 The top 5 unluckiest NBA franchises of all time. Now before I get started this list is not in order, but it is my top 5 unluckiest NBA teams of all time. Now if you guys have any other suggestions comment them down below and let me know any other franchises that you think have been unlucky and while you're at it, smash this video with a like rating and subscribe if you're new for more what ifs and more of these NBA videos but anyway let's get into it. Number 1 The Sacramento Kings. We start here only for the simple fact that whether or not you think the kings have been lucky or unlucky, they definitely got cheated out of an NBA finals appearance in 2002. The Western Conference finals, the Lakers vs the Kings. They got robbed and the title was instead handed to their arch nemesis the Los Angeles Lakers. Everyone knows about the famous game 6 in which the refs called every little touch on the kings and nothing on the Lakers. If you don't believe me, just type in 2002 Lakers vs Kings on YouTube and you'll see it for yourself. Game 6 was clearly fixed, I mean even David Stern said if he had to choose 2 teams to make it to the NBA finals he would choose the Lakers vs the Lakers. I mean does anything more have to be said? Anyway, enough about the 2002 season, the Kings as a whole have been pretty unlucky. The Kings have averaged 24 wins over the past 7 years and never actually received a top 3 pick during those years. The odds of that happening have to be absurd. Let's talk about their draft selections. In 1998 they chose Jason Williams, 7th overall, definitely not a bad option as he was one of the most entertaining players to ever step the court. However, they could have picked Dirk Niewski 9th and Pulpius 10th, maybe those two could have been more of a franchise type player instead of the 7th overall Jason Williams. Anyway, Pedro Stojakovic, one of Sacramento's best picks, but even Pager was picked one pick before Steve Nash, the 2x MVP. Now this is one that Kings fans don't really want to hear. The Sacramento Kings in 2009 won only 17 games which meant that they were the worst team in the entire NBA and they still got jumped by 3 other NBA teams and received the 4th overall pick. Like Griffin went number 1, James Harden went number 3 to the Thunder which honestly should have been to the Sacramento Kings, but the Kings ended up taking Tyraic Evans 4th overall which wasn't a bad pick, I mean he did win the rookie of the year but guess who got picked 3 picks later, yeah only the back to back MVP Steph Frickin Curry man and those are the 3 of the best picks that they have ever made besides DeMarcus Cousins. So as you can see, the Sacramento Kings have had some pretty bad luck. The Kings haven't had a top 3 pick since 1991 and for a team that hasn't really done very well in the last couple years that's saying something about how unlucky they are. And get this, in 2011 the Kings were absolutely desperate for a small forward, they had the 7th overall pick which meant they had the opportunity to draft Kawai Leonard who was actually really high on their draft board and they also had the opportunity to draft Clay Thompson, they were both available at that 7th overall pick. Not to mention Jimmy Butler was there but no one actually expected Jimmy Butler to be this good so that doesn't count. Anyway, what did the Kings do? They traded their pick to the Charlotte Bobcats along with Beano Udri for John Salmons and the 10th overall pick. Now if they drafted well at number 10 then they would have had an excuse but guess who they drafted? They picked Jimmer Fadet. We've all seen how that turned out. In 2012 the Sacramento Kings absolutely loved Damian Lillard, he absolutely blew them away in workouts but they didn't think he would fall to number 5. But Thomas Robertson who didn't even workout for the Kings fell to the 5th overall pick and they took him instead. He was so bad for them that they traded him 3 fourths of the way through his rookie year while Damian Lillard went on to win Rookie of the Year and I mean we all know how great he is, especially this year. And to give you an idea on the Sacramento Kings, if all went well for them they could have had Lillard, Kawaii and DeMarcus cousins on the same team. So basically yeah, the Kings are just incredibly bad at drafting or they're just extremely unlucky. Probably a little bit of both. Number 2 – The Los Angeles Clippers. Based on how many times this team has been a legit contender for the championship but couldn't get it done is kind of the reason why they're on this list. Not to mention obviously the failed draft picks which we'll get into that later on. Until the past 3 seasons, the only Clippers teams that really had any chance whatsoever to win a championship was the mid-1970's Buffalo's teams with Bob McAdoo and Randy Smith. Bob McAdoo was an MVP when he played for the Buffalo's and Randy Smith was a two-time All-Star but he was the all-time leading scorer