As NBA fans, basketball tends to bring out every emotion in us as a game progresses. We feel these kinds of emotions when it comes to our favorite players, least favorite players, favorite teams, and least favorite teams as well. For the players and teams that we love, these feelings are jovial, happy, supportive, and even sometimes negative emotions like sadness and heartbreak when they are defeated. These emotions are the complete opposite when it comes to the players and teams we have loved to hate over the years as well. We experience joy when they fail and anger when they succeed.
- 10. 1997-98 Utah Jazz
- 9. 1968-69 Los Angeles Lakers
- 8. 2000-01 Portland Trail Blazers
- 7. 2001-02 Los Angeles Lakers
- 6. 1992-93 New York Knicks
- 5. 2010-11 Miami Heat
- 4. 1989-90 Detroit Pistons
- 3. 2021-22 Brooklyn Nets
- 2. 2016-17 Golden State Warriors
- 1. 1990-91 Detroit Pistons
- How Did These Teams Become So Villainized?
A couple of weeks ago, we released a list of the 10 teams we view as the most loved teams in NBA history. Today, we will take a look at the 10 teams that we view as the most hated. These teams could have been hated for a number of reasons. Maybe the players just rub us the wrong way, and we want to see them fail. Maybe we believe the team to be a superteam and want to see superteams fail so they will just go away for good. Maybe the team is our favorite squad’s rival, and under no circumstances would we be caught supporting their success. These 10 teams have caused all of our blood to boil at one point or another.
These are the 10 most hated teams in NBA history.
10. 1997-98 Utah Jazz
As told by the “Last Dance” documentary released in 2020, the 1997-98 Utah Jazz were one of the only teams who truly had a chance of ending Michael Jordan’s run in the 90s. The Jazz went 62-20 in 1998, the same identical record as the Chicago Bulls and it seemed inevitable that they would meet Jordan and the Bulls in the NBA Finals for the 2nd consecutive season. Experts and media analysts everywhere picked the Jazz to finally end Jordan and the Bulls’ undefeated streak when they met in the Finals. This is not how it would go down, however, as Jordan and the Bulls would eliminate the Jazz in 6 games and claim their 6th NBA title.
So, why is this team so hated if they lost as everyone wanted them to? The reason or reasons are very simple, John Stockton and Karl Malone. Stockton and Malone ran the pick-and-roll offense to near perfection every time they stepped on a basketball court together. That doesn’t me it was always clean. Oftentimes, Stockton and Malone were known for their dirty, physical play, resulting in hard fouls and injuries to opposing players. Equally annoying was their constant clamoring for calls from the referees, yet acting shocked when they were called for a foul on the defensive end. There was nothing more annoying about the 1997-98 season than the on-court antics of the Utah Jazz.
9. 1968-69 Los Angeles Lakers
Wilt Chamberlain is known for being an athletic superhuman and one of the greatest players in NBA history. He owns an incredible amount of NBA scoring and rebounding records as well as the single-highest scoring game in NBA history with a 100-point game against the New York Knicks in 1962. Fans, players, and executives around the NBA knew Wilt in another way, and it was not good at all. Wilt was known to be a larger-than-life personality on and off the court. That didn’t always go over well with his peers.
Before the 1968-69 season, Chamberlain became the highest-paid player in the NBA on a $250,000 salary. These earnings late in his career cause Wilt to seemingly check out and only show up to collect a paycheck rather than compete. He had a strained relationship with team captain Elgin Baylor and head coach Butch van Breda Kolff. In the 1969 NBA Finals, these strained relationships would lead to defeat. In Game 6, Chamberlain had an awful performance with a chance to close out the series. He was called out by his coach and teammates publicly for the display. In the final 8 minutes of Game 7, Wilt would be benched as the Celtics won the game and the NBA championship, 108-106. Chamberlain’s cocky and arrogant ways cost a team an NBA title. What is more unlikable than that?
8. 2000-01 Portland Trail Blazers
Depending on who you ask, the 2001 Portland Trail Blazers are either loved or loathed, and there is no in-between. Of course, I mean, if you ask a Blazers fan, they loved this team to death and rallied around their scrappy and intense energy. Everyone else in the NBA and their fans couldn’t stand the way they played basketball and all of the big personalities that made up the team. The team earned the nickname “The Jail Blazers,” and it wasn’t for any reason that can be viewed as positive.
