The Thunder Ended Their NBA Title Drought, However These Groups Are Nonetheless Ready

The Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder are your 2024-2025 NBA champions after surviving a Pacers crew that pushed them to seven video games. One of many fascinating features of this sequence, even outdoors of the video games themselves, was that it was a matchup between two groups within the midst of decades-spanning championship droughts.

The final time the Thunder had been the champs, they had been the Seattle SuperSonics: that occurred again in 1979, 46 years in the past and a long time earlier than the crew moved to Oklahoma. And the Pacers? Whereas they had been American Basketball Affiliation champions on three events — 1970, ‘72 and ‘73 — they’ve but to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The Thunder’s drought is over, whereas that of the Pacers tacks on one other 12 months: it’s now been 49 years because the Pacers joined the NBA, all with no championship, and even longer than that if you wish to return to earlier than the ABA/NBA merger. Simply specializing in NBA historical past, nevertheless, the Pacers’ championship-less streak ranks “simply” the seventh-longest within the league, tied with the Brooklyn Nets, who equally joined the NBA in 1976. 

[Related: Thunder Dominate Shorthanded Pacers to Win First NBA Title in OKC]

Listed below are the six groups who’ve been ready even longer than the Pacers (and Nets) for their very own NBA title.

Utah Jazz: 51 years

The Jazz joined the NBA in 1974, as an growth crew out of New Orleans. Their high participant in these early days was Pete Maravich, however he wasn’t practically sufficient: the Jazz would transfer to Utah in 1979, and wouldn’t make the playoffs for the primary time till the 1983-1984 season. The Jazz chosen John Stockton within the 1984 draft with the Sixteenth-overall choose, and Karl Malone with the Thirteenth-overall choose a 12 months later, and thanks largely to the presence of these two Corridor of Famers, the Jazz would make the playoffs yearly till the 2003-2004 season.

Utah made it to the NBA Finals in each 1997 and 1998, with 64-18 and 64-20 seasons, and would lose to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls on each events. Utah hasn’t been again to the NBA Finals since, and within the 2024-2025 season, posted the worst document within the league, at 17-65. So as to add insult to harm, regardless of having the very best draft lottery odds, the Dallas Mavericks received the first-overall choose within the 2025 NBA Draft, whereas the Jazz needed to accept no. 5. 

New York Knicks: 52 years

The Knicks had an opportunity to wipe this streak away in these playoffs,, however misplaced within the Japanese Convention Finals to the Pacers in six video games. In contrast to the Jazz, they’ve truly received earlier than: the Knicks had been final champions in 1973, their second title in 4 seasons, with each groups led by Corridor of Fame level guard Walt Frazier. 

The Knicks wouldn’t make it again to the NBA Finals till 1994 with Patrick Ewing their massive star. They’d lose Video games 6 and seven to the Rockets, nevertheless. Sport 6 ended with Rockets’ middle Hakeem Olajuwon blocking a three-point shot by John Starks, securing an 86-84 victory and forcing Sport 7, which noticed Starks go simply 2-for-18 from the sector in a sport the Knicks misplaced by simply six factors. 

New York would make it again to the Finals in 1999 in opposition to the Spurs, however would lose 4-1, placing them on the alternative aspect of San Antonio’s first-ever NBA championship. The Knicks have made it to the Japanese Convention Finals twice since, however no additional. 

Los Angeles Clippers: 55 years

The Clippers have by no means received an NBA title, 55 years working. They had been introduced into the league in 1970 because the Buffalo Braves earlier than shifting to San Diego in 1977, the place they had been renamed the Clippers. In 1984, the Clippers moved once more, to Los Angeles, changing into the second crew on the town in additional methods than one. Whereas the Lakers have received an extra 9 championships since ‘84, when the Clips got here to Los Angeles, the Clippers have topped out at precisely one Western Convention Finals, with zero NBA Finals appearances.

It’s not that the Clippers have been unhealthy of late, both: they’ve made the playoffs 13 occasions this century, together with in 4 of the final 5 years and 12 occasions since 2011-2012. They simply haven’t been in a position to overcome the challenges of the Western Convention, although, shedding to the likes of the Nuggets on a number of events, final 12 months’s Western Convention Finals consultant the Mavericks, the Suns within the 2021 Western Convention Finals, and defeat by the hands of 2019’s Western Convention champ, the Warriors. 

