Ranking 10 NBA teams that have never won a championship by who’s closest to first title

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The Oklahoma City Thunder are 2025 NBA champions after beating the Indiana Pacers, 103-91, in Sunday’s Game 7, capturing the franchise’s first title since relocating from Seattle. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was awarded Finals MVP to cap off what’s been a season of winning for the Canadian guard, who also earned league MVP.

The Thunder were supremely dominant throughout the regular season and most of the postseason, and while the Pacers put up a very strong fight in the Finals —  they gave us the best NBA Finals in quite some time — Oklahoma City came out on top. The celebration was certainly dampened by an early exit by Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who left the game in the first quarter with an Achilles injury that looked fairly similar to the Achilles tear Kevin Durant suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals. It was a brutal way to end the season for the Pacers, but Indiana didn’t stop fighting until the very end in what was one of the most entertaining Finals runs in NBA history.

Looking ahead to next season, the Thunder will certainly open as favorites to repeat again given this young core isn’t going anywhere soon. But as the championship celebrations begin in Oklahoma City, let’s take a look at the rest of the league and assess which title-less team will be the next to win a championship.

There are currently 10 teams in the NBA that have never won a title, but some teams are much closer than others in crossing their names off that list. So let’s rank the 10 teams in order of which is closest to winning their franchise’s first championship.

The Jazz won 17 games this season, so it’s no surprise to find them at the bottom of this list. They didn’t get lucky in the lottery after all that losing, so it’ll likely be another couple seasons of losing before this team can even seriously contend for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, let alone a title. On the bright side, Utah will have several chances at trying to land a young star player through the draft, as they own most of their own future first-round draft picks. But as we saw in this year’s lottery, just because you finish near or at the bottom of the standings, doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to land the No. 1 overall pick. There’s already been speculation that the Jazz will try to tank with the hopes of landing top prospect AJ Dybantsa, who will be playing at nearby BYU next season.

On paper, the Pelicans have a roster worthy of being higher on this list. But there are a couple of reasons why they find themselves so low. First, despite all the promise Zion Williamson had entering the league as a No. 1 overall pick, he just cannot stay healthy. He’s played in less than 50% of games since he’s entered the NBA, and even when healthy there are concerns about him staying in shape to perform at his peak. Most recently, Williamson’s name made headlines as he’s been accused of rape and emotional abuse in a lawsuit, which could put his future with the Pelicans in doubt.

Williamson aside, New Orleans has the problem of playing in the West, where at any time there are at least 8-10 other teams better positioned to win a title than they are. The Pelicans have several quality players on the roster in Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy III, Herbert Jones and CJ McCollum, but without a bona fide star who isn’t constantly injured, New Orleans will continue to be a play-in team going forward.

The Hornets were another team hoping to land Cooper Flagg after a 19-63 season, but instead they wound up with the No. 4 pick. Still a decent spot to be in, and if they manage to nail that pick then it could fast track their route back to contention. But a lot has to go right for that to happen and, given recent history, the Hornets haven’t exactly been great at building a contending team. They’ve had two top-three picks in the last five years, and while LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller have had their moments, injuries have mostly stood in the way of seeing what this team can even be. Adding another top-end prospect will help, and being in a weaker Eastern Conference there’s always a chance that if the Hornets can stay healthy they could be a surprise playoff team. But we haven’t seen it yet, and until then, they’re on the lower end of this list.

Unfortunately, it’s going to get worse before it gets better for the Suns. They’ve finally traded Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets, in which they got a rather underwhelming return that doesn’t involve any first-round draft capital beyond this year. The Suns never had any leverage in this situation, so there was probably never going to be that good of a return on the table unless the Spurs wanted to pony up a ton for the future Hall of Famer. For right now, Phoenix’s core consists of Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Bradley Beal and whoever they take with the No. 10 pick in the 2025 draft. They could certainly improve the roster before the season starts — perhaps by adding a quality center — but in the short term, the Suns are now further away from title contention than they were when Durant was on the team.

And beyond just the immediate future, the Suns still don’t control any of their first-round picks between 2026 and 2031. That’s a grim outlook over the next six years for Phoenix, unless it makes the highly unlikely decision to trade Booker, which would get them a far better return than what they got for Durant. Either way, the chances of the Suns being a championship contender in the near or intermediate future is incredibly low.

The Nets don’t have any franchise centerpieces on their team, but they’re armed with a significant number of future picks that can only be rivaled by the Thunder’s war chest. It makes Brooklyn a team that could, at any moment, pony up a bunch of assets to go star hunting. The Nets tried that once and it never amounted to a Finals or even a conference finals appearance, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try again. They also still have two attractive assets on their team in Cam Johnson and Nic Claxton who could also fetch them either a young player on the rise or future draft capital. It’s a great position to be in, and while in the short term the Nets don’t look like a team that could win a title, they’ve got a ton of assets to make that change quickly. 

