Which Teams Have Never Won an NBA Championship?

We take a look at which NBA teams have never won a championship, including the longest drought and which teams are the most likely to win.

Los Angeles Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Pacific Division. The Clippers began play in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves, one of three expansion teams to join the NBA that year.

Franchise history

The Los Angeles Clippers, often referred to as the LA Clippers, are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Pacific Division. The franchise was founded in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves, one of three expansion teams to join the NBA that year. The Braves moved from Buffalo, New York to San Diego, California in 1978 and became known as the San Diego Clippers. In 1984, The Clippers moved to Los Angeles.

The franchise began in Western New York on February 8, 1970, when Buffalo Braves owner Paul Snyder was awarded an NBA franchise that would ultimately be worth $32 million. However, Snyder had a difficult time finding suitable players for his expansion team. The process was made more difficult when the rival American Basketball Association (ABA) began to court potential players first by offering lucrative contracts. Snyder’s first draft pick was Danny Ferry from Duke University. Ferry helped lead the Braves to their first win in franchise history on October 13, 1970, when they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 107–96 at home.

Notable players

The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Pacific Division. The Clippers were founded in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves, one of three expansion teams to join the NBA that year. The Braves moved from Buffalo, New York to San Diego, California in 1978 and became known as the San Diego Clippers. In 1984, the franchise relocated to Los Angeles.

exhibition games against rival expansion team, the Portland Trail Blazers. Starting with the 1976–77 season, the franchise began play as part of the NBA’s minor league system, severing its ties with Buffalo. Two seasons later, they changed their name to something that better represented their new location and became known as the San Diego Clippers. In 1984, they finally joined their intrastate rivals when they moved to Los Angeles and became known as simply “the Clippers”.

Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Pacers were first established in 1967 as a member of the American Basketball Association (ABA).

Franchise history

The Indiana Pacers began play in the ABA in 1967 as one of nine expansion teams. The franchise competed in the ABA until 1976, when they joined the NBA as part of the ABA–NBA merger. They won three championships while in the ABA (1970, 1972, 1973). After joining the NBA, they won another championship in 2000.

Notable players

The Indiana Pacers have never won an NBA Championship, but they have had several notable players over the years.

Center Rik Smits was the Pacers’ first-ever draft pick in 1988 and spent his entire 12-year career with the team. He was a two-time All-Star and was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Point guard Reggie Miller played for the Pacers for 18 seasons, from 1987 to 2005. He is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.

Small forward Paul George was drafted by the Pacers in 2010 and quickly became one of the best players in the league. He was named to four All-Star teams and won two Defensive Player of the Year Awards while with the Pacers.

Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Suns began play as an expansion team in 1968. The franchise owns the NBA’s worst all-time winning percentage at .402.

Franchise history

The Suns began play as an expansion team in 1968. The franchise owns the NBA’s fourth-best all-time winning percentage, winning 55 percent of its games, as of the end of the 2012–13 season. In forty-five years of play, they have made the playoffs 29 times (3rd highest among active franchises), posted nineteen seasons of 50 or more wins (8th highest), made nine trips to the Western Conference Finals (5th highest), and advanced to two NBA Finals, in 1976 and 1993. As a result, based on their all-time win-loss percentage, the Suns are the team with the highest winning percentage to have never won an NBA Championship.

Notable players

The Suns have had many good players throughout their history. Notable players include:

-Charles Barkley
-Shaquille O’Neal
-Steve Nash
– Amar’e Stoudemire

Detroit Pistons

The Pistons have never won an NBA Championship in their history. They have been to the Finals multiple times but have always fallen short. This could be due to a number of factors, such as not having enough star power or not being able to close out games.

Franchise history

The team was founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Zollner Pistons, a National Basketball League (NBL) team created by Fred Zollner—a local factories owner. Starting in 1941–42 season, the Pistons joined the NBL and began successful tournament runs; winning their first ever championship after defeating the Oshkosh All-Stars in the 1945 NBL Finals. Led by guard George Yardley and head coach Ray Kerby, the Pistons reached the 1948 NBL Finals, where they were defeated by the Rochester Royals.

Notable players

The Pistons have had many successful players throughout their history. Notable players include:

-Isiah Thomas
-Joe Dumars
-Dennis Rodman
-Ben Wallace
-Richard Hamilton
-Chauncey Billups

Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks are a professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league’s Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, and play at the Fiserv Forum.

Franchise history

The Milwaukee Bucks began play in the 1968–69 NBA season as an expansion team. They qualified for the playoffs in just their third season in 1971, but lost in the first round to the Baltimore Bullets. In 1975, they drafted center and eventual NBA Most Valuable Player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from UCLA; he was traded six weeks later to the Los Angeles Lakers. In 1985, they hired head coach Don Nelson, who took them to six playoff appearances in seven seasons between 1988 and 1994; all were losing efforts however, as the Bucks marked their return to relevancy with consecutive first- and second-round exits in those years. George Karl guided the Bucks to seven straight playoff berths from 1997–2003; this included a franchise-record eight consecutive trips from 1999–2006, during which time Milwaukee qualified for two more conference finals (2001 and 2002), but failed to make a trip to the NBA Finals. From 2008 through 2012, the Bucks qualified for 5 straight playoffs under Scott Skiles, but were ultimately unable to advance beyond the first round each time. On April 16, 2013, ESPN announced that Skiles would not return as head coach after finishing with a 158–228 record. In October 2013 John Hammond was appointed general manager of the Bucks while Jason Kidd was brought in as head coach a month later. Kidd led them back into postseason play for the 2014–15 season where former No 1 overall pick Andrew Bogut helped lead them back into Eastern Conference Finals where they would lose 4 games to 2 against eventual champions Toronto Raptors

Notable players

The Milwaukee Bucks have had many notable players throughout their history. Some of the most famous ones are:
-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( drafted in 1969)
-Oscar Robertson (drafted in 1960)
-Lew Alcindor (drafted in 1969)
-Ray Allen (drafted in 1996)
– Sidney Moncrief (drafted in 1979)