First, Rasheed Wallace was at the center of things for Portland in 2001. He earned 41 technical fouls that season, setting and smashing an NBA record. The supporting cast was no different for Portland. Bonzi Wells was known for flipping off and getting into it physically with fans on the road. Damon Stoudamire and Zach Randolph were each arrested for substance-related charges. The team fed into the act of bad boys, and their city rallied around them. For everyone else and basketball purists, they were a black eye on the league.
7. 2001-02 Los Angeles Lakers
The 2001-02 Los Angeles Lakers were hated for a multitude of reasons. They were coming off of back-to-back championships, and frankly, people were tired of seeing them win. With no hate aimed specifically at Kobe and Shaq because they are 2 of the greatest players to ever live. Fans and the media just couldn’t stand to see them win any longer, especially with an annoying supporting cast with the likes of Rick Fox and Derek Fisher. Winning wasn’t the only thing that contributed to the ire towards the 2002 Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers breezed through the first 2 rounds of the 2002 playoffs just as they had in the previous 2 seasons. Then, they ran into possibly their biggest adversary on their entire 3-year run in the Sacramento Kings. The Kings were led by the likes of Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, Doug Christie, and Vlade Divac. The Kings built a 3-2 lead in the series, and for the first time in 3 years, the Lakers were in real trouble. Then, in some colluding scheme, or so it seemed, the referees completely began to turn the tide of the series. Missed calls for Sacramento and petty calls for the Lakers changed the series completely, and the Lakers were on their way to their 3rd straight title. The refs didn’t even try to hide the conspiracy, and that remains a problem 20 years later.
6. 1992-93 New York Knicks
Growing up in the 90s, watching New York basketball was something that is a staple of my childhood. It was a joyous time to be a Knicks fan, although I am not, and my father is. The Knicks were a lovable team in New York, but the league’s most hateable team everywhere else in the country. The Knicks were led by a cranky and disgruntled Patrick Ewing, that was clearly their best player on both sides of the floor. Along with him were natural-born instigators and enforcers, John Starks and Charles Oakley.
The rivalry between the Knicks and Bulls was heated. It had never been more clear that these 2 teams totally despised each other. The Knicks jumped out to a 2-0 series lead with 2 tough and physical wins over the Bulls. They were cocky, arrogant, and, for a lack of better words, downright agitating. Jordan and the Bulls would respond, much to the delight of basketball fans everywhere. They would win 4 straight games to win the series and head to their 3rd straight NBA Finals series.
5. 2010-11 Miami Heat
There may be no NBA team more hated in the 2010s than the 2011 Miami Heat. LeBron James, who was the consensus best player in the NBA at the time, headed into his first-ever free agency period. He was Cleveland’s prodigal son and the hometown kid who was supposed to deliver them a championship and play his whole career in his home state. Upon his first free agency, James made a decision that would ultimately make him a villain for the rest of his career. He decided to “take his talents to South Beach” with his friends, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, forever changing the NBA as we knew it.
It wasn’t just LeBron’s decision to go to Miami that drew so much hate. It was the fireworks and extravagant introductory press conference that got people fired up. It was LeBron’s absurd claim that the Heat would now win “not 5, not 6, not 7” championships that rubbed fans the wrong way. It was the first time that 3 stars of this magnitude in their primes decided to team up, and the superteam era had begun. In their first season together, the Heat advance to the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. The world rejoiced as LeBron and the Heat folded to Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs, drawing a celebration of failure the likes of which had never been seen.
4. 1989-90 Detroit Pistons
The “Bad Boys” era in Detroit is easily the greatest era of basketball when it comes to the Pistons. The team would win back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990, establishing themselves as one of the best teams in the world at the time. They were led by fiery personalities such as Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Rick Mahorn, Dennis Rodman, and Bill Laimbeer. The team, led by coach Chuck Daly, was never afraid to get physical and use it as their main method to take teams off of their rhythm and obtain victory.
This was the case in the 1990 NBA playoffs when they met up with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. What the Pistons decided to do to Jordan with their now infamous “Jordan Rules” was borderline criminal assault. Every time he touched the ball in the paint, Jordan was sent to the floor by the closest Detroit defender. The only way that the pistons could stop Jordan was to get overly physical and illegal tactics. This proved to be fruitful and earned them a championship but made that Pistons team Public Enemy No. 1.