for the Los Angeles Clippers as well. During the 70's they had a major chance to win a championship but failed all times which is not really based on luck but it is unlucky that they couldn't get a championship during that time. Anyway, things that are based on luck, well let's get into that. In the 1985 NBA draft with the third overall pick they took big man Benoit Benjamin and he was supposed to be a dominant center that could become the face of the LA's newest franchise. It didn't turn out the way that they wanted and to make the pick worse, they used that third overall pick to take Benjamin over future NBA legends like Chris Mullin and Carmelone. In 1998 the Clippers made one of the worst number one draft selections of all time by selecting Michael Oliver Candy who was certainly the most disappointing and embarrassing player that the LA Clippers have ever had. The worst in LA Clippers franchise history in fact. The number one overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft, Oliver Candy was a total bust for the Clippers. In five seasons on the team, the Candy man put up just 10 points and 8 rebounds as the front office attempted to justify selecting Oliver Candy over future NBA All-Stars, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce, you're done messed up LA. Anyway, in recent years the Clippers have made another huge mistake by trading away Baron Davis and an unprotected first rounder for Moe Williams. Now trading away Baron Davis didn't really matter, but the unprotected first rounder I'm pretty sure you all knew who that became. The end result was the pick that they ended up trading ended up being the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft, in which case they missed out on Kairi Irving. To imagine a big three of Kairi, Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan along with heaps of cast based left over to sign a great small forward or shooting guard as they wouldn't need Chris Paul, obviously because they have Kairi Irving on the team now. And that is a pretty crazy thought, and to be honest it's a scary what if. Even this year when the Clippers thought they'd finally be able to catch a break, luck just said no, as they would lose both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin during this years playoff series and were kicked out in the first round. In a year which maybe they could have challenged the Warriors who had an inch of Steph Kairi in the second round, but probably not actually. Anyway, let's head over to number three. Number three, the Orlando Magic. For a reasonably young franchise, the Orlando Magic have been one of the most unluckiest NBA franchises ever. Orlando blew their best shot at their first championship when Nick Anderson missed four three throws in the closing seconds of game one of the 1995 NBA finals. What made it worse was not only the fact that Nick Anderson is known as a reasonably decent free throw shooter at 70%, it was the end result of All-Star Center's Shaq staying or leaving with the Magic. And as we all know, he did leave and he went to join the Los Angeles Lakers via free agency the following season after Nick Anderson's missed free throws. Anyway, the Orlando Magic. If you didn't know, they actually drafted Chris Weber first overall and he could have teamed up with Shaq. But they used him as a trade piece for Penny Hardaway, who don't get me wrong. He was a great point guard, but let's be honest, he suffered with injuries. Imagine Shaq and Chris Weber as a front court. That's insane. In which case, Magic fans have also watched the promising career of All-Star point guard, Penny Hardaway, get cut short by crippling knee injuries. Imagine if they didn't make that trade and it was Shaq and Weber as a front court. Another unlucky thought for Magic fans is when they lost another young center on a Hall of Fame career path. As Dwight Howard left the Magic in 2012. The Orlando Magic have been pretty unlucky, especially during the mid-2000s. They had a chance to have one of the best one-two punches of all time. They gained Tracy McGrady from the Toronto Raptors and Grant Hill from the Detroit Pistons. If it wasn't for both of these guys getting injured and missing games, there is no doubt that these two could have played together on the same team and they would have gone far, especially in the weak east. Number four, the Houston Rockers. Some might consider the Houston Rockers to be actually one of the luckier franchises in sports, since they managed to win back-to-back NBA titles during Michael Jordan's first retirement. But other than that, they've always been pretty much devastated by major injuries to major stars. It all began with Santa Ralph Samson, one of the most dominant big men to ever play the game, having his career cut short by bad knee injuries in the mid-1980s. The trend continued with three-time All-Star Steve Francis, seven-time All-Star Tracy McGrady and eight-time All-Star Yao