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National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA) franchise post-season appearance droughts. This list includes the all-time and the active consecutive non-
playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
. Aside from the NBA playoff appearance droughts, this list also includes droughts of series wins, appearances in the
NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
and
NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
wins. The oldest such franchise is the
Suns Suns may refer to: * Gold Coast Suns, Australian rules football team * Phoenix Suns, basketball team *The Sun, the star of the solar system * Stars, massive balls of plasma * Sun (unit), or cun, a traditional Chinese unit of length *An abbreviatio ...
(51 seasons), while the Royals/Kings and the
Hawks Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily a ...
have even longer championship droughts (68 and 61 seasons, respectively). 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 The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...
/
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 Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...
franchise (49 seasons); the Kings and the Hawks have appearance droughts that are even longer (69 and 59 seasons, respectively). The longest a franchise has gone without appearing in the playoffs at all is 16 seasons: the Kings franchise from 2007 to 2022. Of the 19 franchises that have won an NBA championship, 7 have droughts of 38 seasons or more, which is to say that the past 38 championships have been shared among only 12 franchises: the
Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
(9),
Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine *Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding *Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...
(6), Spurs (5),
Warriors A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have be ...
(4), Pistons (3),
Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...
(3),
Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...
(3), Rockets (2),
Mavericks Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Bureau ...
(1),
Cavaliers The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...
(1), Raptors (1) and
Bucks Bucks may refer to: Places * Buckinghamshire, England, abbreviated Bucks * Bucks, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community * Bucks, Illinois, United States, an unincorporated community * Bucks, Michigan, an unincorporated community ...
(1). By contrast, the other three major North American sports have each had at least 17 franchises become champions over the same period of time.


Active droughts


NBA Playoffs appearance droughts

:''Appearance droughts updated through April 15, 2022.'' :''Playoff picture at NBA.com''


NBA Playoffs series win droughts

:''Droughts updated through June 16, 2022.'' :''Playoff picture at NBA.com'' Charlotte was also inactive for two years following the season.


NBA Conference Finals appearance droughts


NBA Finals appearance droughts

* The Sacramento Kings last appeared in the
1951 NBA Finals The 1951 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1951 NBA Playoffs, which concluded the National Basketball Association 1950–51 season. The Western Division champion Rochester Royals faced the Eastern Division champion ...
as the Rochester Royals. * The Atlanta Hawks last appeared in the
1961 NBA Finals The 1961 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series of the 1961 NBA Playoffs, which concluded the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1960–61 season. The best-of-seven series was played between the Western Conference cham ...
as the St. Louis Hawks. * The Washington Wizards last appeared in the 1979 Conference Finals and
NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
as the Washington Bullets. * The Brooklyn Nets last appeared in the 2003 Conference Finals and
NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
as the New Jersey Nets.


NBA championship title droughts

* The Sacramento Kings last won an NBA championship in
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...
as the Rochester Royals. * The Atlanta Hawks last won an NBA championship in
1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
as the St. Louis Hawks. * The Washington Wizards last won an NBA championship in
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
as the Washington Bullets. * The Oklahoma City Thunder last won an NBA championship in
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
as the Seattle SuperSonics.


All-time droughts


Closest approaches without winning

''Updated through the 2022 playoffs.''


Longest post-season droughts in team history

''Updated through the 2021–22 season.''


Longest post-season series win droughts

''Updated through the 2022–23 season.''


Longest NBA Playoffs appearance droughts

:''Appearance droughts updated through the 2021–22 season.'' * Streak included Buffalo Braves 1977–78 seasons, and San Diego Clippers 1979–84 seasons. * Streak included New Orleans Jazz 1975–79 seasons. * Streak included Vancouver Grizzlies 1996–2001 seasons.


Longest Conference finals droughts

:''Appearance droughts updated through June 18, 2021. The current Conference Finals format was introduced in 1971.'' * Streak includes seasons as Buffalo Braves and San Diego Clippers. * Team last qualified for the Conference Finals as Washington Bullets. * Franchise inactive for two seasons between 2002 and 2004. * Current Brooklyn Nets; includes one season as New York Nets. * Includes four seasons as Kansas City Kings.


Finals droughts


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. *^- Team had previously appeared in the National Basketball League finals before said league was merged for the NBA's formation. *- Defunct franchise. *Abbreviation in parentheses – Current location of NBA franchise.


NBA Finals in which neither franchise had won a championship in 20-plus seasons

Teams that had never won the NBA championship are included, even if they were less than 20 seasons old at the time. 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 (1946, then known as the BAA). *- Defunct franchise.


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. ;Notes * § NBA teams that have relocated from their original city(s). * NBA teams that have re-branded to/from their original concept. * NBA teams that have won an ABA championship.


Cities awaiting first NBA championship

Listed according to seasons waited. Current NBA cities/regions only.


NBA Championship droughts by division

;Notes * The last time a team playing in the present-day Northwest Division won an NBA Championship. * The SuperSonics won this NBA Championship as part of the Pacific Division. The team has relocated to Oklahoma City as the Oklahoma City Thunder.


NBA Division Championship droughts

''Updated through the 2021–22 season.'' Left click once on ''Seasons since win'' column heading then once on ''Division'' column heading
to show teams listed in order of division championships.


See also

*
List of NBA franchise post-season streaks This is a list of National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise post-season appearance streaks. This list includes the all-time and the active consecutive playoffs appearance. Aside from the NBA Playoff appearance streaks, this list also includes ...
*
List of National Basketball Association longest losing streaks This is a list of the longest regular season losing streaks in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. Streaks started at the end of one season are carried over into the following season. The Philadelphia 76ers lost 28 straight games spannin ...
*
List of National Basketball Association longest winning streaks The longest winning streaks in National Basketball Association (NBA) history are presented on two lists. One list counts only regular-season games, including streaks that started in one season and carried over into the following season. The other ...
* List of MLB franchise post-season droughts * List of NFL franchise post-season droughts *
List of NHL franchise post-season droughts This article is a list of the active and all-time National Hockey League (NHL) franchise post-season appearance, post-season series win, Stanley Cup Finals and Stanley Cup droughts up to and including the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. Those teams ...
* List of MLS club post-season droughts * *


References

;General * ;Specific {{NBA season-by-season team history National Basketball Association playoffs NBA post-season droughts Post-season droughts