The Five Worst NBA Finals Ever (At Least Since 1980)
This may end up as one of my many Cold Takes Exposed.
But no matter the result of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, it will not end up on the list of the worst NBA Finals ever (or at least since 1980, when I started paying attention to sports).
Some lopsided NBA Finals are memorable for what they symbolized. In 1983, the Philadelphia 76ers cemented their status as one of the best single-season teams of all-time by sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers, thereby nearly fulfilling Moses Malone's "Fo, fo, fo" prediction. (The 76ers needed five games to beat the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals)
In 1989, the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons swept the Lakers to end Los Angeles' three-peat bid and begin their two-year title run.
And in 1991, Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls began their first three-peat with a five-game gentlemen's sweep of the Lakers - who, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, were playing their final games with Magic Johnson before his shocking retirement.
More NBA Finals:
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This feels like one of those era-defining Finals, where we'll remember it as notable even if someone wins in fewer than six games.
Either the Knicks, who haven't won it all since 1973, end one of America's great sporting droughts and unleash the wildest celebration New York has ever seen. Or the Spurs, behind the 7-foot-4, shot-blocking, draining-3-pointers-from-the-logo Victor "The Alien" Wembanyama, begin their next era of dominance.
Or maybe someone sweeps and we forget all about the 2026 NBA Finals except to add it to this list while making fun of me for ever thinking any other outcome was possible!
No 5: 2009: Lakers over Orlando Magic in 5
This was a reasonably competitive gentlemen's sweep - the final four games were decided by a total of 30 points, just five more than the Lakers' margin of victory in Game 1 - and marked a Shaq-less return to the top for the Kobe Bryant- and Phil Jackson-led Lakers, who won their first title since 2002.
But other than front-running Lakers fans, who needed to see them win again or for Jackson to remind us all he was nothing without some of the greatest players of all-time on his team?
No. 4: 1995: Houston Rockets over Magic in 4
Two Finals appearances, two appearances on this list for the Magic, whose fate was sealed when Nick Anderson missed four straight free throws in the final 10 seconds of regulation in Game 1 as Orlando squandered a three-point lead.
This is still hard to watch. Kenny Smith drained a double-pump 3-pointer to force overtime before Hakeem Olajuwon' tip-in just before the buzzer in the extra session won it for the Rockets, who made history by becoming the fourth straight repeat champion as well as the lowest-seeded team (sixth in the West) to win it all.
No one seeded lower than third in its conference has won the title since.
No. 3: 1999: Spurs over Knicks in 5
But the Knicks gave it a shot as an eighth seed four years later! Nostalgia can be a weird thing. The San Antonio-New York rematch is going to inspire tens of thousands of words on their first clash 27 years ago this month. But that series was a dud.
Sure, it yielded the first of five titles for the Spurs, but it came at the end of the lockout-shortened season and with the Knicks out of magic following an unlikely run to the Finals (that began with this Allan Houston shot bouncing around the rim for about an hour before it fell through to beat the Miami Heat in the first round, so sorry, Pat Riley).
Patrick Ewing missed the series and Larry Johnson was hobbled by a right knee injury. Oh, and only ONE game had one team score in the 90s (the Spurs won Game 4, 96-89). Dreadfully dull.
N0 2: 2002: Lakers over New Jersey Nets in 4
As far as sweeps go, this one was pretty tightly contested and historic.
The Lakers finally completed their three-peat with a sweep in which their average margin of victory was just 6.8 points per game. And even a defeat via sweep marked a turning point for the Nets, who'd gotten out of the first round just once in their first 24 NBA seasons before making the first of their two straight trips to the Finals.
But everyone knew in real time the real championship series was going to take place in the Western Conference, where the top four seeds all had more regular season wins than the Eastern Conference-leading Nets.
It sure didn't help the Lakers won the most suspicious Game 7 in sports history, thereby ensuring the Finals wouldn't pit the Nets against the SACRAMENTO KINGS. RIP Rick Adelman, who deserved a title on his Hall of Fame resume.
"Those Kings, Adelman said, would have won the title in 2002 had it not been for that Game 7 against the Lakers. "The refs," Adelman said. "Unbelievable."
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) June 2, 2026
That was a low point for the NBA. Not only was the officiating super suspect, but also hurt the team playing fun, efficient…
No. 1: 2018: Golden State Warriors over Cleveland Cavaliers in 4
We suppose this was the price to pay for 2016, when the Cavaliers became the first NBA team to overcame a three games to one deficit in the Finals by stunning the Warriors - fresh off a record-setting 73-9 regular season - and winning the city's first professional sports championship since 1964. But it also yielded two dreadful rematches in which the Warriors, led by all-time frontrunner Kevin Durant, rolled to consecutive titles. LeBron James and the Cavaliers at least stretched the 2017 Finals to five games before the Warriors recorded three of their four wins by double digits in 2018 while collecting the third title of the Stephen Curry Era. (Number four came in 2022, after Durant jumped on the Nets' bandwagon, which worked out GREAT)
Related: Chris Russo Insults James Harden After Knicks Sweep Cavs
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This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 7:03 AM.