The Lakers will be fortunate, after losing 11 of 14 and with no return date set for Anthony Davis, to keep their No. 9 spot in the West’s playoff play-in round.
The Nets just welcomed Kevin Durant back from a lengthy injury absence but are five games out of the No. 6 seed in the East with just 18 games left on their schedule … after being forced to trade away James Harden in the middle of the season.
The Knicks have tumbled from last season’s No. 4 seed in the East all the way down to No. 12 and awoke Friday morning facing a five-game deficit just to claw back into play-in territory.
Which of those marquee franchises ranks as the NBA’s Most Disappointing Team this season? Or do you have another nominee like Sacramento or Atlanta? Let us know in the thread below.
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Sorry to be late to the party, but instead of tossing two cents in on the pile for the Lakers or Knicks, I will (partially) defend the Hawks.
Despite the record not being as stellar as the post-Nate hire last season (currently one game under .500), this is still the team with the second best offensive rating in the league for the season and net positive rating for the season as well. Injuries, a horrendous COVID stretch, and an early season jaunt through a completely healthy Western Conference gauntlet led to a hole that they have struggled to get out of, mostly due to a complete lack of defense, something a team missing a lot of players (were 8th most until two weeks ago, per mangameslost) and not rostered for strong defense will really struggle with.
Over the last 10 games (a stretch in which they are 6-4), they have played with the 20th best defensive rating and 4.9 net rating, the latter of which ranks ninth over those 10 games. This is a team that is still poised to strike and has more pages left to write for this season.
Can't give it to the Nets bc KD missed 6 weeks & Kyrie had missed most of the season & then the Harden/Simmons trade. It is clearly the Lakers. With or w/o injuries they've been about the same team. When you have 3 Top 75 players, one of whom some ppl think is the best ever (I don't) & have been as inconsistent & uninspired as they've looked, then they get the title of the most disappointing team this yr, by a landslide.
There is definitely a case for the Hawks. They were two games away from the NBA Finals last season. This year, they are most likely going to land in the play-in (or potentially miss the playoffs).
The more distressing fact for the Hawks is that they might be out of the top 6 in the East for the next few seasons. Other young teams like Cleveland and Toronto have leap-frogged the Hawks (at least for now).
Lakers for sure. As a Celtics fan I should be happy, but truthfully it is a great rivalry when both are good.
The most disappointing thing about them - which none of the comments touched on - is the lack of anyone taking responsibility in that entire organization. LeBron (or LeGM) has taken zero responsibility for the Westbrook deal that he made happen. Pelinka, Buss, Rambi, no one. That is probably the surest sign that they won’t be back soon. They are all stuck with each other. Yikes.
I can't muster any sense of disappointment whenever the Knicks or Lakers falter, so I'll make a case for the Kings, who I've felt a kinship with since the NBA and Tim Donaghy conspired to prevent from meeting my (equally screwed over) Bucks in the 2001 Finals. For most of last season the Kings were a fun late night watch trending upwards. Haliburton was an impeccable vibes lottery pick elated to be in Sacramento. Fox was playing great and from the outside they all appeared to enjoy one another. This year the wheels fell off right from the jump. Bagley was more miserable than ever. Walton was on his way out. Fox was much worse and the joy was gone.
Arvydas is one of my favorites of all time so I'm naturally supportive of his Baltic bloodline. Domas is really good and I don't think the trade was a complete disaster from a talent perspective. Objectively it's just a far more rewarding fan experience to watch your team build something with players you've drafted, especially guys like Haliburton. They ripped apart that connective tissue that had just begun to form. If I were a Kings fan I'd have run out of reasons to trust the franchise.
At the moment I think the lakers are the answer. Nets and Knicks both have their reasons to be beat the top of the list as does Atlanta. Probably ruling out the nets and hawks based on some belief that they can/will turn it around but in a few weeks either could charge to the top of the list if they moss the playoffs or get bounced in the play in. Knicks definitely overachieved last year and is honestly not surprising that things have quickly turned on Thibodeau once again. I don’t think many people are shocked Randle didn’t stay at the lofty heights of last season. The lakers had championship expectations and likely aren’t getting out of round one. That’s a huge disappointment. Even if it brings me some joy
Lakers. Not even close. Every facet of this season has gone downhill from the jump. Injury Luck? Roster Cohesion? Team Identity? Team Effort? Organizational Alignment?
All gone, with the team in total disarray.
The most disappointing aspect of this season to me: Nobody in the organization looks like they have a clue knowing what to do moving forward? We are much closer to the Magic/OKC/Rockets tier now than we are even the play-in teams. And we have no high lottery pick to improve our team quickly like we did in 2019.
