Teams that have ZERO chance to compete in future because of ownership/front office

[Harry Garris]

It's evident as I am getting older that the NBA is strictly a business. Majority of NBA owners would rather have a large profit than win an actual championship. I feel like some owners cater to their fan base by doing bare minimum to get fans on board but in terms of actually competing and having to pay luxury tax, they simply bow out. It kinda turned me off as a fan and I'm sure it sucks to hear this but a lot of the bad owners in sports (not just nba) ruin the fan culture in general. Here is my list of NBA teams who will never win a championship IN FUTURE due to bad ownership:

1.) NY Knicks - Dolan
2.) OKC Thunder - market and ownership doing bare minimum
3.) Orlando Magic - ownership never keeps stars (Shaq, Penny, Dwight)
4.) Houston Rockets - Fertitta
5.) Sacramento Kings - Vivek
6.) Indiana Pacers - market and ownership not caring about winning
7.) Charlotte Hornets - market and never keeping stars/young talent
8.) San Antonio Spurs - ownership situation and market attractability

Contrary to popular belief, going deep into the luxury tax is not actually a requirement to winning a championship. The Raptors won in 2019 despite being in the bottom half of the league in salary and $6 million below the luxury tax threshold.

The Warriors didn't win in 2016 but they were the best team in the NBA all year and came a Draymond Green suspension away from back to back titles and they weren't paying the luxury tax that season.

The idea that any of these franchises have a zero percent chance of winning a championship in the future is also a bit of an overreaction. No team has a zero percent chance of doing anything, especially if you're going with a time frame as wide as "the future".

Any of these franchises could have a Golden State-like draft where they hit on 3 future stars in three consecutive drafts. Hell, the Thunder already did that in the past. In that scenario, they're going to be in championship contention regardless of how poorly ownership is managing the team.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

MJ has always said he will pay well into the tax when the team is a contender....sadly we've never come close to that point. Rich Cho set the franchise back a while

and, unless they become extremely lucky, his team never will.
it's not just paying the LT, that no sane owner would pay for that team, but he's also investing the bare minimum the FO and coaching staff, he's hiring only NC people, he's putting his team in treadmill territory with win now moves...

I think jordon is the worst owner in the NBA

[amcoolio]

MJ has always said he will pay well into the tax when the team is a contender....sadly we've never come close to that point. Rich Cho set the franchise back a while

and, unless they become extremely lucky, his team never will.
it's not just paying the LT, that no sane owner would pay for that team, but he's also investing the bare minimum the FO and coaching staff, he's hiring only NC people, he's putting his team in treadmill territory with win now moves...

I think jordon is the worst owner in the NBA

Not true, he paid Larry Brown and staff one of the highest when he felt they were a playoff team

Any team needs to get extremely lucky to be a contender. Bucks with Giannis, that's a generational pick that could have easily not gone to the Bucks and then the Bucks are irrelevant for the last decade. Same with Warriors and Curry.

Knicks pay out the ass for coaching staff/FO and are in the best market and still suck. Its just about getting lucky in the draft or LeBron waking up and deciding he wants to live somewhere else.

[Kabaum]

The Kings might have the worst ownership in all of the NBA, I was blown away watching the team draft Stauskas. They talk about going by the data and eye test from their scouts, but the owner comes in then talks up Stauskus and of course fearing their jobs or pissing the boss off they all fall in line.

You might as well call the Kings owner the GM, since he seems to want to meddle at any opportunity. If you watch the shorter clip of the Stauskus thing it doesn't show the full story.

Watch on YouTube

Sarver is cheap as heck and MJ may also meddle at this level, but the Kings owner seems absolutely clueless about what makes a good NBA player and despite that he still meddles. I would personally trust MJ as a GM over the Kings owner.

I’m failing to see the issue in that video. Even before the owner comes in they were already debating Smart vs Stauskas and seemed to like both. Ultimately they wanted to trade up to get Embiid and the owner allowed that attempt, but Phili said no. Smart then was off the board. Ultimately they took Stauskus, but there was nobody else mentioned that everybody seemed to want over Stauskus. Kings ownership may be bad, but I just don’t see how that video demonstrated it.

This was also his first year as owner and 8 years ago. The Stauskus video is way overplayed. The Luka mistake will forever hurt but McNair has done a good job since taking over. Haliburton is one of my favorite players just because of the type of person he is but Sabonis is legit and a two time allstar and turned 26 a few months ago. He's picked Haliburton, Mitchell and Murray in the last three drafts so we're at least trending in the right direction. But people need to find new material and leave the Staukus video in the past.

