With the Brooklyn Nets trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in a one-week span, many people have already deemed this era of Nets basketball as one of the biggest disappointments in recent history. A team that once featured three of the greatest scoring talents in league history with Durant, Harden, and Irving, has now closed its title window and is in a promising rebuild mode. The Nets are not the only team that came into an era with high expectations and ended it with minimal results. In fact, they’re not the only Nets team that disappointed. The 2013-14 Nets are infamously known for giving the Celtics Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in exchange for one playoff series win.
The Nets are not the only franchise with failed superteams. The Lakers have their share of disappointing teams but it often gets overshadowed by the history of their winning franchise. Their counterparts in LA, the Clippers, don’t have the history of success the Lakers do, but they certainly have similar failures. We put together a list of NBA teams since 2000 that have underachieved or disappointed whether it was due to performance, injuries, age, or the business of basketball getting in the way of these teams not capitalizing on their championship windows.
9. 7 Seconds or Less Suns (2004-2010)
Led by the dynamic duo of two-time MVP Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire, the Phoenix Suns from 2004 to 2010 averaged 55 wins per season, made three Western Conference Finals in six years, and helped revolutionize modern offensive basketball as we know it, but ultimately were never able to get over the hump. Untimely injuries to key players, such as Joe Johnson in the 2005 Playoffs and Amar’e Stoudemire in the 2006 season, combined with the controversial hip check game against the Spurs in 2007, resulted in missed opportunity after missed opportunity from one of the most talented teams of that era.
8. 2003-04 Lakers
Despite 56 wins and a Finals appearance, the 2004 Lakers will always be known as a team that started four Hall of Famers and went into the Finals as favorites, only to suffer a shocking defeat at the hands of the Detroit Pistons. The 2004 Finals was also the last series Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant played together as teammates as Shaq was traded to the Heat in the 2004 offseason, and the Lakers fully committed to building around Kobe Bryant.
7. 2018-19 Celtics
Fresh off pushing the Cavs 7 games in the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals without their stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, the Celtics were the overwhelming favorite to win the Eastern Conference prior to the 18-19 season when their stars were set to return. With talented young players on the roster, such as Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum emerging, and veterans such as Al Horford and Marcus Morris still on the roster, the notion was that the return of Irving and Hayward made them the biggest threat to taking down the Warriors Dynasty. As we know, that didn’t happen; the Celtics had a subpar regular season, lost in five to the Bucks in the second round, and Irving’s leadership skills were much maligned by the media all season.
6. 2012-16 OKC Thunder
When the Thunder made the Finals in June of 2012, there was a feeling that as long as they kept the core of Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka together, a dynasty was inevitable. Just a few months later, they traded future MVP James Harden to the Houston Rockets and not only did the Thunder never win a championship in that window, they never even made it back to the Finals. Injuries played a huge role in that as Westbrook tore his meniscus in the 2013 Playoffs, Serge Ibaka was dealing with a calf injury in the 2014 Western Conference Finals, and Kevin Durant missed most of the 2015 season with a Jones fracture. Following the Harden trade, the only time the Thunder had a healthy playoff run was in 2016 when they infamously blew a 3-1 lead to the 73-win Warriors. Injuries, poor roster construction, in addition to agreeing to one of the regrettable trades ever are the reasons they were a disappointment.
5. 2021-22 Lakers
When the Lakers acquired Russell Westbrook from the Wizards via trade and made multiple splash free agent signings, most NBA fans had their eyes set on June 2022 with a Lakers-Nets Finals considered more likely than not. The 21-22 Lakers were an older team that couldn’t defend, and the trio of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook were never able to clique offensively. The season quickly went from a season that started with championship aspirations to an embarrassment as the Lakers finished 33-49 and missed the playoffs.
4. 2013-14 Nets
The 2013-14 Nets have become the poster child for failed superteams. As we all know, the Nets traded three unprotected first-rounders, Marshon Brooks, Keith Bogans, Kris Humphries, Kris Joseph, and Gerald Wallace, to the Celtics for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry. Those picks eventually became James Young, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum. Paul Pierce and Jason Terry only spent one season with the Nets before leaving in free agency, and Garnett was traded back to the Timberwolves just one and a half years into his Nets tenure. All the Nets got to show for going all in was a 44-38 season, and one playoff series win.
3. Lob City Clippers (2011-2017)
Whether it was 2014 against OKC or 2015 against Houston, the Lob City Clippers became known for epic playoff collapses as much as they became known for their elite and entertaining offenses. The trade for Chris Paul put the Clippers on the map, and he immediately made them one of the best teams in the league. When they fired Vinny Del Negro and traded for Doc Rivers in 2013, Doc was supposed to be the coach that transformed the Clippers from a good to a great team like Steve Kerr ended up doing for the Warriors when Kerr took over for Mark Jackson. Ultimately under Doc, the Clippers never went further than they did with Vinny. The Warriors Dynasty shut their window in 2015, and they blew the team up after the 2016-17 season.
2. 2012-13 Lakers
The Lakers’ trades for Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in the 2012 off-season were supposed to reopen their championship window and most importantly, Kobe Bryant’s championship window. Instead, injuries played a large role in derailing their season, as Nash only played 50 games, and Dwight Howard never seemed fully healthy from his offseason surgery.
In addition to the injuries, they fired Mike Brown and hired Mike D’Antoni; there were reports of friction between Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles at the end of the season. Dwight Howard signed with the Rockets after the 2012-13 season, and the Lakers’ title window shut as quickly as it reopened.
1. “7-11” Nets (2019-2023)
When Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving signed with the Nets in the 2019 offseason, there were a lot of risks involved. Durant was coming off a gruesome torn Achilles, Kyrie Irving’s durability and leadership skills were in question at the time, but ultimately the Nets thought that signing KD/Kyrie was worth the “risks.” Less than four years later, neither Irving nor Durant are on the Nets as both stars have been traded. During their time as teammates, they only played 74 games together, only won one playoff series, had a potential Dynasty slammed shut due to injuries, Irving refused to get vaccinated, which had a significant role in James Harden asking to be traded. There was as much dialogue about off-court drama then there was about on-court production during 7/11’s tenure with the Nets.