For a team that won the title just two seasons ago, that is very disheartening.
The Nets, for all their stars, have yet to show anything up to this point, especially with health. However, they will at least win one round in the playoffs. And the Knicks were a feel-good story last year and some regression was expected to me. At the very least, though, they will get a high lottery pick that can either turn into another useful young player or can be used to target another star in a trade.
The Lakers? They have no hope moving forward. And to me, that makes them the most disappointing team this season!
The thing with the Nets is you can see things turning around with KD coming back and Ben Simmons close behind, there is nothing the Lakers really have left to provide a new and/or impactful element through the end of the season.
We can say the Lakers are poorly constructed or were never going to contend now but that didn't stop most people and many oddsmakers/media members from thinking they were most likely to come out of the West (they had the best Vegas odds in the Western Conference prior to the season). Could blame injuries but they are still basically .500 with AD and I don't think players like Kendrick Nunn would drastically be changing how they play. It's a shame because outside the most recent viral clips of lack of effort, I think LeBron has been pretty incredible at age 37.
The Knicks and Lakers fall into poorly constructed teams. Disappointing… sure but probably predictable. Not sure why the Hawks returned to being the Hawks: over achievement last year, reading their own headlines, jealousy… they should not be this bad. Nets fall into a class of their own. Ky sabotaged the season with his vaccine stand. He’s the reason James left & the burden supposedly placed on his best friend, KD, is unconscionable. So biggest disappointment is the Nets— self inflicted wounds.
Not the Knicks or the Lakers. Neither was going to contend this year. Which has to leave the Nets, though I can't say I thought they were the shoo-in their defenders saw. But while you could have predicted some issue with Kyrie, did anyone really think Harden would be gone so fast? The other teams are just bad. The Nets are a bad TV show and there is no reason to think that the show gets better just because Simmons is out there somewhere and Kyrie might play more.
Hard to really see anyone else as disappointing. All the other pre-season contenders are still contending, the Hawks have righted the ship, and the play-in tourney papers over a lot of things.
Most personally disappointing is the Lakers. I was hopeful the Westbrook experiment would work, but it most certainly has not. However, I would say the Knicks are the most disappointing considering the trajectory they appeared to be on last season. No major injuries either.
Lakers. Any team with LeBron and AD should be in contention. I would give them a 0.1% chance of winning the championship. The Nets I think has a punchers chance if KD is healthy and the vaccine restrictions are lifted and the Knicks overperformed last year and seemed to have reverted to the mean...Just my thought.
Can't be the Knicks because who had expectations for them. They are the most overrated franchise in all of sports and people act like they need to thrive in order for the NBA to do well. The Knicks haven't been in good since 1999 and the league has been fine. /rant
The Lakers have been hit pretty hard by injuries so I will remove them (even with the OBVIOUS bad fit Westbrook trade)
The Nets would probably be my answer. Sure, they have had injuries with Durant but so much self inflicted misery with Kyrie not vaccinating, the team waiting to let him play away games, Harden quitting on them and forcing a trade. Not ever really seeing the Durant/Kyrie/Harden show is the most disappointing thing from this season.
The Nets, though, strike me as a huge disappointment, too. Kyrie's refusal to be available to the team full-time was a self-inflicted catalyst for a lot of this season's issues. Deciding that they had to trade Harden in-stream was a massive concession that this crazy assemblage of talent was imploding.
Gotta be the lakers. They just don't have "it". When your team plays them they just don't feel like a lebron led team. They don't have the extra gear that has has been the calling card for years from Lebron teams.
I believe it's the Lakers. You can argue that they've dealt with injures, but since getting AD that's been the norm. I wonder how different the bubble would have gone if there wasn't some months in between the break and bubble. The Lakers play with no energy and have probably the worst body language during games in the NBA.
How should injuries factor in? Anthony Davis has missed so much time for the Lakers. The Nets have also had to play for a long stretch without Kevin Durant ... but the Kyrie Irving situation is obviously in a category of its own.
100,000% the Lakers. Knicks fans themselves were the only ones putting lofty expectations on the Knicks, and even then I think Knicks fans knew they couldn’t compete for a championship. The Nets still have a fighting chance at making noise in the playoffs
Lakers fans AND the media thought they had a good chance at winning it all. And now, there’s zero hope at them shocking a team in the playoffs. Even with a healthy LeBron and AD, any of the top western conference teams will be able to out coach them and pick apart the rest of the roster
Sorry to be late to the party, but instead of tossing two cents in on the pile for the Lakers or Knicks, I will (partially) defend the Hawks.