3. 2021-22 Brooklyn Nets
Currently, the Brooklyn Nets are in the midst of a tumultuous time as a franchise. Steve Nash just lost his job as Head Coach, and the Nets replaced him with suspended Celtics coach Ime Udoka. Kyrie is also in a firestorm of epic proportions due to a controversial tweet sent out last week targeting the Jewish community. Believe it or not, this isn’t the most hated version of the team, though. Last season’s team was by far the most hated due to many reasons.
Wherever Kevin Durant goes, the hate that boiled over from joining the Warriors in 2017 seems to follow him. It seems like the whole world seems to root against Durant, aside from the fans of the team he plays for, and even then, that’s a gray area. Kyrie Irving played less than half of the season due to very publicly fighting against the Covid-19 vaccine guidelines set by the State Of New York, allowing him to only play in contests away from Brooklyn. Then, we had James Harden, who very obviously checked out and forced his way off of the team via trade once the Nets began to lose more often. Trading him for Ben Simmons escalated the anger as well. This firestorm of drama pretty much buried them in 2022, and their first-round sweep at the hand of the Boston Celtics brought joy around the basketball world.
2. 2016-17 Golden State Warriors
The hate for the early 2010s Miami Heat and LeBron James can only be surpassed by a 2010s team that consisted of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green. Every superstar receives an unnecessary amount of hate in their career. Unfortunately, those are just the times we live in and social media’s effect on things. When Durant announced in the 2016 offseason that he was leaving Oklahoma City to join the previously 73-9 Warriors, all hell broke loose across the NBA community.
The Warriors already had it all. They went 73-9 and had the 2-time MVP as their leader. After blowing a 3-1 lead in the Finals to the Cavaliers, they got greedy and still wanted more. Enter Kevin Durant. The main problem people had with Durant leaving Oklahoma City was not just his promised devotion to deliver a title to Thunder fans. It was the fact that Durant and the Thunder were ahead of the Warriors in the 2016s playoffs but blew their own series lead to drop the series. Then, in clear, if you can’t beat them, join them fashion, Durant made the Warriors an unbeatable superteam, which they proved to be for 2 and a half seasons until injuries derailed their chances at a 3-peat.
1. 1990-91 Detroit Pistons
We have already covered the Pistons’ dominance over the 1989 and 1990 seasons and their rivalry with Michael Jordan. Their physical style of play and questionable tactics drew the ire of every NBA fan that didn’t live in the State Of Michigan. They were the back-to-back NBA champions in 1991 and on top of the world as far as building into a dynasty. Unfortunately for them, the punishment they handed Michael Jordan the previous years finally woke up something inside of him, and his target was the Pistons.
The Bulls and the Pistons would meet once again in the Eastern Conference Finals with much bigger stakes than in previous meetings. Could the Pistons once again derail Jordan’s chances at a title, or was it finally MJ’s turn to reign supreme? Well, it would be the latter as the Bulls handed out a 4-game beatdown to Detroit and went on to win their 1st NBA title. How did Detroit react to the loss? They didn’t even wait for the clock to strike zero before walking past the Bulls bench with their heads hung low and no acknowledgment of Chicago’s triumph over them. Did I expect them to shake hands? Eh, maybe not. Did I expect them to go out like mice when they ran around like giants for so long? Absolutely not.
How Did These Teams Become So Villainized?
There are many reasons as to why these teams are the most hated teams in NBA history. We should be clear that just because teams are hated does not mean that they aren’t respected by NBA fans and peers. For example, the Bad Boy Pistons were hated for the way that they played the game. They were hated because what they did could be considered borderline assault, especially the way they handled Michael Jordan with the “Jordan Rules”. Then there are other teams and different reasons for the hatred as well.
The Golden State Warriors weren’t hated because of the way they played the game. They were one of the most fun teams to watch play the game of basketball. They were hated because they went 73-9 then lost in the Finals and added one of the best players in basketball the following season. Same with the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets were hated because they stacked their lineup and then imploded amongst themselves amid a whirlwind of drama. Every single one of these players and teams is respected by real NBA fans and analysts. However, respect does not always equate to likability.
