List of NBA franchise post-season droughts


This is a list of National Basketball Association franchise post-season appearance droughts. This list includes the all-time and the active consecutive non-playoffs. Aside from the NBA playoff appearance droughts, this list also includes droughts of series wins, appearances in the NBA Finals and NBA championship wins. The oldest such franchise is the Suns, while the Royals/Kings and the Hawks have even longer championship droughts. Six franchises have never been to the NBA Finals, the highest number among the major North American sports. The oldest such team is the Braves/Clippers franchise ; the Kings and the Hawks have appearance droughts that are even longer. The longest a franchise has gone without appearing in the playoffs at all is 15 seasons: the Braves/Clippers franchise from 1977 to 1991.
Of the 19 franchises that have won an NBA championship, 8 have droughts of 36 seasons or more, which is to say that the past 36 championships have been shared among only 11 franchises: the Lakers, Bulls, Spurs, Celtics, Pistons, Heat, Warriors, Rockets, Mavericks, Cavaliers, and Raptors. By contrast, the other three major North American sports have each had at least 16 franchises become champions over the same period of time.

Active droughts

NBA Playoffs appearance droughts

^Longest drought in team history

All-time droughts

Closest approaches without winning

Updated through the 2019 playoffs.
TeamConference Quarter-Final appearancesConference Semi-Final appearancesConference Final appearancesNBA Final appearancesFewest wins short of NBA Championship
Brooklyn Nets2072202 wins short : 2003
Indiana Pacers26108102 wins short : 2000
Phoenix Suns26189202 wins short : 1976, 1993
Utah Jazz28166202 wins short : 1997, 1998
Orlando Magic1554203 wins short : 2009
Denver Nuggets239306 wins short : 1978, 2009
Minnesota Timberwolves91106 wins short : 2004
Memphis Grizzlies103108 wins short : 2013
Los Angeles Clippers1279 wins short : 1975, 2006, 2015
New Orleans Pelicans729 wins short : 2008
Charlotte Hornets1049 wins short : 2001

Longest post-season droughts in team history

Updated through the 2019 playoffs.
TeamLongest streak with
no post-season appearances		Seasons
Los Angeles Clippers1976–77 through 15
Minnesota Timberwolves through 13
Sacramento Kings ^ through 13
Golden State Warriors through 12
Dallas Mavericks through 10
Utah Jazz1974–75 through 9
Phoenix Suns ^ through 9
Washington Wizards1988–89 through 1995–968
Memphis Grizzlies through 8
Denver Nuggets through 8
Atlanta Hawks through 8
New York Knicks through 7
Oklahoma City Thunder through 7
Milwaukee Bucks through 7
Philadelphia 76ers through 7
Cleveland Cavaliers through 7
Portland Trail Blazers through 6
Detroit Pistons through
through 		6
Boston Celtics through 6
Chicago Bulls through 6
Orlando Magic through 6
Los Angeles Lakers ^ through 6
Houston Rockets through 5
Indiana Pacers through 5
Brooklyn Nets through &
through 		5
Charlotte Hornets through 5
Toronto Raptors through 5
Miami Heat through 3
New Orleans Pelicans2004–05 through 2006–07
2011–12 through 2013–14		3
San Antonio Spurs


1

TeamLongest streak with
no post-season series wins		Seasons
Los Angeles Clippers1976–77 through 29
Washington Wizards1982–83 through 22
Sacramento Kings1981–82 through 19
Indiana Pacers through 17
Brooklyn Nets through 17
Milwaukee Bucks through 17
New York Knicks through 15
Cleveland Cavaliers through 15
Golden State Warriors through 15
Memphis Grizzlies through 15
Charlotte Hornets ^ through 2018–1915
Minnesota Timberwolves ^ through 15
Denver Nuggets through 14
Toronto Raptors through 14
Detroit Pistons through 13
Portland Trail Blazers through 13
Dallas Mavericks through 12
Orlando Magic through 11
Houston Rockets through 11
Utah Jazz1974–75 through 9
Boston Celtics through 9
Atlanta Hawks through 9
New Orleans Pelicans2008–09 through 2016–179
Phoenix Suns through 9
Philadelphia 76ers through &
through 		8
Miami Heat through 8
Chicago Bulls through 8
Oklahoma City Thunder through 7
Los Angeles Lakers ^ through 7
San Antonio Spurs through 6

