The 5 Most Dysfunctional Franchises in the NBA Today

Earlier this month, Sports Illustrated named an entire NBA franchise—the Golden State Warriors— its Sportsperson of the Year. “It was impossible to overlook the influence that the Warriors, as a collective group, have had on their sport and the broader culture over the last half-decade,” Chris Stone, SI’s editor in chief, said in the announcement.

The Warriors have won three of the last four NBA titles and appear to be well on their way to being champions again (sorry, Raptors fans). Though Kevin Durant joined the Dubs late—transforming them from loveable upstarts to despised villains—owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber and general manager Bob Myers built their team the right way. They drafted well. They found the perfect coach. They structured their players’ contracts judiciously. They built a positive culture.

The Warriors have become the epitome of a functional sports franchise, with the business world looking to the team as an example of the right way to run an organization. A number of NBA teams, however, provide a stark contrast.

The Kings haven’t made the playoffs since 2006, the Suns since 2010. James Dolan’s Knicks have only made it beyond the first round once since 2000. Why does it feel like the Magic have had a top-five pick in every draft since 1940? Fans of these teams, and others, have been subject to misery because of their incompetence.

Below, we present the five most dysfunctional NBA franchises.

Just missed the cut: Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards

The Magic won the Southeast Division three straight seasons from 2007-10 and made it to the NBA Finals in 2009. Like the Mike D’Antoni-era Suns, Stan Van Gundy’s Magic squads—featuring big men Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis playing outside—were ahead of their time. Dwight Howard was an absolute force. But the relationship between Howard and Van Gundy went south, and the team hasn’t done anything remotely interesting since the wacky four-team deal that sent Howard to the Lakers.

The Magic have won an average of 26 games over the past six seasons, so they’ve accrued an abundance of top picks, but it’s still not clear there’s a single star on that roster. Somehow, Orlando couldn’t figure out how to use Victor Oladipo. But it gets worse! Orlando traded Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova, and the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis (yes, all of that) to Oklahoma City for...Serge Ibaka. He lasted eight months with the Magic.

Orlando also blew it with Tobias Harris. Then, on draft night 2014, Orlando sent Dario Saric, a first-round pick, and a second-rounder to Philly for Elfrid Payton. Advantage: The Process.

The Magic might squeak into the playoffs this year, but that doesn’t say much about Orlando—the East is terrible.

With Minnesota making the playoffs last year, Sacramento now has the longest postseason drought of any NBA team. Here are some players who were on the Kings’ roster in 2011: DeMarcus Cousins, Tyreke Evans, Isaiah Thomas, and Hassan Whiteside. It would take a truly horrible front office to lose all of them.

The Kings failed to properly develop Cousins, who was one of the most talented young players in the league and needed mentorship. They got the steal of the 2011 draft in Thomas, and Sacramento fans loved him, but the Kings let him go because they wanted...Darren Collison?

Sacramento doesn’t claim the top spot on this list because the situation is starting to look brighter. Behind a rebuild led by Vlade Divac, the Kings (15-12) are having a strong season and could very well make the playoffs in the loaded West. Their young players like Bogdanovic, De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, and Marvin Bagley III are coming along nicely.

The Kings are this high on the list because of years of dysfunction, but they may be out of the top five altogether in a couple years.

Knicks fans won’t argue with this ranking. This franchise has been a disaster since the late 1990s. Poor leadership starts at the very top, and just about every Knicks fan directs the blame toward James Dolan. They’ve had 11 coaches since Jeff Van Gundy resigned in 2001—including guys like Larry Brown (who amassed a 23-59 record with the Knicks), Isiah Thomas (56-108), and Derek Fisher (40-96).

Some blame also has to fall on Carmelo Anthony. Melo could have signed with the Knicks in the 2011 offseason, but instead he pushed his way to New York before that year’s trade deadline, forcing the Knicks to give up a myriad of assets: Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, a first-round pick, two second-round picks, and cash. That’s a whole lot to give up when the Knicks could have acquired him without surrendering anything just a few months later. Still, Melo was one of the best players in the league, and it’s pretty astounding New York only made it beyond the first round with him once.

Phil Jackson’s three years as president of the team were a disaster. The Zen Master was straight up bad as an executive. He ruined the team’s relationship with Melo by calling him out in the media and never got on the same page with Kristaps Porzingis. Jackson also signed Joakim Noah to a four-year, $72 million contract that looked questionable at the time and looks terrible today. Noah played in 53 total games for the Knicks, never made a modicum of a difference on the court, and left the team in January after a heated dispute with then-coach Jeff Hornacek.

The team has also racked up a long list of off-the-court issues, like the incident involving Charles Oakley yelling at Dolan during a game and Isiah Thomas’ sexual harassment case.

While the front office appears to be settled and it's no longer squandering draft picks, serving as the franchise's savior would do wonders for a player’s legacy. Kevin Durant…are you listening?

We can hear the Cavs fans already: “We just won a title two years ago!” You’re right. But let’s get this straight: ownership had nothing to do with that. Dan Gilbert is the luckiest owner in sports. It took an incredible string of good fortune for Cleveland to put a decent basketball team on the court. The Cavs won that ring, and made it to four straight Finals, because LeBron James was born in nearby Akron and they happened to win the lottery in 2003. And Gilbert still couldn’t manage to build a decent relationship with his franchise’s savior.

“But they picked Kyrie Irving!” First off, Kyrie was the absolute consensus No. 1 pick in a weak draft that featured Derrick Williams going No. 2 and Enes Kanter No. 3. Second, the Cavs lucked into three No. 1 picks in four years—they’d better get at least one star out of that! And, remember, they traded Irving away.

This season has been a disaster, and Ty Lue couldn’t even make it out of October. The Cavs’ hands are tied with terrible contracts and one of the oldest rosters in the NBA. If this team hadn’t lucked into James and Irving (and a groin punch from Draymond Green), Cleveland would probably be No. 1 on this list.

It feels like it’s been 20 years since the Steve Nash-Amare Stoudemire-Shawn Marion teams, which were ahead of their time. Those “seven seconds or less” squads were a #blessing to basketball, but the modern Suns have been painful to watch.

For evidence of the Suns’ front-office disarray, we need to look no further than the team’s recent debacle of a trade with Washington and Memphis: the teams somehow mis-communicated about which Brooks—Dillon or MarShon—would be involved in the deal. Even crazier than the error is the fact that the entire saga played out via Woj’s tweets.

Give Phoenix credit for scooping Devin Booker at No. 13 in 2015, but that may be the only good move the franchise has made since 2010. At one point, Phoenix had Goran Dragic, Isaiah Thomas, and Eric Bledsoe on the roster—and somehow lost all three gifted point guards. Today, they lack a competent point guard to pair with Booker, who signed a new five-year contract in July. Tyler Ulis and Isaiah Canaan couldn’t get the job done. Austin Rivers didn't even play a game with the team that acquired him.

The team has just seemed to lack direction since the Nash days, and general manager Ryan McDonough was fired this past October after five mystifying years. Two low-key terrible trades McDonough made:

The Josh Jackson pick isn’t looking too hot, either. We don’t blame you for not wanting to be there, Eric Bledsoe. Who would? Deandre Ayton looks great and all, but owner Robert Sarver recently drew the ire of his fan base by threatening to relocate the franchise to either Seattle or Las Vegas before saying that wouldn't happen. Regardless, a once proud franchise that was perennially in the playoffs hasn't sniffed the postseason in a long time and the front office is seemingly in disarray. Phoenix could have two first round picks this coming June, but based on their track record, do we have any faith that they'll make the right decision?