Utah isn't the first NBA franchise to bottom out over the years. What do other tanking runs tell us about the Jazz's?
The Utah Jazz remain embroiled in one of the more notable rebuilds in the NBA.
After recording the best record in the league during the 2020-21 season, the Jazz have steadily gotten worse and worse year after year, a decline purposefully accelerated by the trades of Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanović, among many others, not to mentioned some strategic sitting of players.
Last season, Utah finished with the worst record in the NBA thanks to a league-low 17 wins.
The goal of the teardown was ultimately pretty simple — to give the Jazz the best statistical chance possible to find at least one franchise cornerstone player (most likely through the NBA draft but not necessarily) who would be good enough to lead the franchise to its first NBA title.
That search hasn’t gone all that well, though. Not yet anyway, and barring the Jazz trading their wealth of draft assets for a top 10 star in league this summer, they are very much still in the rebuilding stage.
How long the rebuild will take is anyone’s best guess — guess being the operative word — but the Jazz aren’t the first franchise to bottom out in the hope that it can land elite talent(s) in order to one day win a title.
Plenty of teams have tried to pull off tanking, some in spectacular ways. Can recent rebuilds be instructive as to what the future holds for Utah? Can some semblance of a timeline be created for the Jazz by looking at what has happened to other rebuilding teams?
Let’s take a look.
Who‘ve been the tanking teams?
Over the last 20 years, 16 different teams have finished with the worst record in the NBA at least once.
Those teams are:
- Utah Jazz (2025).
- Detroit Pistons (2023 and 2024).
- Houston Rockets (2021 and 2022).
- Golden State Warriors (2020).
- New York Knicks (2019).
- Phoenix Suns (2018).
- Brooklyn/New Jersey Nets (2010 and 2017).
- Philadelphia 76ers (2016).
- Minnesota Timberwolves (2011 and 2015).
- Milwaukee Bucks (2014).
- Orlando Magic (2013).
- Sacramento Kings (2009).
- Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets (2012).
- Miami Heat (2008).
- Memphis Grizzlies (2007).
- Portland Trail Blazers (2006).
Not every one of those teams purposefully finished as the worst in the NBA. Injuries led to the Warriors’ fall off in 2020, for instance. There have also been plenty of other teams that have tanked, meanwhile, albeit not well enough to finish with the worst record in the league.
Look no further than the Oklahoma City Thunder — who had back-to-back seasons with no more than 24 wins as recently as 2021 and 2022 — or the Washington Wizards, who have failed to win more than 18 games in each of the last two seasons.
Here are the teams over the last 20 years who’ve won 25 or fewer games in consecutive seasons, demonstrating a clear commitment to being bad:
- Charlotte Hornets (twice)
- Washington Wizards (twice)
- Detroit Pistons (twice)
- San Antonio Spurs (once)
- Houston Rockets (once)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (twice)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (once)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (twice)
- Brooklyn Nets (twice)
- Orlando Magic (twice)
- New York Knicks (once)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (once)
- Philadelphia 76ers (once)
- Chicago Bulls (once)
- Sacramento Kings (twice)
- Memphis Grizzlies (once)
- Phoenix Suns (twice)
There isn’t perfect analogue for the Jazz right now and there never will be. There are too many elements to team building (who owns the team, who’s in the front office, who was on the team ahead of the tank, how much did the team get for its best assets when it sold, etc...) for there to ever be a truly perfect analogue.
But these are the teams that have finished with the worst record in the NBA at least once during the same span in which they won less than 25 games in consecutive seasons (which the Jazz are largely expected to do in 2025-26):
- Detroit
- Houston
- Brooklyn
- Phoenix
- New York
- Memphis
- Sacramento
- Orlando
- Philadelphia
- Charlotte
How long did it take to go from being the best at losing to winning?
Each of the above franchises — since their forays into serious tanking that led them to be the worst team in the league — have made the playoffs since at least once.
None of the aforementioned premier tanking teams (a group the Jazz appear to be a shoe-in to join this upcoming season) have won a NBA title since being the worst team in the league, though.