Longest NBA Playoffs appearance droughts

^Denotes [|active drought]

^Denotes active drought
†Year the team joined the NBA

SeasonsTeamNBA Conference Finals
appearance droughts		Reference
Los Angeles Clippers ^ 1971 †– present
44Atlanta Hawks1971 – 2014
Washington Wizards ^1980 – present
38Golden State Warriors1977 – 2014
Charlotte Hornets ^ 1989 †– present
25New Jersey Nets 1977 †– 2001
23Denver Nuggets1986 – 2008
20Toronto Raptors1996 † – 2015
20Sacramento Kings 1982 – 2001

NBA Finals in which neither team had previously won a championship

In these instances, the matchup ensured that one team would win the first NBA championship in its history.
SeasonWonLostNumber of years till
drought ended
2006*Miami HeatDallas Mavericks5
1978Washington BulletsSeattle SuperSonics 1
1971*Milwaukee BucksBaltimore Bullets 7
1957*Boston CelticsSt. Louis Hawks 1
1955Syracuse Nationals Fort Wayne Pistons ^34
1951*Rochester Royals ^New York Knicks19
1949*Minneapolis Lakers ^Washington Capitols†defunct 2 years later
1947*Philadelphia Warriors Chicago Stags†defunct 3 years later

Teams that had never won the NBA championship are included, even if they were less than 20 seasons old at the time.
SeasonWonDrought LostDrought
2015Golden State WarriorsCleveland Cavaliers*
2006Miami Heat*Dallas Mavericks*
1999San Antonio Spurs*New York Knicks
1994Houston Rockets*New York Knicks
1978Washington Bullets*Seattle SuperSonics*
1971Milwaukee Bucks*Baltimore Bullets*
1957Boston Celtics*St. Louis Hawks*
1955Syracuse Nationals*Fort Wayne Pistons*
1951Rochester Royals*New York Knicks*
1949*Minneapolis Lakers*Washington Capitols*
1947Philadelphia Warriors*Chicago Stags*

Numbers marked with * indicates that the number is counted from either the franchise's first year in the NBA or the first year of the league.

Teams awaiting their first NBA championship

This list includes teams within the current NBA that have never won an NBA championship—sorted by the number of seasons played in the NBA.
Total seasons
FranchiseLast NBA Finals
appearance
seasonsPhoenix Suns 1993
seasonsLos Angeles Clippers§ —
seasonsUtah Jazz§ 1998
seasonsDenver Nuggets —
seasonsIndiana Pacers‡ 2000
seasonsBrooklyn Nets§‡ 2003
seasonsMinnesota Timberwolves —
seasonsOrlando Magic 2009
seasonsCharlotte Hornets† —
seasonsMemphis Grizzlies§ —
seasonsNew Orleans Pelicans† —

;Notes
Listed according to seasons waited.
Current NBA cities/regions only.
CitySeasons waitedConference TitleNBA Team
Phoenix1976, 1993Phoenix Suns
Atlanta-Atlanta Hawks
Denver-Denver Nuggets
Indianapolis2000Indiana Pacers
Salt Lake City1997, 1998Utah Jazz
Sacramento-Sacramento Kings
Orlando1995, 2009Orlando Magic
Charlotte-Charlotte Hornets
Charlotte Bobcats
New Orleans-New Orleans Jazz
New Orleans Hornets
New Orleans Pelicans
Memphis-Memphis Grizzlies
Oklahoma City20122 New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets seasons
Oklahoma City Thunder seasons

NBA Championship droughts by division

DivisionLast NBA ChampionshipSeasons
Northwest Division‡1979 — SuperSonics†
Southeast Division2013 — Heat
Southwest Division2014 — Spurs
Central Division2016 — Cavaliers
Pacific Division2018 — Warriors
Atlantic Division2019 — Raptors

;Notes