Despite the record not being as stellar as the post-Nate hire last season (currently one game under .500), this is still the team with the second best offensive rating in the league for the season and net positive rating for the season as well. Injuries, a horrendous COVID stretch, and an early season jaunt through a completely healthy Western Conference gauntlet led to a hole that they have struggled to get out of, mostly due to a complete lack of defense, something a team missing a lot of players (were 8th most until two weeks ago, per mangameslost) and not rostered for strong defense will really struggle with.
Over the last 10 games (a stretch in which they are 6-4), they have played with the 20th best defensive rating and 4.9 net rating, the latter of which ranks ninth over those 10 games. This is a team that is still poised to strike and has more pages left to write for this season.
Can't give it to the Nets bc KD missed 6 weeks & Kyrie had missed most of the season & then the Harden/Simmons trade. It is clearly the Lakers. With or w/o injuries they've been about the same team. When you have 3 Top 75 players, one of whom some ppl think is the best ever (I don't) & have been as inconsistent & uninspired as they've looked, then they get the title of the most disappointing team this yr, by a landslide.
Some interesting Hawks views in here ...
There is definitely a case for the Hawks. They were two games away from the NBA Finals last season. This year, they are most likely going to land in the play-in (or potentially miss the playoffs).
The more distressing fact for the Hawks is that they might be out of the top 6 in the East for the next few seasons. Other young teams like Cleveland and Toronto have leap-frogged the Hawks (at least for now).
Has to be the Hawks. Of the candidates that one seems most about effort while the others are more about poor roster construction and management.
I don't understand why people still think Lebron is an upper echelon player. The only ones who do seem to be the media.
Lakers for sure. As a Celtics fan I should be happy, but truthfully it is a great rivalry when both are good.
The most disappointing thing about them - which none of the comments touched on - is the lack of anyone taking responsibility in that entire organization. LeBron (or LeGM) has taken zero responsibility for the Westbrook deal that he made happen. Pelinka, Buss, Rambi, no one. That is probably the surest sign that they won’t be back soon. They are all stuck with each other. Yikes.
Maybe this is an even deeper discussion than I realized.
Love all the thoughtful answers. Some of you are writing good columns in here rather than mere comments
I can't muster any sense of disappointment whenever the Knicks or Lakers falter, so I'll make a case for the Kings, who I've felt a kinship with since the NBA and Tim Donaghy conspired to prevent from meeting my (equally screwed over) Bucks in the 2001 Finals. For most of last season the Kings were a fun late night watch trending upwards. Haliburton was an impeccable vibes lottery pick elated to be in Sacramento. Fox was playing great and from the outside they all appeared to enjoy one another. This year the wheels fell off right from the jump. Bagley was more miserable than ever. Walton was on his way out. Fox was much worse and the joy was gone.
Arvydas is one of my favorites of all time so I'm naturally supportive of his Baltic bloodline. Domas is really good and I don't think the trade was a complete disaster from a talent perspective. Objectively it's just a far more rewarding fan experience to watch your team build something with players you've drafted, especially guys like Haliburton. They ripped apart that connective tissue that had just begun to form. If I were a Kings fan I'd have run out of reasons to trust the franchise.
At the moment I think the lakers are the answer. Nets and Knicks both have their reasons to be beat the top of the list as does Atlanta. Probably ruling out the nets and hawks based on some belief that they can/will turn it around but in a few weeks either could charge to the top of the list if they moss the playoffs or get bounced in the play in. Knicks definitely overachieved last year and is honestly not surprising that things have quickly turned on Thibodeau once again. I don’t think many people are shocked Randle didn’t stay at the lofty heights of last season. The lakers had championship expectations and likely aren’t getting out of round one. That’s a huge disappointment. Even if it brings me some joy
Lakers. Not even close. Every facet of this season has gone downhill from the jump. Injury Luck? Roster Cohesion? Team Identity? Team Effort? Organizational Alignment?
All gone, with the team in total disarray.
The most disappointing aspect of this season to me: Nobody in the organization looks like they have a clue knowing what to do moving forward? We are much closer to the Magic/OKC/Rockets tier now than we are even the play-in teams. And we have no high lottery pick to improve our team quickly like we did in 2019.
For a team that won the title just two seasons ago, that is very disheartening.
The Nets, for all their stars, have yet to show anything up to this point, especially with health. However, they will at least win one round in the playoffs. And the Knicks were a feel-good story last year and some regression was expected to me. At the very least, though, they will get a high lottery pick that can either turn into another useful young player or can be used to target another star in a trade.