I’m just going based on what the Grizzlies look like currently, and while there are some who think they should blow up their roster after trading away Desmond Bane, I’m going to assume that’s not the route Memphis is going to take. And let’s say the Grizzlies did try to pivot, I can’t envision them trading away both Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.. So let’s say they move on from Morant — they’d still have a Defensive Player of the Year winner in Jackson to build around going forward. And now they’ve got what could be a high lottery pick from the Suns in the 2026 draft thanks to that Bane deal with Orlando. It would be an incredibly difficult route for Memphis to even get to the NBA Finals, but it wasn’t too long ago that this team was winning 50-plus games per season. If they can get back to that in the near future, it’s not impossible to envision the Grizzlies winning a title sooner than the teams below them on this list. 

It feels like every year the Clippers should be considered title contenders, but injuries always take them out of the equation. This year it was running into the Denver Nuggets in the first round that did them in, an unlucky draw to get so early in the playoffs. Had L.A. been matched up with the Rockets or the Lakers, there’s a chance the Clippers make it out the first round. But that’s in the past now. Looking ahead, L.A. still has a superstar leader in Kawhi Leonard, who despite starting the season injured, looked like his old self in the back half of the year. James Harden has somewhat reinvented himself with L.A. and returned to All-Star form, and Ivica Zubac is one of the premier rim protectors who is an underrated facilitator and finisher around the rim. Harden and Leonard aren’t in their prime anymore, but that duo, combined with Zubac and Norman Powell, is a quality core for at least the next couple years.

The Clippers are always capable of making a deep postseason run as long as Leonard is healthy, and given that he’ll be entering next season with no major ailments, the short-term window is still open for L.A. to win its first title.

3. Indiana Pacers

If it weren’t for the Haliburton Achilles injury, the Pacers would be sitting atop this list, because at full strength there’s a good chance they could get back to the NBA Finals next season. Unfortunately, with Haliburton expected to miss extended time, that changes Indiana’s short-term outlook. But they still have a bright future where they could very well win their first championship in the next few years. Haliburton and Pascal Siakam are signed through at least 2028, as are Andrew Nembhard, TJ McConnell and Obi Toppin. There have already reports that the team plans on re-signing Myles Turner this summer, guaranteeing that the Pacers will be paying the luxury tax for the first time since 2006.

Beyond that, the Pacers did a sneakily-savvy move during the Finals by trading the No. 23 pick in the 2025 draft and the rights to Mojave King to the Pelicans for their own 2026 first-round pick. That 2026 pick may look even more valuable for the Pacers with Haliburton out next season, and they could use it to trade or — depending on how high it is — take a player in what is expected to be a loaded draft. That deal with the Pelicans also allows Indiana to trade up to four first-round picks between 2026 and 2032, meaning it could go star-hunting in the near or distant future to continue improving the roster. So basically, the Pacers roster that just went to the Finals isn’t going anywhere, and if things don’t work out of the next 2-3 years, they have assets to ensure they can remain championship contenders and possibly win that elusive title.

The Magic just made an all-in move to win a championship, and they’re probably looking at what the Pacers did and thinking they could also make an unexpected run to the NBA Finals. The idea isn’t delusional, either. They’ve got a young budding star in Paolo Banchero, another young talent in Franz Wagner who can play hero or sidekick, and just added Desmond Bane, who fits perfectly alongside those two. The Magic are a defense-first team that added one of the best volume 3-point shooters in the league so, yeah, their chances of making a playoff run are high.

This is a young core that can be good for at least the next five years, and the Magic have tons of draft capital to use to continue building around those guys. It may be surprising to see Orlando this high on the list considering they haven’t made it out of the first round of the playoffs since 2010, but the Magic just addressed their biggest need before the offseason even officially started, and with Banchero and Wagner fully healthy next season, this is a team that could make a Pacers-esque run to the Finals as soon as next season.

The Timberwolves are coming off back-to-back conference finals appearances, have one of the best young stars in the league in Anthony Edwards, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year winner in Rudy Gobert and several young quality players who will continue to improve together. They didn’t land Durant, as he reportedly had no interest in playing in Minnesota, but the Wolves have the ability to go get another star to pair with Edward if they so choose. Even if that doesn’t happen right away, we’ve seen this Wolves team flip a switch in the postseason twice now, and while they’ve fallen short, it’s only a matter of time before they finally break through. 

Minnesota’s ability to win its first title hinges on Edwards’ continued development, and given where he is at just 23 years old, there’s clearly still tons of room for him to grow. Continued roster improvement will also matter, and the Wolves will have to figure out how to pay and keep guys like Julius Randle, Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker this summer. Keeping this core intact is crucial to Minnesota’s ability to get back to the West finals and beyond, but if they manage that and are fine going above the second tax apron again, then this team has the staying power to challenge for the title in the next few years.

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