Ming, all suffering injuries that derailed these All-Stars careers. The Houston Rockers have also been devastated by failed trade attempts over the past off seasons. When the three-team trade happened that would send Chris Paul to the LA Lakers, we all know that NBA Commissioner David Stern nullified the trade. Now, not only did the Lakers miss out on Chris Paul, the Houston Rockers missed out on Paul Gasol. Luckily, down the road, they acquired Dwight Howard, but I think honestly, if you pair up with James Harden and Paul Gasol, it might even be better than Dwight Howard and James Harden. But maybe that's just my opinion. Anyway, they did acquire Dwight Howard, but even getting Dwight Howard instead of Paul Gasol doesn't really make up for it. Since Dwight Howard's probably gonna leave the Houston Rockers this year in free agency. Now, you still might be wondering why the Rockers are on this list, and I guess the main reason is just because of the injuries. They've had the worst luck with players and injuries. Once again, McGrady, Francis, Yao Ming, Ralph Sampson. Yeah, enough said. Number five, the Portland Trail Blazers. This team is clearly the most unluckiest team in NBA history. No doubt, let's get into this. Yeah, the Portland Trail Blazers. The team that passed up on Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Kevin Durant in the draft. But let me quickly name a few Portland Trail Blazers, what ifs, and tell me that they are not the unluckiest team ever. What if in 1976, they didn't trade away Moses Malone? Obviously at the time, they didn't think Moses was gonna be the MVP type Moses. They didn't know, but just imagine if they kept Moses Malone behind the injured Bill Walton. When Bill Walton went down with all of these injuries, I imagine if Moses Malone was still on that team. Which leads me to the next what if. What if Bill Walton didn't have all the injuries that he had from 1978 and onwards. In 1984, they chose Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. I mean, do I really need to say much more? Well, I do. During the 1990s, the Trail Blazers had a stacked team. But unfortunately, they were never able to win a championship during that time. They might have actually been able to win one in 2000, had they not blown a 15.4th quarter lead to the Los Angeles Lakers. If only Sabonis played in Portland in his prime. In the 2005 draft, the Blazers swapped picks with the Utah Jazz. They swapped the third overall pick for the sixth overall pick. And guess who got picked in between these picks? Darren Williams and Chris Frick and Paul. The end result for Portland was that they received Martel Webster, Claesar and Joel Freeland. And the Utah Jazz received Darren Williams with a chance to either take him or Chris Paul. And as we all know, neither was a bad option. The next year, Portland finally had a better draft. Or did they? Yeah, Lamarcus Oldridge was a great selection. And so was Brandon Roy, who actually won rookie of the year. But as we all know, Brandon Roy suffered major injuries. And what seemed to be like one of the next future superstars of the NBA was never the same for his entire career. So the draft wasn't all that bad. Lamarcus Oldridge, Brandon Roy, who did suffer injuries, but we can't blame the Blazers for drafting him. But the next year's draft, we can definitely blame the Blazers for who they drafted. With the first pick in the 2007 NBA draft, the Portland Trail Blazers select Greg Oden from Ohio State University. Over the MVP, Kevin Durant, who is now one of the best players in the league, whilst Greg Oden is not even in the league anymore. What if Brandon Roy and Greg Oden were healthy along with the Lamarcus Oldridge in Portland? That's a crazy what if. So there it is. Those were my top five unluckiest NBA franchises ever. Some honorable mentions, I guess would be the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they're also one of the luckiest teams ever as well. And that's the reason why I didn't put them on this list. The Brooklyn Nets have also been pretty unlucky throughout their time in the NBA. And even when they were in New Jersey in the NBA, they have been unlucky paying money for joining the NBA whilst also losing Dr. J to the 76ers at the same time. Even when they had success and competed for championships, do you actually think they had a chance to beat the San Antonio Spurs or the Los Angeles Lakers in the mid-2000s or even in the early-2000s? I don't think so. Anyway, let me know who you think are the most unluckiest NBA franchises. And while you're at it, drop a like for the next video and subscribe for more of these type of videos and some more what if videos. I'm actually right now working on a Dwight Howard what if video. If you guys would want to see that Dwight Howard what if, smash this video with a thumbs up. Subscribe to this channel if you want to see more of these type of videos. It's been your morning Smith. I'm out. Peace.