The closest any of them have gotten was Phoenix, which lost to Milwaukee in the Finals in 2020-21.
Philadelphia famously tanked and even drafted an MVP (Joel Embiid), but the 76ers haven’t advanced out of the second round of the playoffs.
Going from losing to winning has, in many cases, been a long process, too. Let’s go down the list:
Detroit
The Pistons were the worst team in the NBA in both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. After five straight seasons of winning 23 or fewer games, though, Detroit grew tired of losing (tanking hadn’t provided the team with enough high quality prospects) and after signing some capable NBA players like Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr., to name a couple, the Pistons went from worst in the league to the playoffs in one season.
It was a dramatic turnaround, buoyed most by a star turn by former No. 1 overall pick and now All-Star Cade Cunningham, though few believe Detroit is close to contending for a NBA title, even with Cunningham on the roster. In a lot of ways, Detroit didn’t see its tank through and lost the stomach for losing.
Houston
The Rockets were the worst team in the NBA in back-to-back seasons, 2020-21 and 2021-22. The team also suffered two more postseason-less seasons the two years after that.
The Rockets are now primed to contend in the Western Conference though after collecting some serious young talent — Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., Reed Sheppard, Tari Eason and Alperen Şengün — while simultaneously trading for or signing key veterans.
Brooklyn
The Nets were awful for three straight seasons, topping out at 28 wins, a byproduct of trading everything away for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson.
And though the team made the playoffs only two years removed from being the worst team in the NBA (which is one of the most impressive feats in recent NBA history), the Nets were an upstart without a real future, at least not until the team signed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in free agency and then trading for James Harden.
Phoenix
The Suns experienced a 10 season postseason drought during the 2010s, but weren’t truly awful until 2015. Phoenix was the worst team in the NBA in 2018, which led to the selection of Deandre Ayton with the No. 1 overall pick.
Crazy as it might sound, he was far from the worst pick the Suns made during their struggles (remember Josh Jackson and Dragan Bender?).
Ayton, along with Devin Booker and Chris Paul (acquired in a trade with the Thunder) got the Suns to the Finals three seasons after the team was the worst in the NBA, but it took six seasons after the team truly started tanking in earnest.
New York
The Knicks went seven seasons without posting a winning record during the last decade, and during their prime tanking years — 2018, ‘19 and ‘20 — the team won at most 29 games, bottoming out with 17 wins in 2018-19.
Tanking didn’t especially help the Knicks, whose first round draft picks during the struggles were Frank Ntilikina, Kevin Knox, RJ Barrett and Obi Toppin.
The Knicks escaped from losing largely for two reasons — the hiring of Tom Thibodeau as head coach and the signing of Jalen Brunson in free agency.
Those two moves, and subsequent ones like the trade that brought in OG Anunoby, allowed the Knicks to go from worst team in the league to the playoffs in just two seasons.
Memphis
The Grizzlies were awful in the mid-2000s, bad enough to win fewer than 25 games in three consecutive seasons and secure three top 5 picks in the draft.
One of those draft picks was Mike Conley, another Kevin Love (though he was traded for OJ Mayo) and the last Hasheem Thabeet.
It took a deft trade for Zach Randolph and a free agency signing of Tony Allen, as well as a superstar turn from former second round pick Marc Gasol, for the Grizzlies to stop losing and start winning.
The Grizzlies made the turnaround in just two seasons (they won 24 games in 2008-09 and in 2010-11 they played in the Western Conference semifinals) but a lot went right to make that happen.
Sacramento
The Kings are kind of the NBA horror story when it comes to tanking. Sacramento won fewer than 30 games in seven straight seasons, missing out again and again on top picks, with the team’s lottery selections failing to pan out more often than not.
The year the Kings were the worst team in the NBA they selected Tyreke Evans No. 4 overall.