[dc]

Wizards easily top this list. They're on a road to nowhere, especially now with the Beal situation, giving him that massive deal plus the NTC.

Leonsis seems like a nice dude an all, but he doesn't prioritize winning. He'd rather just demonstrate loyalty and other "family" like qualities (as with what he did with Beal) than take the necessary steps to build a winner in this particular league. Basically, whatever it is OKC, Det or Houston have just done the past few seasons is something he'd never try.

I mean, I can respect the guy for it because he's kind of open about it but I'm sure glad he isn't my owner.

[Bank Shot]

Kings, Knicks, and Wiz are the top three in some order.

The Kings haven't proven that they can build even a decent treadmill squad in two decades. The Wizards are locked into a wasted half decade with that Beal deal and seem like they are content with topping out as a low playoff seed if it means not bottoming out. The Knicks are like the Cowboys where they are stuck waiting for their owner to die. I'd probably put the Knicks third since they've actually had a decent team somewhat recently and are in a great market.

It's definitely an uphill battle for the Hornets, but at least they have a really nice piece in LaMelo.

[chuck_wagon44]

I forgot to add Minnesota Timberwolves after that TERRIBLE Gobert trade.

[kenwood3333]

Lakers should be on the list - aging and injuired proned roster and a FO unwillingly to admit and rectify mistakes

[LakersLegacy]

Rockets try to win. They did so with Harden and CP3, Yao and TMac, Artest Battier. They won with Hakeem. They won 2 championships with Hakeem. Who barely stayed and at one point wanted to be traded shortly before winning those championships.

Spurs have a great strategy of drafting a lot of players and rebuilding. They have great scouting and a winning culture. 5 championships.

The Blazers may be on the list though as Paul Allen’s estate mandates the team is sold. And they have been stuck on the treadmill for a very long time. They haven’t won since the 70s. And Bull Walton actually sued them for lying about injections they were giving him so he could play through injuries. Even though Portland is a great place with great culture and Nike

It's evident as I am getting older that the NBA is strictly a business. Majority of NBA owners would rather have a large profit than win an actual championship. I feel like some owners cater to their fan base by doing bare minimum to get fans on board but in terms of actually competing and having to pay luxury tax, they simply bow out. It kinda turned me off as a fan and I'm sure it sucks to hear this but a lot of the bad owners in sports (not just nba) ruin the fan culture in general. Here is my list of NBA teams who will never win a championship IN FUTURE due to bad ownership:

1.) NY Knicks - Dolan
2.) OKC Thunder - market and ownership doing bare minimum
3.) Orlando Magic - ownership never keeps stars (Shaq, Penny, Dwight)
4.) Houston Rockets - Fertitta
5.) Sacramento Kings - Vivek
6.) Indiana Pacers - market and ownership not caring about winning
7.) Charlotte Hornets - market and never keeping stars/young talent
8.) San Antonio Spurs - ownership situation and market attractability

[dc]

I forgot to add Minnesota Timberwolves after that TERRIBLE Gobert trade.

They overpaid, but that trade gives them a very good chance at a Top 4 seed over the next few years.

They likely weren't going to get to that point standing pat and keeping their picks.

[MrBigShot]

Minny is banking on being good enough that those picks all end up landing in the ~20-30 range. Did they give up too much? Yeah, probably. But it's a gamble, and we have to see how it works out before evaluating it.

[SelfishPlayer]

Can't really get behind this list.

- OKC is in great shape in terms of building a future contender.
- Houston looked doomed but quickly restocked the cupboard and repaired their draft equity. They now have a very exciting young core.
- If Paolo is as advertised, the Magic are in the best shape they've been in since Dwight.
- The Pacers have very consistently built very good teams. Reggie Miller era into the JO/Artest team that ended with Malice at the Palace, then they quickly built that Paul George/Hibbert team. Even the recent iteration with Sabonis/Brogdon/Turner might have been a strong playoff team had it not been for career-altering injuries to Oladipo and Warren.
- The Spurs won a championship in 2014 and have only now gone full tilt on their rebuild.

