Ranking the NBA's Most Miserable Franchises
Every year, around late winter or early spring, a handful of NBA fanbases start to let themselves believe in a forthcoming title run. In 2024-25, supporters of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics are probably already there. A handful of the most optimistic fans of other teams may be getting close.
Well, today, we're not talking about them. On the contrary, those who follow the organizations below are likely feeling whatever's the opposite of what's described above. Despair. Anger. Sadness. Maybe even misery.
Whether by their own doing, through bad fortune or some tragic combination of both, the teams we're focusing on today are a mess.
More succinctly, these are the most miserable franchises in the NBA right now.
The Non-Pelicans Tankers
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We could probably add the New Orleans Pelicans to this group. Wading through an injury-ravaged season is tough. And for much of this one, they were within shouting distance of the worst record in the league.
But they unloaded a potentially difficult free-agency situation when they traded Brandon Ingram at the deadline. And since they've gotten healthier, the Zion Williamson- and Trey Murphy-led core is 5-2 in its last seven.
It's fair to be concerned about Zion's health, but probably not miserable.
That label makes a little more sense for the rest of the teams in the hunt for this summer's top draft pick. Yes, they and their fans can at least hold onto some hope they'll land a star in June, but the path there is often painful.
Washington Wizards games are an exercise in patience. If you're not a fan of LaMelo Ball's free-wheeling interpretation of the sport, the same could be said of the Charlotte Hornets. When they don't play their veterans, the Utah Jazz barely look like an NBA team, and that's been more common since the deadline.
Night to night, teams like the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets are a little more competitive, but that might actually cause a little more misery for the pro-tanking fans.
In short, 2024-25 probably hasn't been easy for any of the above, but all of these teams also have real reasons for optimism. Those are a little harder to find for the rest of this list.
4. Chicago Bulls
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The Chicago Bulls took a long overdue step toward rebuilding in February, when they sent Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings, but they probably didn't go far enough.
Nikola Vučević and Lonzo Ball aren't likely to be around whenever the Bulls are good again, so they may as well have traded them, too. Even if they couldn't get much more than second-round picks (at least one report had them being offered a first for Ball), those would've been more valuable than losing the veterans for nothing after a few more middling seasons.
Instead, even without LaVine and while piling up losses, the Bulls are clinging to a spot in the play-in tournament. That doesn't mean they'll graduate to the playoffs, but they are looking at a longer shot at the No. 1 pick than they would've had with earlier, more aggressive lose-now moves.
And while there may be some reason for long-term optimism for 20-year-old Matas Buzelis and 22-year-old Josh Giddey, neither looks like a surefire future star.
The mediocre middle is a tough place to be in the NBA. Chicago has been there for years, and it looks like it could be there a while longer.
3. Phoenix Suns
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The Phoenix Suns have, by far, the most expensive roster in the NBA.
When you combine salaries and luxury tax payments, Phoenix costs $366.6 million this season. The second-place Minnesota Timberwolves come in at $295.7 million.
They started this ultra-pricey, title-or-bust campaign winning nine of their first 11 games. In the nearly four months since then, the Suns have fallen out of the West's top 10 (and the play-in range). They're five games below .500.
And just over two years after the trade that landed them Kevin Durant and cost them Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, four first-round picks and one first-round pick swap, Phoenix may move on from KD this summer.
At this point in the 36-year-old's career, there's simply no way the Suns will get back as much as they gave up to get him. So, their future is 28-year-old Devin Booker (who probably wouldn't be jazzed about another rebuild), Bradley Beal's contract (which might be the worst in the league), a supporting cast that's fallen short this season and whatever comes back in the Durant deal.
On top of all that, Phoenix doesn't have control of a single one of its own first-round picks until 2032.
The Suns were in the NBA Finals with a relatively young core in 2021. In less than four years, ownership and the front office have turned a legitimately bright future into a disaster.
And it will take some mighty clever maneuvering to change that description any time soon.
2. Philadelphia 76ers
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This spot was a toss-up between the Suns and Philadelphia 76ers. You could argue to swap them, and I wouldn't fight you too hard on it.
The Sixers, after all, at least have 24-year-old Tyrese Maxey to fall back on. He's an All-Star-level talent who's still a few years shy of his prime. And even through a pretty ridiculous stretch of adversity, he's typically played with a noticeable sense of joy.
