droughts. 

There are several criteria in this ranking. Just because a franchise has a title, it doesn't mean they avoid the list. The more a franchise has suffered through the means of losing games, relocation and playoff droughts, the higher they will be ranked.

12. New York Knicks

They're the only NBA team in the nation's largest market, yet they have a losing record in their 66 years of existence.

The New York Knicks haven't won a title since 1972 and in the past decade they've been haunted by names such as Isiah Thomas, Stephon Marbury, Jerome James and Steve Francis, to name a few. 

They've turned it around a bit in the last two seasons because of Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin, but they're still several steps away from bringing an NBA title to New York.

To be fair, the team did achieve success in the 1990s with two NBA Finals and four conference finals appearances.

11. Atlanta Hawks

Before finding permanent stability in Atlanta during the 1968-69 season, the Hawks frequently relocated. They started off in Moline, Ill. as the Tri-City Blackhawks before moving to Milwaukee and taking the Hawks nickname.

After a four-year stint in Milwaukee, they relocated to St. Louis and won their lone NBA title there in 1958. 

The Hawks have actually been successful in making the playoffs throughout the years. They've qualified 25 times since 1971. However, in those 25 attempts, they have yet to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. 

10. Memphis Grizzlies

The Toronto Raptors and the Charlotte Bobcats aren't in this list because neither team has been around for at least 20 seasons. The Bobcats haven't even been around for a decade.

Also, the Raptors had that little run with Vince Carter, so it's too early to call their team cursed.

However, the Memphis Grizzlies come here solely because of the fact they relocated from Vancouver just six years after the expansion team started playing in the Canadian city. 

Now that's embarrassing. 

Even the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL stayed in Georgia for over a decade before bolting to Winnipeg.

The Grizzlies do have four playoff appearances and they won their first playoff series last year. They have a bright future ahead of them and can easily find their way out of this list in a few seasons. 

9. Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets achieved mediocre success in the 1980s and in the 2000s, but both eras were infiltrated with quick playoff exits with the exceptions of 1985 and 2009, when the team advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

Despite some regular season success in those two eras, the 1990s were absolutely atrocious for the Nuggets. In the 1997-98 season in particular, the team lost 71 games. 

In fact, from 1990 until 2003, there were six seasons where the franchise lost at least 55 games. 

Talk about misery. 

8. Minnesota Timberwolves

Like the Memphis Grizzlies franchise, the Minnesota Timberwolves haven't been around for too long, so they don't find themselves high on this list.

That said, they've had their share of gloom. The Wolves haven't done anything throughout their tenure to brighten the cold, dark winters of Minneapolis. 

They had that short Kevin Garnett era, but seemingly every season was marred with a quick first-round exit, other than their deep run in 2004 to the Western Conference Finals.

Other than that, they haven't made the playoffs, but they're primed to change their fortunes in the near future because of Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio. 

7. New Orleans Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets broke into the league in the 1988-89 season and lost 62 games in their inaugural season. Since then, they've made the playoffs 12 times, which is nice, but they've failed to advance to the Conference Finals.

Their relocation to New Orleans came just 14 years after they broke into the league as an expansion team. 

Finally, they had to face the unfortunate wrath of Hurricane Katrina, which displaced them to Oklahoma City for almost two seasons. 

No other NBA team has had to go through a devastating event like that. 

6. Washington Wizards

When the franchise first came into the league in 1961, they spent two seasons in Chicago before relocating to the D.C. area. 

They achieved success in the 1970s as the Washington Bullets, winning their lone NBA title in 1978. After losing in the NBA Finals in the following year, it's been all downhill for the Bullets, and now, the Washington Wizards.

They've made the playoffs several times, but have only made to the Eastern Conference Semifinals twice since 1980. They have an overall franchise winning percentage of .447 and their No. 1 overall draft pick from a couple of years ago, John Wall, has not panned out like Derrick Rose or Kyrie Irving. 

The Wizards remain in the bottom of the cellar. Who knows how long they will stay there?

5. New Jersey Nets

Back when they were called the New York Nets in the ABA, the franchise had success, winning two ABA titles.

That success did not translate to the NBA. 

The Nets made the NBA Finals twice in this past decade, but other than that, they've failed to get out of the second round of the playoffs.

