Which NBA Teams Without a Championship Have Come Closest to Winning?
As a lifelong NBA analyst and someone who's spent more hours in film rooms than I care to admit, I've always been fascinated by the teams that came agonizingly close to championship glory without ever quite reaching the summit. There's something profoundly compelling about these near-misses - these franchises that built something special, that captured our imagination, only to fall just short when it mattered most. The pain of coming close without winning reminds me of that brief moment when Romeo and Pringle shared the court together - a fleeting glimpse of what could have been, a partnership that showed promise but ultimately couldn't sustain itself long enough to achieve greatness.
When I look back at NBA history, several teams immediately spring to mind as the ultimate bridesmaids. The Utah Jazz of the late 1990s stand out particularly starkly in my memory. That team, built around the legendary pick-and-roll duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone, reached the NBA Finals in both 1997 and 1998, only to run into the Michael Jordan buzzsaw both times. What makes their story so heartbreaking is how close they actually came - particularly in Game 6 of the 1998 Finals, where Jordan's iconic push-off and game-winner eliminated them just seconds from potentially forcing a Game 7. I've watched that sequence hundreds of times, and I still believe that if Bryon Russell had maintained his position just a fraction better, we might be talking about the Jazz as champions. Their two Finals appearances represent the high-water mark for franchises without a championship, though the Phoenix Suns certainly give them a run for their money with their three unsuccessful trips to the Finals.
The Phoenix Suns deserve special mention here because their history of near-misses spans multiple eras. The 1976 team lost perhaps the greatest NBA Finals game ever played - that triple-overtime classic against Boston. The 1993 team featuring Charles Barkley ran into Jordan's Bulls at the peak of their powers. And more recently, the 2021 team led by Chris Paul and Devin Booker won the first two games against Milwaukee before dropping four straight. What's particularly cruel about the Suns' history is that they've been good enough to reach the Finals three times across five different decades, yet they've never managed to win that final game of the season. It's like watching talented players who can't quite synchronize their efforts - similar to how Romeo and Pringle mostly took turns in the backcourt rather than developing the chemistry needed for sustained success.
Then there are the Indiana Pacers, a franchise that's been knocking on the door for what feels like forever. Their 2000 Finals appearance against the Lakers gets most of the attention, but what people forget is that team was actually built around defense and balance rather than superstar power. Reggie Miller was fantastic, but he was never quite the dominant force that could single-handedly carry a team through the playoffs. The Pacers lost that series 4-2, but the games were much closer than the final margin suggests - three of their losses came by single digits. I've always felt that if Larry Bird had been just a few years younger during that run, or if Jalen Rose had played at his peak for just a bit longer, we might be looking at a very different franchise legacy.
The Orlando Magic present another fascinating case study. They reached the Finals in 1995 with a young Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, then again in 2009 with Dwight Howard. Both teams were fun to watch but ultimately overmatched when they reached the biggest stage. What's interesting about the Magic is that they represent two different approaches to team-building - the superstar duo approach in the 90s and the surround-one-superstar-with-shooters model in 2009. Neither worked, though I'd argue the 2009 team came closer to breaking through than people remember. That team actually won Game 3 of the Finals against the Lakers before losing the next three games. If Courtney Lee makes that alley-oop layup at the end of Game 2, we're probably having a very different conversation about that team's legacy.
What all these teams have in common, in my view, is that moment where things could have gone differently - that crucial possession, that key injury, that questionable coaching decision that ultimately made the difference. It's not unlike watching Romeo and Pringle during that brief stretch where they played together - you see flashes of what might have been, moments of brilliance that suggest greater possibilities, but the sustained excellence required to win a championship never quite materializes. The margin between immortality and obscurity in the NBA is razor-thin, and these franchises have lived on that edge for decades.
Looking at more recent examples, the current Philadelphia 76ers core led by Joel Embiid has experienced several heartbreaking playoff exits without ever reaching the Finals. Their Game 7 loss to Toronto in 2019, decided by Kawhi Leonard's iconic bouncing buzzer-beater, might go down as one of the most painful near-misses in NBA history. That shot literally bounced on the rim four times before falling through - a perfect metaphor for how close they came to potentially changing their franchise's trajectory. I was covering that game live, and the atmosphere in the arena shifted from certain overtime to stunned silence in about two seconds flat.
The Denver Nuggets before their 2023 championship represented perhaps the ultimate modern example of a team that kept getting close without breaking through. They made the Western Conference Finals in 2020 only to lose to the Lakers, then suffered through injuries to Jamal Murray that delayed their ultimate breakthrough. Watching Nikola Jokic carry that team year after year without adequate support reminded me of how frustrating it must have been for fans of these perennial contenders who never quite got over the hump. Thankfully for Denver, their story had a happy ending - something that can't be said for the teams we're discussing here.
What separates championship teams from these near-misses often comes down to timing, health, and sometimes just plain luck. The 2018 Houston Rockets famously missed 27 consecutive three-pointers in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against Golden State - a statistical anomaly that likely cost them both the game and a probable championship against Cleveland. The 2002 Sacramento Kings remain one of the most controversial near-misses after that infamous Game 6 against the Lakers where the officiating became the story. I've spoken with several players from that Kings team over the years, and the bitterness still lingers two decades later.
As I reflect on these teams and their near-misses, I'm struck by how thin the line is between eternal glory and becoming a historical footnote. These franchises built competitive teams, created memorable moments, and captured the hearts of their fans, only to fall just short when it mattered most. Their stories serve as both cautionary tales and sources of inspiration - reminders that building a champion requires everything to come together at exactly the right moment. The Romeo and Pringle dynamic I mentioned earlier perfectly captures this phenomenon - moments of individual brilliance that never quite coalesce into the sustained teamwork needed for the ultimate success. For every franchise that eventually breaks through like the 2016 Cavaliers or 2023 Nuggets, there are several others that remain stuck in that purgatory of being good enough to compete but not quite good enough to win it all. And honestly, that's what makes following the NBA so compelling - the knowledge that any season could produce the next great team, or the next heartbreaking near-miss that we'll be discussing for decades to come.