An often-debated topic among NBA circles is “Who is the greatest franchise in NBA history?”. There are lots of very good teams to chose from. Could it be the team with the most NBA titles in 17, the Boston Celtics? Could it be the team with the most consistency in winning titles; the Los Angeles Lakers? Maybe it could be the most consistent team in terms of overall winning the San Antonio Spurs? The Warriors, Bulls, and 76ers also get honorable mentions. All these teams have one thing in common – multiple NBA titles.

One thing not often discussed is who is the greatest NBA franchise who has never won a title? The list is actually quite short, as only eleven NBA teams have yet to win an NBA title. Five of those teams to never win a title are recent having just joined the NBA in the past 35 years. Six of the eleven teams have yet to even make an NBA-finals.

Three of the four teams from the ABA have never won an NBA title, though the Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets have both gotten close. A betting guide for the Indiana Pacers has put them as favorites to win the title more than any other of the non-title winning teams.

First, let’s get rid of the teams many people have forgotten have actually won an NBA title. The Knicks won two titles in the 1970s; the Kings won their only title in 1951; the Wizards won a title in 1978; the Thunder, as the Sonics, won a title in 1979, and the Blazers won a title in 1977. Second, ABA titles do not count; So, the Nets and Pacers cannot count their ABA titles.

One reason many people do not talk about the best teams to never win a title is many of those teams are abysmal. Only four of the teams have all-time winning records, and only two have made the playoffs more than 30 times. However, that may also be misleading as all of these teams are either ABA adds or expansion teams. Seven of these teams originally started out in other cities as well or have weird hiatuses in their history with unclear history.

Honorable mentions:

The four teams not making the top 6 franchises to never win a title are, in no particular order: Charlotte Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, and Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers may be a strange omission from a top 6 list given their recent history, but before 2012 the Clippers were an absolute joke of a franchise. During the Donald Sterling years, the team rarely cracked 30 wins and most seasons were over by November. They also have the second lowest win percentage of any of the teams listed except the Wolves.

#7 Memphis Grizzlies.

Given how they started the Grizzlies being on this list seems strange, but since arriving in Memphis from Vancouver the franchise has flourished. From 2004-2018 the team was in the playoffs most often than not and even made the western finals. Their western finals appearance is the same number of conference finals appearances that the 4 honorable mentions have combined. With stars like Pau and Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Mike Conley the Grizzlies have been very good the last 15 or so seasons. They also seem to have been able to rebuild quickly as they are currently loaded with young stars who are pushing them towards the playoffs.

#6 Brooklyn Nets

The Nets have had a rough history. Starting in the ABA as the New Jersey Americans, they ended up moving to New York and becoming the New York Nets. They stayed the New York Nets until after joining the NBA when they moved back in New Jersey. The had a hard time finding a home in New Jersey and bounced around between several cities. They returned to the state of New York as the Brooklyn Nets in 2012.

The Nets ABA days were great, they won two titles and had greats such as Julius Erving on their roster. But since joining the NBA they have had some hard times. The Nets have been a franchise where players careers go to die.

The Nets have had some success. In the early 2000s behind Jason Kidd the team seen their greatest success since the ABA years when they made back-to-back NBA finals appearances. Even with the bright lights of New York City just across the river, the Nets have struggled to remain relevant. Things may change in the future with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant on the roster, but that is yet to be seen.

#5 Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets oddly enough are one of only 4 teams without a title that have an all-time winning record. The Nuggets originally joined the ABA as the Kansas City Larks and quickly moved to Denver as the Denver Rockets. When the merger with the NBA was imminent, they took on the name Nuggets to honor Denver