The Worst NBA Playoff Team Ever

With the NBA’s Eastern Conference poised to send as many as three teams with losing records to the playoffs, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to dig deep into the basketball history books to learn about bad (or at least not very good) teams in the playoffs.

The NBA switched from a 12-team to a 16-team playoff format for the 1983-84 season. Since then, 33 teams have qualified for the postseason despite posting a sub-.500 record during the regular season. The combined playoff record of those 33 teams is 24-107, which equals a 0.224 winning percentage. Eighteen of the 33 teams were swept in the first round. In fact, the only team to win a playoff series in a year when they had a losing record was the 1986-87 Seattle Supersonics, who actually won two series before being swept in the Western Conference Finals by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Clearly that Sonics team, which featured three 20-plus points per game scorers in Dale Ellis, Tom Chambers and Xavier McDaniel, is out of the running as the worst playoff team ever. But which team truly deserves that dubious distinction?

From a pure record standpoint, five teams stand out, having made the playoffs despite winning less than 43 percent of their games. The 1994-95 Boston Celtics, 1985-86 San Antonio Spurs and 1983-84 Washington Bullets each finished with a 0.427 overall mark. The 1987-88 San Antonio Spurs finished at 0.378. And the worst winning percentage of all these playoff teams came from the 1985-86 Chicago Bulls, who won at a dismal 0.366 clip.

Believe it or not, Michael Jordan was a part of that Bulls team. It was his second year in the league. However, due to injury, he played in just 18 regular season games, which may explain the lackluster record. The Bulls were swept by Boston in the first round but not before Jordan managed a 63-point performance in the Boston Garden, foreshadowing a career of memorable playoff performances.

Still, is Jordan’s ’85-’86 Bulls team really the worst to ever play in the NBA playoffs? Below is a quick snippet of the five finalists. Use the links to go further in depth at the greatest basketball resource site around, basketball-reference.com.

• 1994-95 Boston CelticsStarting lineup: Eric Montross (center), Dino Radja (forward), Dominique Wilkins (forward), Dee Brown (guard), Sherman Douglas (guard)Team MVP: Radja (17.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg)Offense: 13th of 27Defense: 20th of 27
• 1985-86 San Antonio Spurs
  Starting lineup: Artis Gilmore (center), Mike Mitchell (forward), Steve Johnson (forward), Alvin Robertson (guard), Wes Matthews (guard)
  Team MVP: Robertson (17.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 5.5 apg, 3.7 spg)
  Offense: 13th of 23
  Defense: 16th of 23
• 1983-84 Washington Bullets
  Starting lineup: Jeff Ruland (center), Rick Mahorn (forward), Greg Ballard (forward), Ricky Sobers (guard), Frank Johnson (guard)
  Team MVP: Ruland (22.2 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 1.0 bpg)
  Offense: 20th of 23
  Defense: 8th of 23
• 1987-88 San Antonio Spurs
  Starting lineup: Cadillac Anderson (center), Frank Brickowski (forward), Walter Berry (forward), Alvin Robertson (guard), Johnny Dawkins (guard
  Team MVP: Robertson (19.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 6.8 apg, 3.0 spg)
  Offense: 11th of 23
  Defense: 22nd of 23
• 1985-86 Chicago Bulls
  Starting lineup: Sidney Green (center), Orlando Woolridge (forward), George Gervin (forward), Gene Banks (guard), Kyle Macy (guard)
  Team MVP: *Michael Jordan (22.7 ppg, 2.9 apg, 2.1 spg)
  Offense: 8th of 23
  Defense: 23rd of 23
  *Jordan started only 7 regular season games yet he was clearly the team’s best performer

Narrowing the field to two

The Celtics and Bullets each managed to win a game in the playoffs, so they’re off the hook. And the Bulls get the Jordan exception. They weren’t as bad as their record showed, especially once number 23 returned to the lineup. There’s no way I can put my stamp of approval on an article claiming Michael Jordan played for the worst team ever to make the playoffs. Strangely enough, that leaves just a pair of teams from San Antonio separated by two years.

So which was worse, the ’85-’86 Spurs or the ’87-’88 Spurs?

Both teams featured Alvin Robertson. Both teams were swept by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. But while the ’87-’88 team was slightly better offensively, they were much worse defensively. In fact, they were the second-worst defensive team in the league that season. Their porous defnese contributed to their average scoring margin of -4.6, nearly three points worse than the ’85-’86 squad’s -1.7 average scoring margin.

The final verdict

1987-88 San Antonio Spurs are hereby declared the worst playoff team in NBA history. But don’t fret, Spurs fans because 20 years later, your franchise may be on the verge of becoming a five-title dynasty.