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Wednesday’s comeback win in Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals has the New York Knicks just three wins away from ending one of basketball’s most talked-about championship droughts. It’s been more than 50 years since Willis Reed led New York to a 4-1 Finals rout of the Los Angeles Lakers – a moment that still defines the franchise’s identity today.
But here’s the thing: the Knicks aren’t even close to holding the league’s longest title drought. Not by a long shot.
Longest NBA Championship Droughts
Several NBA franchises have never won a championship at all, and almost every team on this list has gone at least half a century without lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The two teams under the 50-year mark don’t look particularly close to ending their droughts anytime soon either – meaning there could soon be 10 NBA teams with 50-plus years of championship futility, unless New York comes through this season.
Worth noting: the Knicks can at least claim a title. Many teams on this list cannot says the same.
10) Washington Wizards – 48 Years
The Washington Wizards weren’t even the Wizards when they last won it all. That honor belongs to the Washington Bullets, who took the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 1978 after a grueling seven-game series against the Seattle SuperSonics.
Wes Unseld was named Finals MVP after hitting two key free throws late in the game – a notable feat given that he shot just 55 percent from the line that season. The Bullets held on, securing the only championship in franchise history.
9) Portland Trail Blazers – 49 Years
Portland reached the Finals twice in the 1990s, losing to the Detroit Pistons in 1990 and the Chicago Bulls in 1992. For their lone title, you have to go back to 1977, when legendary head coach Jack Ramsey guided the Blazers to the inaugural Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Bill Walton – who’d win NBA MVP the following season – led Portland past Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in six games. In the final seconds of Game 6, Walton made a key play to prevent the Sixers from tying the series, sealing the title for the Blazers.
T7) Indiana Pacers – 50 Years
The Pacers were a powerhouse in the ABA before joining the NBA as part of the 1976 merger. They’ve remained competitive ever since – but that first championship has stayed out of reach.
Indiana reached the Finals in both 2000 and 2025. Last season’s run was especially memorable; the Pacers pushed the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games before falling short. It was a deep run that few saw coming.
T7) Brooklyn Nets – 50 Years
Like Indiana, the Brooklyn Nets – then the New Jersey Nets – entered the NBA through the 1976 ABA-NBA merger after a strong run that included two ABA titles, one of them the last in that league’s history. Replicating that success in the NBA has proven elusive.
Their closest call came in back-to-back Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003. In 2002, the Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal-led Lakers swept them. They came back the following year against the San Antonio Spurs, but fell in six games. That’s been as close as it gets for Brooklyn.
6) Utah Jazz – 51 Years
Founded as the New Orleans Jazz in 1974 before relocating to Salt Lake City, the Jazz built one of the NBA’s most consistent programs under legendary head coach Jerry Sloan. None of it ended with a ring.
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls are largely responsible for that. Utah lost back-to-back Finals to Chicago in 1997 and 1998 – the second ending with Jordan’s iconic step-back jumper over Bryson Russell in Game 6, the last shot he’d ever take in a Bulls uniform.
5) New York Knicks – 53 Years
After a seven-game Eastern Conference Finals battle with the Boston Celtics, New York dominated the 1973 NBA Finals with a 4-1 win over the Lakers. Willis Reed took home Finals MVP honors. Since then, the Knicks have been back to the Finals three times – including this season.
The 1994 Finals saw Hakeem Olajuwon dismantle New York in seven games, helping Houston claim the first of back-to-back championships. Then in 1999, the Knicks made a remarkable run to the Finals as the eighth seed, only to run into Tim Duncan, David Robinson, and a San Antonio Spurs team that shut them down in five low-scoring games.
Now it’s 2026, and New York has another shot. Whether they take it remains to be seen.
4) Los Angeles Clippers – 56 Years
Oh, the Clippers.
After previous stops in Buffalo and San Diego, the franchise landed in Los Angeles in 1984 – and things haven’t exactly gone smoothly. In 56 years of existence, the Buffalo Braves/San Diego Clippers/Los Angeles Clippers have never won an NBA Championship. They haven’t even reached the Finals.
Their lone Conference Finals appearance came during the 2020-21 bubble playoffs, where they fell to the next team on this list. Under new owner Steve Ballmer, though, the organization has signaled it’s willing to spend whatever it takes to change that history.
3) Phoenix Suns – 58 Years
Three Finals appearances. Zero championships. That’s the story of the Phoenix Suns across 58 years.
The most recent heartbreak came in 2021, when Chris Paul and Devin Booker led a talented Suns squad to six games before falling to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. Before that, Charles Barkley couldn’t get past Michael Jordan in 1993. And going all the way back to 1976, Phoenix lost to the Boston Celtics in six games in one of the most memorable Finals in league history.
2) Atlanta Hawks – 68 Years
The Hawks have one of the longest and most winding histories in professional basketball, dating back to their days as the Buffalo Bisons in the NBL in 1946. They became the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, then the Milwaukee Hawks, then the St. Louis Hawks – finally settling in Atlanta in 1968.
Their only championship belongs to the St. Louis chapter. In 1958, Bob Pettit dropped a then-Finals record 50 points and hauled in 19 rebounds in Game 6 to beat Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics, 4-2. It remains one of the great individual performances in Finals history.
There’s a footnote that still stings in Boston’s favor: St. Louis had drafted Russell second overall in 1956 – then traded him to the Celtics.
1) Sacramento Kings – 75 Years
The Sacramento Kings have the longest active championship drought in NBA history, and it’s not particularly close. The franchise dates back to 1945 as the Rochester Royals of the NBL, making stops in Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Omaha before landing on the West Coast in 1985.
Their last title came in 1951, when the Rochester Royals – led by Bob Davies – defeated the Knicks in a seven-game series, clinching with a 79-75 win in front of just 4,200 fans at Edgerton Park Arena. The building, which first opened in 1892 as a drill hall for a school for delinquent boys, closed in 1956.
The Kings haven’t been relevant since.
