Knicks Set Franchise Record for Longest Single-Season Losing Streak

Wednesday's 101-91 defeat at the hands of the Washington Wizards marked a 13th consecutive loss for the New York Knicks, setting a new franchise record for the longest losing streak in a single season, per Sportsnet Stats.

Following a Monday trade that saw the team send guards J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a woefully inexperienced Knicks squad put up a surprisingly decent fight in Washington, D.C., making a decent game of it against the Eastern Conference's fourth-seeded team.

Starting point guard Jose Calderon led the charge with a team-high 17 points, while reserve guard Shane Larkin contributed a full stat line of 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and four steals.

The Wizards didn't pull away until late in the fourth quarter, when a 7-1 run turned a lead of 92-81 into a lead of 99-82. The Knicks somewhat obscured the excellent fourth-quarter showing by Washington, draining a trio of meaningless three-pointers in the last two minutes to make the final score somewhat more palatable.

The previous franchise record for a single-season losing streak was set back in 1985, when the Knicks lost the final 12 games of the 1984-85 campaign, per Basketball-Reference.com's play index. The team would then go on to lose its first eight games of the 1985-86 season, which ran the combined losing streak to a full 20 games.

This current Knicks squad has a very real shot to break the 20-game record, having won just a single contest in its past 24 outings, dating back to Nov. 22.

New York draws a tough home matchup with the Houston Rockets on Thursday, but that's followed by more manageable contests against the Charlotte Bobcats, Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic, in that order.