NBA Teams

NBA Relocation History

New Orleans had a basketball team from 1974 to 1979, as they were called the Jazz. The team was hardly profitable and ended up moving to Utah. Despite no history of Jazz in Utah, they kept the name and have been a strong franchise since. The Kansas City Kings ended up moving to Sacramento due to low attendance. It is ironic now that Kansas City is a demanding city to have an NBA team, and Sacramento is struggling in attendance. The Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001, which was also around the time the Hornets came from Charlotte to New Orleans. Charlotte still retained a team and the name eventually, as the Pelicans are now the team name. The last relocation in NBA history up until date was the Seattle SuperSonics moving to Oklahoma City in 2008.

Looking toward the future of the NBA, there are a handful of cities that are in the market for an NBA team. Kansas City is one of them, as they have hosted an NBA team before. They also are known for being one of the great college basketball towns. Seattle is another one, as they are also looking to bring in a hockey team to get a new arena in potentially. A new stadium would help get Seattle a jump for a new NBA team. St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, and Anaheim are a few other rumored names. However, California adding a fifth NBA team isn’t exactly a promising look.

Best NBA Teams Of All-Time

When we think about the best NBA teams of all-time, we instantly jump to the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. They won 72 games that season and only lost three games in the postseason going onto finish as NBA champions. Defensively they were on another level, led by Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Michael Jordan. The only team that could be said to be better or at least on par with that Bulls team is the Golden State Warriors in the 2016-17 season. They only lost one playoff game and won 67 seasons. Adding Kevin Durant to an already elite team upset a lot of NBA people, but this team was tough to play against. We can also lump some of the surrounding years into these two teams, especially those Bulls teams in the mid-1990s.

The Los Angeles Lakers have had some historic teams in their franchise history. In the 1971-72 season, they won 69 games and won 12 playoff games. The Lakers dismantled that New York Knicks team in the NBA Finals. Los Angeles also won 33 straight games during the regular season and had an average point difference of 12.3. Moving ahead a decade, Magic Johnson came along, and it was an exciting time for the Lakers. The 1984-85 team won 62 games and won 15 playoff games before beating an outstanding Boston Celtics team in the finals. Just a few years later, they won 65 games beating the Celtics yet again. In more recent years, the Lakers, during the 2000-01 season, the Lakers dominated during the playoffs losing just one game and won 56 games.

On the other side of the best NBA rivalry, the Boston Celtics have a rich history of top teams. The 1985-86 Boston team was one of the best of all-time. They won 67 games that season and had names like Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale. This Boston team also won 40 games at home. Bill Russell was one of the most dominant players in NBA history, and he led the Celtics to plenty of championships. His team with Kohn Havlicek, KC Jones, Sam Jones, and Tom Heinsohn put up monster numbers. Another elite franchise is the San Antonio Spurs, who have had a strong few decades in the NBA. The strike-shortened season was a great one for the Spurs, but the 2013-14 team won 62 games and had a Finals win over LeBron James and the Heat.

Worst NBA Teams Of All-Time

With every great team, there is an equally not great team. There have been some teams that fail to top 20 wins in a season, which is a tough task to accomplish. The 2000-01 Chicago Bulls were one of the worst teams of all-time, going 15-67 in the season. This was a young Bulls team, but not all these players would pan out to be future players. Jamal Crawford was the only name to make it out of this team and make something of himself. What makes this season worse is that they finished with the worst record and ended up getting the fourth overall pick through the lottery. Pau Gasol went two picks ahead. In terms of winning percentage, the Atlanta Hawks were one of the worst teams ever in 2004-05. They won just 13 games and lost 69.

The Los Angeles Clippers have been a team that has been on the rise, but it was not always like that. During the 1986-87 season, this team won just 12 games and lost 70. It was another dreadful lottery situation, where they finished with the worst record and still didn’t land a top pick. The Clippers ended up with the four pick. They drafted one pick after David Robinson, and then Scottie Pippen went after. In more recent years, the New Jersey Nets won 12 games in the 2009-10 season, which could have been worse as they won five games in the final 12 games. The Nets struggled after this season, shipping away most of their players and never truly recovered until the next decade.

Now we get to the truly worst teams of all-time. The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers won just nine games that season, with Fred Carter being the only stand out player. The 76ers have had some bad teams in their history as the 2015-16 team won just ten games. The 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks were a dreaded team in back to back seasons. Dallas won only 11 games that season, and most of the losses they had were double-digits. Before you laugh at the record of the Charlotte Bobcats, just know it was a 66-game season. However, in that shortened season, they won only seven games. They lost the final 23 games of the season, and the offense scored just 87 points per game.

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