That's important for an organization dealing with so much pushing in the opposite direction. And boy oh boy, the 76ers do have a lot pushing toward misery.
After signing 34-year-old Paul George to a four-year, $212 million deal this past summer, he's been in and out of the lineup with injuries and is averaging 16.5 points with a 51.8 effective field-goal percentage. Over his five seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, he averaged 23.0 points with a 54.4 effective field-goal percentage.
Like the Suns, much of Philly's future draft capital is tied up, too. The Sixers don't have control of their own first until 2029. This season, they have to stay in the top six to keep their pick. Based on today's odds, just one of the seven lottery teams with a better record has to jump them to prevent that.
But of course, the biggest reason or source for misery for this team and its fans is the terrible injury luck of Joel Embiid and the extension he signed this past summer.
Embiid turns 31 this month. He's one of the heaviest players in the NBA, and he's had to carry that weight on increasingly unhealthy knees. In the 19 games he did play this season, he looked nowhere near as spry as he did in years past. Eventually, the team shut him down and is now considering "radical" surgeries to address the longstanding, mysterious ailment.
For years, Embiid was one of the most dominant scorers in basketball. He's fourth all-time in career points per game, but it's almost impossible to imagine that version of the big man ever coming back.
And because of that aforementioned extension, Embiid is under contract with Philadelphia through 2028-29, when he has a $67.3 million player option.
After surviving the process that landed them The Process, it looks like 76ers fans could be in for another one.
1. Dallas Mavericks
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Just over a month ago, no one could've imagined the Dallas Mavericks being anywhere near a list like this.
Then the organization and its fans went through perhaps the most catastrophic month in modern NBA history. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say the organization, at least in large part, sent itself into the catastrophe.
The first domino, of course, was the trade that remains, to this date, entirely nonsensical.
Luka Dončić just turned 26 years old. He spent the last five years securing five first-team All-NBA nods. He darn-near averaged a 30-point triple-double over that stretch. In 2022, he dragged a Mavericks squad to the conference finals that had little to no business being there. General manager Nico Harrison and his front office responded to that run by letting Jalen Brunson walk as a free agent. Two years later, Luka dragged another Mavericks squad all the way to NBA Finals. That was another overperformance.
It's not hyperbole to say that Dončić is already one of the best players of all time, or that he's on track for one of the 5-15 best careers in NBA history.
And they traded him for a star-level (though injury-prone) big man who's six years older, a potential role player in Max Christie and one first-round pick. ONE!
Oh, and they did that without negotiating with anyone else. They're the ones who asked the Los Angeles Lakers to keep the talks quiet.
The news of the trade was so unbelievable that the natural reaction was to think ESPN's Shams Charania, who broke the story, was hacked.
In one fell swoop, Dallas completely undermined its own future while making a conference rival better in both the short and long term.
Since the move, the laundry list of misery-motivating events is almost unbelievable.
- AD, who plays a position and role that is less important for a deep playoff run than Luka's, got hurt in his first game with the Mavericks.
- The team, both expressly and through leaks, called Luka's conditioning and commitment into question, a bizarre attempt to sell the deal that ignores all of the young star's success and accomplishments.
- It also traded Quentin Grimes, apparently to avoid paying him in restricted free agency, and he went on to score a career-high 44 points for the 76ers.
- Caleb Martin, who came back in the Grimes trade, didn't pass his physical, and Dallas opted not to void the deal.
- P.J. Washington was added to an injury list that already included Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II.
- Luka started to get comfortable with the Lakers. Over his last five games, which includes a win over Dallas in which he had a triple-double, Dončić has averaged 26.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 7.6 assists.
- L.A. is undefeated with Luka in the lineup and has surged into second place in the West.
- Just this week, after all of this month's madness, the team announced an increase in season ticket pricing.
- And as if the Mavs' faithful hadn't been through enough, on Monday, Kyrie Irving tore his ACL.
At this point, there's a very real chance Dallas does not make the playoffs. And while the Mavs do have control of their own first-rounder this summer, they were too good prior to the trade to have a decent shot at the No. 1 pick.
The Mavs will have another bite at the apple in 2026, but win-now moves the team made in the years leading up to this one mean they don't have control of their picks in 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030.
In short, in the space of just a few weeks, Dallas went from one of the brightest futures in the NBA to one of the bleakest.
Honestly, this team has redefined NBA misery.