They're currently on a four-year playoff drought and it could very easily be five consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance after this year.

Two seasons ago, the team lost 70 games in one year. Then, they mortgaged their entire future to acquire Deron Williams, with the hopes of signing Dwight Howard.

Since Howard is opting to stay another year in Orlando, Williams will likely bolt elsewhere after his contract expires this summer with the hopes of playing for a contender.

The Nets miseries seem like they're just getting started. 

The team also has a meager .434 winning percentage. 

4. Cleveland Cavaliers

It's not just the Cleveland Cavaliers that are cursed. 

The whole city of Cleveland might be. The city hasn't won a professional sports title since the Cleveland Browns won an NFL Championship in 1964.

The Cavs are most notoriously known for LeBron James and "The Decision." After James gave the city and the franchise seven full seasons and even took them to the NBA Finals in 2007, he took his talents to South Beach, leaving the Cavs in the dust.

Ownership failed to surround LeBron with talent to help him win an NBA title and suffered the consequences because of it.

Prior to that, they struggled mightily on the court. After all, they had to be pretty bad to be able to draft LeBron, right?

They had mediocre success in the early 1990s, but never made it passed the Eastern Conference Semifinals more than once. The franchise has a winning percentage of .461.

And of course, there was M.J.'s shot over Craig Ehlo, which is easily one of the most memorable shots in Jordan's career. 

That being said, Cavs fans really don't have to feel too miserable about that one, because Michael would do that to every team. 

3. Golden State Warriors

It's one thing to not win any NBA title for a long period of time. It's another to not even make the playoffs.

The Warriors franchise started off in Philadelphia and they were highly successful, winning the first ever BAA championship. They followed that up with another NBA title in 1956 and then relocated to the Bay Area to continue their winning ways, winning a championship in 1975.

However, since 1977, the franchise has been in a downward spiral. They've only made the playoffs six times since then. And we're talking about a league that currently has over half of their teams qualify. That's quite an accomplishment.

Their most memorable moment since their 1975 title came in 2007 when they were a No. 8 seed, barely making it into the playoffs and knocking off the Dallas Mavericks in the first round. 

Although that was an impressive run, let's face it, they were a No. 8 seed. They were two games above .500!

The team has a .458 winning percentage and hasn't particularly drafted well, as evidenced by their constant struggles. 

In their six playoff appearances since 1975, they have never made it past the second round. 

2. Sacramento Kings

It should just be a general rule in sports that if a franchise has been around for over 60 years and they have more relocations than championships, then they are an abysmal failure.

That's what the Kings franchise has done since they came into existence in 1948. They won an NBA title as the Rochester Royals in 1951, then relocated to Cincinnati in 1957. 

After a little over a decade in Cincinnati, the Royals became the Kings when they relocated to Kansas City and Omaha, splitting games in both cities for three seasons before permanently playing in Kansas City. 

Finally, in 1985 the Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento. Let's not forget that the franchise almost relocated to Anaheim this season. 

Throughout that whole time, the franchise has had brief spurts of success, but with a grand total of zero NBA Finals appearances. 

They also have a franchise winning percentage of .466. 

Perhaps if the team didn't move so often, they would win more. 

Or maybe if they won more they wouldn't move so often. 

1. Los Angeles Clippers

This past December, the Los Angeles Clippers acquired Chris Paul in a trade with the New Orleans Hornets, thus acquiring the first real NBA star in franchise history.

Only problem: It took them 42 years to do it.

The Clippers franchise is not only the worst in the NBA, but possibly in all of sports. Since they came into the league as the Buffalo Braves in 1970, they've only had six winning seasons and six playoff appearances.

The Clippers have never made it past the second round in any of their of six playoff appearances and they have the lowest winning percentage among franchises that have been around for at least 20 years (.365). 

The culture of losing has been ingrained in the Clippers' chromosomes and it'll take a lot more than a few playoff appearances to change that. They're over 900 games under .500. That means the Clippers will have to go 11 consecutive seasons of 82-0 basketball just to make up that ground.

They're also one of three teams that has never won a division title. The Grizzlies and Bobcats are the other two, but cut them some slack. They haven't been around half as long as the Clippers have. 

These are just a few reasons why the Clippers are so easy to ridicule.