Phoenix Suns: 57 years

The Suns entered the NBA in 1968 as an growth crew, and had been surprisingly competent virtually out of the gate: they completed 16-66 of their first season, however completed in third or fourth of their division for the subsequent six years after that, and made it to the 1976 NBA Finals regardless of being only a 42-40 crew. They’d lose to the Celtics in six video games, nevertheless, and wouldn’t make it that far once more till ‘93, when Jordan’s Bulls received their third NBA title in a row.

After defeating the Clippers to advance to the Finals in 2021, the Solar lastly got here up in opposition to a crew that wasn’t a part of a historic dynasty. Nonetheless, that crew nonetheless had Giannis Antetokounmpo, who proceeded to common over 35 factors per sport to convey the Bucks again from down 2-0 to 4 in a row and their first NBA championship since 1971, ending their very own drought. 

In 2025, Phoenix missed the playoffs for the primary time because the 2019-2020 season, after which traded star Kevin Durant to the Rockets for Jalen Inexperienced, Dillon Brooks and 6 draft picks, together with the Rockets’ 2025 first-round choice. They’re the oldest NBA franchise to by no means as soon as win a championship.

Atlanta Hawks: 67 years

Earlier than they had been the Atlanta Hawks, they had been the St. Louis Hawks. They had been the Milwaukee Hawks and Tri-Cities Blackhawks within the years earlier than shifting to St. Louis, too, but it surely’s that relocation to St. Louis in 1955 that issues right here, as a result of within the 1958 NBA Finals, the Hawks defeated the Boston Celtics in six video games. 

To place into perspective simply how way back that was, Tommy Heinsohn and Invoice Russell had been each on that Celtics’ squad, they usually had been each 23 years previous. Bob Cousy was 29. Boston had received its first-ever NBA championship the season earlier than, in opposition to these identical Hawks — the C’s now have 18 of them, with Russell ending up with extra rings than fingers earlier than he referred to as it a profession. The Hawks? They’ve 1958. They made it to the finals once more in each 1960 and 1961, however that’s about all. 

The crew moved to Atlanta and the Japanese Convention for the 1968 season, and has not made it to the NBA Finals since: they reached the Japanese Convention Finals in 2015, after they misplaced to the Cavaliers, and once more in 2021, when Antetokounmpo’s Bucks downed them en path to ending their very own championship-less streak. Atlanta has missed the playoffs in each of the final two years.

Sacramento Kings: 74 years

In contrast to the Suns, Clippers, and Jazz, the Kings have received an NBA championship. The issue is that it predates the existence of any of these groups, in addition to the ABA. The Kings joined the Nationwide Basketball League in 1945, the place they had been referred to as the Rochester Royals — that they had been a semi-pro crew for over 20 years earlier than then. They joined the Basketball Affiliation of America in 1948 with three different NBL groups, after which the NBL and BAA merged collectively into the NBA earlier than the 1949 season.

Nonetheless referred to as the Rochester Royals at this level, they’d defeat the Knicks in 1951 for his or her first NBA championship… which has since turned out to be their solely NBA championship. Regardless of predating the NBA itself, that is additionally the franchise’s lone NBA Finals look. They’d transfer to Cincinnati for the 1957 season, then to Kansas Metropolis-Omaha — the place they’d be renamed the Kings — in 1972. They’d develop into simply the Kansas Metropolis Kings in 1975, then transfer to Sacramento in 1985, the place they’ve stayed since. They’ve misplaced two Western Convention Finals in that point — in 1981 to the Rockets, and in 2002 to the Lakers — however that’s it. 

From the 2006-2007 season by means of 2021-2022, the Kings didn’t make it to the playoffs, the longest postseason drought in league historical past. That was briefly snapped with a first-round exit in opposition to the Warriors in 2023, regardless of the Kings being the third seed within the West and the Warriors the sixth. They’ve missed the playoffs within the final two seasons — they simply missed with a 46-36 document in a crowded subject in 2023-2024, then completed in ninth as soon as once more however below .500 this previous season.

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