In subsequent drafts, they took Demarcus Cousins (No. 5), Bismack Biyombo (at No. 7, though he became Jimmer Fredette), Thomas Robinson (No. 5), Ben McLemore (No. 7), Nik Stauskas (No. 8), Willie Cauley-Stein (No. 6), Marquese Chriss (No. 8, though he became Bogdan Bogdanovic), De’Aaron Fox (No. 5) and Marvin Bagley (No. 2).
Of those players, only Fox helped the Kings end a 16-year playoff drought.
After bottoming out, Sacramento was stuck as a bad to mediocre team for over a decade, and the Kings have since topped out as a first round playoff team in the West.
Orlando
Right now the Orlando Magic are considered one of the more promising young teams in the Eastern Conference, if not the NBA, and tanking did help them get to where they are now, at least this most recent time around.
But truly bottoming out, which the Magic did immediately after Dwight Howard left for the Los Angeles Lakers, didn’t. The Magic were the worst team in the NBA during the 2012-13 season, which netted them Victor Oladipo in the draft.
The next year Orlando won just 23 games and took Aaron Gordon in the draft, and then the year after that the team won 25 games and selected Mario Hezonja.
Two of those draft picks worked out, though largely not for the Magic, and it took six years after the Magic took Oladipo with the No. 2 pick for the team to make it to the playoffs (with a 42-40 record).
The Magic have proven the case for and against tanking. It has worked for the team recently, bringing in franchise-changers like Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, but it did not really work the time before that.
Philadelphia
Perhaps the most famous tanking franchise in NBA history, and they didn’t even really see it all the way to fruition.
Under then-general manager Sam Hinkie, the 76ers completely bottomed out and won fewer than 30 games in four consecutive seasons, with a low win total of 10 wins. “The Process” was supposed to ensure the 76ers a star or two who could lead the franchise to a championship.
What actually happened was the 76ers hit on one and a half of their top 5 draft picks (Embiid and Ben Simmons) while missing badly on quite of few of the others (Markelle Fultz and Jahlil Okafor, most notably).
Once the 76ers started their tank, it took six seasons to return to the playoffs, and despite often having a team considered one of the best in the Eastern Conference, the 76ers haven’t proven to be true title contenders during the Embiid era.
Charlotte
Be it as the Bobcats or the Hornets, tanking hasn’t really worked out much for Charlotte.
The franchise tanked the hardest in the mid-2010s (the team won just seven games in 2011-12) and that netted the team Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Cody Zeller as top draft picks.
Behind Kemba Walker, Charlotte did manage to make the playoffs only two seasons after winning seven games but the team topped out as a first round team.
Another round of tanking the last three seasons hasn’t turned out much better for the Hornets, though Brandon Miller, Tidjane Salaün and Kon Knueppel could still develop into franchise-changing players, though it hasn’t happened yet.
Charlotte is an example of how damaging not committing to tanking — after tanking — can be. The team hasn’t been able to hit on draft picks despite being bad and then has lost the stomach for losing too soon.
How long will the Utah Jazz’s rebuild take?
Few, if any, of the premier tanking teams in the last 20 years in the NBA have been able to completely bottom out and then dig themselves out using the draft alone. Key veteran signings or trades have been vital, and usually only after years of development (losing seasons) for drafted prospects.
Right now, the Jazz are still very early in their rebuild. The team may have a future centerpiece (or building block) in Ace Bailey, but he hasn’t played in a real NBA game and it likely will take a couple of seasons — best case scenario — for the 18-year old to develop into a franchise cornerstone.
Other than Bailey there isn’t a young prospect on the Jazz who is positioned — right now — to be a starter on a championship contender, let alone a playoff team, though Walker Kessler and Kyle Filipowski could eventually prove to be that.
There is scenario wherein the Jazz land a superstar talent in the next draft and both he and Bailey develop into stars, maybe even quickly while being mentored by Lauri Markkanen and whatever veterans Utah inevitably brings in when the time is right.
But right now the Jazz really only have Bailey and don’t appear close to ready to give up on tanking. Based on that and what has happened to the teams that have tried bottoming out over the last 20 years, at least two more years of losing — playoff-less seasons — appear likely for Utah, if not more.
Category: General Sports
