Top 5 NBA Teams That Never Won a Championship

(last updated on October 13, 2025)

The NBA’s inaugural season was 1946-1947. To give a little historical context to that, Harry Truman was the President, Elvis was years away from offending anyone, and the price of gas was roughly 21 cents a gallon. Every year since, the NBA has crowned a champion, even in the pandemic-created bubble season of 2020. Famous dynasties like the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, and most recently the Golden State Warriors are widely known by even casual basketball fans. For argument’s sake, you can include the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons, Clutch City Houston Rockets, Pop’s San Antonio Spurs, and the Three-headed Monster Miami Heat teams in the dynasty conversation as well.

But what about those teams with stellar, in one case historic, regular seasons that never won an NBA championship? Understandably, they don’t get the same recognition and historical appreciation as champions, but that shouldn’t diminish the fact that those teams had spectacular seasons. In no particular order, here are five of the best NBA teams that never won a championship.

Because of recency bias and the fact that this team broke the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls single-season win record, this team stands at the top of many people’s lists of the best NBA teams that never won a championship. This defending champion posted a still-standing 73-9 regular season record. Anchored by the Splash Brothers, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, this team led the league in points per game (114.9) and was a true offensive juggernaut. Reinforced by glue guys like Draymond Green, Andre Iguodola, and Harrison Barnes, Golden State got off to a 39-4 start. It’s important to note that was done with interim coach Luke Walton while Steve Kerr recovered from back surgery. Steph won his second consecutive MVP award and led the league in scoring (30.1 ppg) and steals (2.1 spg). They clinched the win record on the last night of the regular season as a few hours south Kobe Bryant ended his legendary career with a showstopping 60-point performance.

In the playoffs, they rolled through the Houston Rockets (4-1) and the Portland Trail Blazers (4-1) before running into the Oklahoma City Thunder’s last edition with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in the Western Conference Finals. The Warriors were down 3-1 in the series and were even down seven halfway through the fourth quarter of Game 6 on the road before surging back to vanquish the Thunder. In the NBA Finals, the trick was played on them as LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 3-1 series deficit. This iconic Finals will always be remembered for the Draymond Green Game 6 suspension and the LeBron chase-down block of Iguodola in Game 7. Don’t feel too bad for this team; the Warriors did win titles in 2017, 2018, and 2022. However, if not for this blown Finals lead, this Warriors team may have been remembered as the best NBA team ever, but it certainly qualifies as one of the best NBA teams that never won a championship.

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The list of contributors to this team reads like the cast of The Godfather (ironically released the same year). Executive: Red Auerbach. Coach: Tommy Heinsohn. Players: John Havilcek, Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White, Paul Silas, Don Chaney, Don Nelson, Paul Westphal, and others. That’s a bus full of Hall of Famers and future head coaches. These Celtics went 68-14 in what was then a 17-team league; that mark was eight games better than any other team. Cowens won the MVP award even though he was curiously not even on the All-NBA First Team; thank Kareem for that.

With a shorter playoff format, the Celtics dispatched the Atlanta Hawks and then faced the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. Interestingly, at that point in time, home court was alternated after every game compared to the 2-2-1-1-1 format in today’s playoffs. That Knicks team, also loaded with a cavalcade of names, won Game 7 in Boston after precariously holding onto a 3-1 series lead. To soften the blow of this disappointment, the Celtics did win the NBA title in 1974 and 1976, but without question this was one of the best NBA teams that never won a championship.

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The Mavericks were coming off of a disappointing loss in the 2006 NBA Finals where they held a 2-0 series lead before losing four straight to the Miami Heat. This squad is one of the few with the dubious distinction of a top seed eliminated in the first round; just picture Dikembe Mutombo rolling on the court in Seattle. Unlike some of the other teams on this list that are littered with basketball luminaries, this team was led by German superstar Dirk Nowitzki and a bunch of NBA journeymen. Would you have guessed that this team’s second-leading scorer was Josh Howard?

Although this wasn’t a star-filled team, they were a league best 67-15 in the regular season. Dirk won the league MVP with one of the most exquisite feats in the NBA: a 50-40-90 season … over 50% from the field, over 40% from three-point distance, and over 90% from the line. That is very rarified air. But then in the playoffs, these Mavs ran into the upstart Golden State Warriors and the ghosts of Allan Houston and Mutombo. These were pre-Steph Warriors like Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, and Jason Richardson. The Mavericks were ousted in six games and became just the third #1 seed to lose to a #8 seed. Dirk and some new Mavs did get a title in 2011, but this version of the Mavericks was one of the best NBA teams that never won a championship.

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Amazingly two teams on this list are from the same season, the same conference even. This Spurs group represented the end of an era because it was Tim Duncan’s final season. Their exalted triumvirate of Duncan, Manu Ginobli, and Tony Parker won four NBA championships, and this was their last run for a title together. By this point, the Spurs were led in scoring by Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, and they also had several veteran role players contributing: Danny Green, Patty Mills, Boris Diaw, David West, and Kevin Martin. Revered coach Greg Popovich’s squads were known for stifling defense, and this team was no different, leading the league in opponents points per game (92.9) and overall defensive rating (99.0).

A 67-15 regular season found them second in the Western Conference behind the aforementioned 73-9 Golden State Warriors record-breaking year. After sweeping Memphis in the first round, the Spurs had a date with Durant, Westbrook, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Although San Antonio won Game 1 by 32 points, they fell to the Thunder in six games, and so ended the illustrious career of Tim Duncan. The much anticipated Western Conference Finals duel with Golden State never happened, but this team stills goes down as one of the best NBA teams that never won a championship.

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This was during LeBron’s first tenure as a Cav when his supporting cast was not the caliber he was given in subsequent years. Just two seasons earlier, James pretty much single handedly led the Cavaliers to the 2007 NBA Finals where they got swept by the Spurs. So the bar was set high for this team, and so was the level of pressure. LeBron didn’t disappoint as he won his first MVP award with a sparkling statline: (28.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 7.2 apg). Take a guess at the second-leading scorer on this team. None other than Mo Williams and followed by the Big Z … Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace, and Anderson Varajeo were some of the other members of this James Gang.

The league’s all-time leading scorer powered his team to a 66-16 record. These Cavs swept both of the first two playoff rounds and looked in prime shape to set up an epic Finals of Kobe vs. LeBron. However, the Orlando Magic, coming off a surprising disposal of the defending champion Celtics in the conference semis, were up for the challenge and took out Cleveland in six. Another disappointing playoff loss the following season led to LeBron taking his talents to South Beach. You could make an argument that this was his best season, and you can definitely count this as one of the best NBA teams that never won a championship.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 11th, 2024 at 3:46 pm and is filed under Top 10 Lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.