New York, Sacramento, and Charlotte are the only teams that feel perpetually stuck in the mud. Charlotte I was ready to take off this list with their exciting core around Lamelo, but then the Miles Bridges incident happened and now we need to see how they rebound from that. I actually have hope for Sacramento for the first time in a while. Mostly because I'm an outlier Keegan Murray fan, but also because I think this roster makes sense for the first time in years. They're going to start 2x 2-way wings with a passing big man and a speedy point guard. They have Holmes off the bench. They have a good offensive guard (Huerter) and defensive guard (Davion). I'm buying Sactown stock this summer.

(sorry New York, I couldn't think of anything nice to say. I hate basically everything the Knicks have done in the Thibs era. I love RJ and Mitchell Robinson but feel they're stunted by the constant shuffle of ill-fitting veterans. Brunson is a nice player.)

The Spurs ran a superstar out of town. Their ability to do such a thing was masked by Tim Duncan. I don't see the Spurs rebounding from running Kawhi out of town.

[sfernald]

Knicks have been pretty solid

Gained multiple picks
Drafted many young players
Have cap flexibility

But will they **** it up with Ainge here? I feel like they will end up paying like 7 draft picks.

[Sane]

Just remember the mantra of the owners who are cheapskates: I will pay it after we win X amount.

All the cheap owners say that. It's a total sham. It's just them setting the players up for the blame. This is a business and in this industry, wins are totally correlated to spending usually. You can pick an example of a team that won it without spending much or a team that spent a lot without winning, but spending more money on players that are worth their contracts helps the team way more often than not. Yes, sometimes your luck runs out and it doesn't work. Nothing is guaranteed. We're talking about taking a risk, which these owners are not willing to take.

The owners that pay the LT just say they need to get better regardless of how much they are currently spending and they show off about it, motivating fans and players alike. When it doesn't work out, they trade that contract for another contract that fits better. Someone is going to pay the LT and not win it, that's not an excuse for it being you or for you not taking a risk.

[DrCoach]

Knicks have been pretty solid

Gained multiple picks
Drafted many young players
Have cap flexibility

But will they **** it up with Ainge here? I feel like they will end up paying like 7 draft picks.

Not sure if u have been paying attention but this Knick FO has been amazing accumulating assets and picks.

Id be shocked if they traded 7 picks

[turnaroundJ]

wizards, blazers - massive extensions to aging stars
kings (depends on how this season turns out)
magic - lots of disappointing young assets to cut losses on. basically everyone except wagner and banchero.
hornets - other than being lucky enough that GSW drafted wiseman instead of lamelo, they are in bad shape
spurs - they need to find their next TD/kawhi

But I sincerely believe that it only takes one draft pick or one move to revitalize a franchise and bring them back towards the path of building a winner. Luka was drafted 4 years ago and already reached the WCF. You could even draft megastars like a Giannis or a Jokic later in the draft. The Grizzlies back then used the Pau Gasol trade to start a proper rebuild (and team rebrand) that had them in the playoffs for several good runs starting just three years after the trade. Houston traded for Harden after OKC messed up. The raptors found an opportunity to trade for Kawhi and won the same year. It's just about luck or timing.

[sfernald]

Knicks have been pretty solid

Gained multiple picks
Drafted many young players
Have cap flexibility

But will they **** it up with Ainge here? I feel like they will end up paying like 7 draft picks.

Not sure if u have been paying attention but this Knick FO has been amazing accumulating assets and picks.

Id be shocked if they traded 7 picks

Sure but now the deadly Siren Ainge is beckoning them to the rocky shore!

[GTR11]

Long live Jerry Reinsdorf, he got blessed during MJ era and was absolute disaster ever since. Market like Chicago would've attracted a lot of players.

Thanks for being cheap ass Jerry, god bless you.

[DaGawd]

Knicks have been pretty solid

Gained multiple picks
Drafted many young players
Have cap flexibility

But will they **** it up with Ainge here? I feel like they will end up paying like 7 draft picks.

Not sure if u have been paying attention but this Knick FO has been amazing accumulating assets and picks.

Id be shocked if they traded 7 picks

even if they do a few of them will likely be some of the heavily protected picks they got from other teams so it’s not all their own assets

[GTR11]

Lakers should be on the list - aging and injuired proned roster and a FO unwillingly to admit and rectify mistakes

You can definitely make a case for that but, LBJ won a chip for Jeanie. Other than that they've been dumpster fire since Dr Buss passed away.

I have no doubt Jeannie will be next Dolan in skirt.