Can they break through history? These five teams have not yet reached the Finals, and the Clippers are fighting to the death
Preface
Since the inception of the NBA, there has only been one championship player per year, and the competition for championships every season has been fierce and brutal, which not only requires the team to have a strong star at the disposal, but also the depth of their roster is crucial, and most importantly, they must also ensure that the core of the team is not injured. And teams are not quite the same from team to team, like the Lakers, Celtics, and other big teams, their hopes of winning the championship are bigger than some small ball markets, and in the case of the latter, it is very difficult for them to even reach the Finals once.
Last season's Nuggets reached the Finals for the first time in team history, and they seized the opportunity to win the championship for the first time in the Finals. There are many teams like the Nuggets in the league before, and some of them were even established earlier than the Nuggets, but now they still haven't been able to stand on the stage of the Finals. Next, we take a look at five teams in NBA history that have never touched the floor of the Finals until now, among which the Clippers have the most luxurious roster right now, and they have a chance to break history this season.
5. Hornets (founded in 2004)
As a relatively young team, the Hornets have not played for more than 20 years since their establishment, so they have not had any famous or strong stars in the history of the team, and the strongest in the history of the Hornets so far is probably Kemba Walker. After Walker was drafted by the Hornets that year, his strength ceiling was only an ordinary All-Star, and under his leadership, the Hornets won the championship, and they only scored twice in the playoffs, but this is also the result that Walker did his best to get, and later he became the team's all-time scoring leader when he left the team, where he scored a total of 12,009 points.
Since Walker's departure, the Hornets have once again entered a state of slump, and now another four years have passed, during which the Hornets have also selected some talented young players, such as Ball, PJ Washington, Bridges, etc., but these people are far from enough. Although the Hornets selected Miller this year, their plans for the new season are likely to be rotten, and it is impossible for them to return to the playoffs with their current roster. The future of the Hornets is still confused, compared to them, like the Thunder, Rockets, Spurs and other bad teams, now seem to have found the core and team direction.
4. Grizzlies (founded in 1995)
The Grizzlies, like the Raptors today, were not American when they were founded, and their home court was Vancouver, Canada, before moving to the United States in 2001. As a "post-90s" team that is only 28 years old, the biggest stars in the history of the Grizzlies are Conley and Gasol Jr., and the pinnacle of their team history is also played under the leadership of these two people. The two also left the Grizzlies, and the team has been in a slump for a while, but they drafted Morant in 2019, and their results have improved again.
In 2019, the Grizzlies drafted Morant with a roster pick, and under the latter's leadership, the team quickly completed a rebuild, and in 2021 they reached the playoffs for the first time in four years. The Grizzlies have been a playoff-caliber team for three years in a row, but unfortunately they will usher in another low point this season, team leader Morant was suspended, Adams, Clark suffered injuries and the return date is undecided, and they are also the only team to lose four in a row after the start of the season, it looks like they are going to fall out of the playoffs from last season's second place in the West, if Morant does not focus on basketball, then the team is likely to start a rebuild again.
3. Timberwolves (founded in 1989)
After the Timberwolves formed in 1989, they never won more than 30+ games in their first seven seasons, and it wasn't until they drafted Garnett in 1995 that the team reached its first turning point. Although Garnett was only a high school student when he entered the league, he was talented enough to average 17+8+3+1.4+2.1 per game in the second season of his career, and under his leadership, the Timberwolves reached the playoffs for the first time in 1997. Garnett went from strength to strength, and the team briefly reached its peak, becoming a regular in the playoffs and reaching the Western Conference finals in 2004.
Unfortunately, the Timberwolves lost to the Lakers with a score of 2-4 in 2004, otherwise they would have made it to the Finals that year, and since then the Timberwolves have been completely devastated and even if Garnett plays well, they will not make the playoffs. After the Timberwolves sent Garnett away in 2007 to announce a rebuild, they missed the playoffs for 13 years, and after a first-round tour in 2018, they were rejected from the playoffs for the third year in a row. The Timberwolves drafted Edwards in 2020, and under his leadership, the Timberwolves' results have finally improved, but he is still very young now, and it will be difficult for the Timberwolves to repeat the results of 2004 until he really grows up.
2. Pelicans (founded in 2002)
In 2002, the original Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans, and they also changed their name to the New Orleans Hornets, and not long after they moved over, they drafted Chris Paul, and under Paul's leadership, the team became a regular in the Western Conference playoffs, but they never made it to the Western Conference Finals. Later, Paul only played here for less than six seasons in order to win the championship before moving to another team, but the team was lucky, and not long after sending Paul away, they drafted Anthony Davis with the first pick, and he became the new cornerstone of the team.
However, although he is also very strong, he has not been able to lead the team to break the team record, he played here for 7 seasons, the best result was the Western Conference semifinals, during which the team was officially renamed the New Orleans Pelicans. In 2019, the thick eyebrows left the team, but the Pelicans' luck was still very good, and they selected Cai En with the top pick in the same year. But now four years later, although Caien has cashed in on his talent, he has never been able to stay healthy, and the Pelicans have only made the playoffs once in the past four years due to injuries, and they were eliminated in the first round. The key to the future of the Pelicans is still Zayn and Ingram, and unless both of them can stay healthy at the same time, no matter how good the lineup is, it will be useless.
1. Clippers (founded in 1970)
The oldest team in the area, the Clippers are now 53 years old, starting out as the Braves, then the Clippers, until 1984 when they finally moved to Los Angeles and changed their name to the Los Angeles Clippers. In the history of the Clippers, their first superstar was McAdoo, when he played for the team, the Clippers were called the Braves, he played here for less than five seasons in total, but at his peak he averaged 34.5 points and 14.1 rebounds per game, and he was also elected MVP that year, but unfortunately the team still did not touch the floor of the division finals that year.
There have been many stars in the history of the Clippers who have come and gone later, such as Randy Smith, Paul, Griffin, etc., but no matter how the team's lineup changes, they have never made it to the division finals. In 2019, the Clippers spent a lot of money to form a twin star lineup with Leonard and George, and in 2021, they finally broke the team record and reached the Western Conference Finals, but unfortunately Leonard was injured and finally failed to reach the Finals. Now, another two years later, the Clippers' best result was the 2021 Western Conference Finals, but now that they've formed a space ship of Leonard, George, Harden, and Westbrook, they have a good chance of making history again this season.