The Lakers? They have no hope moving forward. And to me, that makes them the most disappointing team this season!
The thing with the Nets is you can see things turning around with KD coming back and Ben Simmons close behind, there is nothing the Lakers really have left to provide a new and/or impactful element through the end of the season.
We can say the Lakers are poorly constructed or were never going to contend now but that didn't stop most people and many oddsmakers/media members from thinking they were most likely to come out of the West (they had the best Vegas odds in the Western Conference prior to the season). Could blame injuries but they are still basically .500 with AD and I don't think players like Kendrick Nunn would drastically be changing how they play. It's a shame because outside the most recent viral clips of lack of effort, I think LeBron has been pretty incredible at age 37.
The Knicks and Lakers fall into poorly constructed teams. Disappointing… sure but probably predictable. Not sure why the Hawks returned to being the Hawks: over achievement last year, reading their own headlines, jealousy… they should not be this bad. Nets fall into a class of their own. Ky sabotaged the season with his vaccine stand. He’s the reason James left & the burden supposedly placed on his best friend, KD, is unconscionable. So biggest disappointment is the Nets— self inflicted wounds.
Not the Knicks or the Lakers. Neither was going to contend this year. Which has to leave the Nets, though I can't say I thought they were the shoo-in their defenders saw. But while you could have predicted some issue with Kyrie, did anyone really think Harden would be gone so fast? The other teams are just bad. The Nets are a bad TV show and there is no reason to think that the show gets better just because Simmons is out there somewhere and Kyrie might play more.
Hard to really see anyone else as disappointing. All the other pre-season contenders are still contending, the Hawks have righted the ship, and the play-in tourney papers over a lot of things.
Most personally disappointing is the Lakers. I was hopeful the Westbrook experiment would work, but it most certainly has not. However, I would say the Knicks are the most disappointing considering the trajectory they appeared to be on last season. No major injuries either.
Knicks worst watch on TV to boot
Lakers. Any team with LeBron and AD should be in contention. I would give them a 0.1% chance of winning the championship. The Nets I think has a punchers chance if KD is healthy and the vaccine restrictions are lifted and the Knicks overperformed last year and seemed to have reverted to the mean...Just my thought.
Can't be the Knicks because who had expectations for them. They are the most overrated franchise in all of sports and people act like they need to thrive in order for the NBA to do well. The Knicks haven't been in good since 1999 and the league has been fine. /rant
The Lakers have been hit pretty hard by injuries so I will remove them (even with the OBVIOUS bad fit Westbrook trade)
The Nets would probably be my answer. Sure, they have had injuries with Durant but so much self inflicted misery with Kyrie not vaccinating, the team waiting to let him play away games, Harden quitting on them and forcing a trade. Not ever really seeing the Durant/Kyrie/Harden show is the most disappointing thing from this season.
The answer is NOT clear-cut and why this is such an interesting topic.
The Nets, though, strike me as a huge disappointment, too. Kyrie's refusal to be available to the team full-time was a self-inflicted catalyst for a lot of this season's issues. Deciding that they had to trade Harden in-stream was a massive concession that this crazy assemblage of talent was imploding.
The strongest case against the Lakers: They're not much more than a .500 team even when AD has been in uniform.
Gotta be the lakers. They just don't have "it". When your team plays them they just don't feel like a lebron led team. They don't have the extra gear that has has been the calling card for years from Lebron teams.
I believe it's the Lakers. You can argue that they've dealt with injures, but since getting AD that's been the norm. I wonder how different the bubble would have gone if there wasn't some months in between the break and bubble. The Lakers play with no energy and have probably the worst body language during games in the NBA.
The Lakers will likely be the most disappointing time for a long time....
How should injuries factor in? Anthony Davis has missed so much time for the Lakers. The Nets have also had to play for a long stretch without Kevin Durant ... but the Kyrie Irving situation is obviously in a category of its own.
100,000% the Lakers. Knicks fans themselves were the only ones putting lofty expectations on the Knicks, and even then I think Knicks fans knew they couldn’t compete for a championship. The Nets still have a fighting chance at making noise in the playoffs
Lakers fans AND the media thought they had a good chance at winning it all. And now, there’s zero hope at them shocking a team in the playoffs. Even with a healthy LeBron and AD, any of the top western conference teams will be able to out coach them and pick apart the rest of the roster
Lakers and Knicks definitely at the top.
But the Hawks should be here too considering they haven't lived up to the expectations from last year's run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Easily the lakers, they had championship aspirations and might not even make the playoffs at this point