1) ’18-’19 Golden State Warriors: Kevin Durant

“Right calf strain” was how the Warriors initially announced Durant’s injury, suffered during the 2019 Western Conference Semifinals, which would soon completely change the trajectory of at least four franchises. The first was Golden State, of course, who managed to defeat the Rockets and Blazers without their star forward but found themselves in trouble in the NBA Finals. The second affected team, the Raptors, were the Finals opponent taking advantage of Durant’s absence, winning the first championship in franchise history. With the series tied 2-2, Durant came back for game five and probably a little too soon, as he tore his Achilles’ tendon early in the second quarter. While it was glory for Toronto, the 2019 playoffs were a reckoning for the Rockets, whose failure to defeat a Durant-less Warriors team led to Chris Paul and several first round picks getting traded away for Russell Westbrook. Meanwhile, knowing he likely wouldn’t be able to play in ’19-’20, the Warriors were willing to let Durant leave in free agency and he signed with the Brooklyn Nets.

2) ’11-’12 Chicago Bulls: Derrick Rose

The hype around Rose and the Bulls reached a fever pitch heading into the 2012 playoffs. The reigning league MVP had struggled with injuries during the ’11-’12 season but appeared rested and ready for a deep postseason run. After a Conference Finals loss to the Heat in 2011, the Bulls had addressed their biggest weakness by signing shooting specialist Rip Hamilton, adding him to an elite veteran core that included Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, and Luol Deng. Even with Rose missing about 40% of the regular season, the Bulls outpaced Miami and entered the playoffs as the #1 seed in the East. All of that came crashing down as Chicago was putting the finishing touches on a first round game one victory over the 76ers. Rose went down with what was later revealed to be an ACL tear, an injury that ruined not just his and the Bulls’ season, but their entire future. Rose was never the same after surgery, failing to return to even an All-Star level after missing the entire ’12-’13 season and most of ’13-’14. Without their superstar point guard, the shell-shocked Bulls were eliminated by the Sixers, becoming just the fifth #1 seed in NBA history to lose a first round series. They have won just two playoff series in the seven seasons since and missed the postseason entirely the last two years after trading Rose to the Knicks.

3) ’88-’89 Los Angeles Lakers: Magic Johnson

Pressure was heavy in the 1989 playoffs the Lakers, who were looking to send the retiring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar out as a champion and become the first team to three-peat (a term that coach Pat Riley trademarked in anticipation) since the ’60s Celtics. The Western Conference was a breeze, as Los Angeles pulled off consecutive sweeps of the Trail Blazers, SuperSonics, and Suns, leaving them eight days off before game one of the NBA Finals. Riley opted to fill the time with a mini training camp so intense that some of his players started referring to him as “Coach Hitler.” It was bad enough that starting shooting guard Byron Scott pulled his hamstring during the session, leaving him unavailable for the NBA Finals. But even worse, reigning league MVP Magic Johnson also suffered a hamstring strain which hampered him throughout the subsequent series. During a tight game two, Johnson came up limping and was subsequently declared unavailable for the remainder of the Finals. The Lakers still almost pulled off wins in games two and three, attesting that a healthy Magic may have been a difference maker even though Detroit ultimately won in a sweep.

4) ’48-’49 Washington Capitols: Bob Feerick

The Capitols franchise existed for just four full seasons but reached the playoffs every time. Their roster architect was none other than Red Auerbach and lessons learned from this stint would guide him in developing the selfless, defensive-minded Celtics juggernaut of the ’60s. A match-up in the 1949 NBA Finals against George Mikan and the Lakers may seem like a lost cause anyway but Mikan was not his usual self in the series. The dominant big man was playing in a cast due to a broken hand, leaving him less than fully effective. Unfortunately, the Capitols had their own injury woes. Feerick was 1st-Team All-BAA, the Capitols’ top scorer, and the team leader on the floor, and when he suffered a knee injury late in the regular season, it was a fatal blow for Washington. Feerick attempted to come back during the playoffs but could not stay on the floor and missed the entire NBA Finals. Even without their best player, the Capitols managed to push Mikan and the Lakers to six games. Auerbach resigned after the season due to disagreements with ownership while Feerick was never the same and retired in 1950. The floundering franchise then folded in 1951.

5) ’02-’03 Dallas Mavericks: Dirk Nowitzki

Led by the dynamic duo of Nowitzki and Steve Nash, the Mavericks had their first ever 60-win season in ’02-’03 and advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time in 15 years. They entered the series as heavy underdogs to the in-state rival Spurs, with Charles Barkley quipping that Dallas should “throw a parade” if they avoided a sweep. But the Mavericks shocked everyone with a game one win in San Antonio, led by Nowitzki’s 38 points. Despite the Spurs winning game two, Dallas had the momentum coming home for game three, up until the fourth quarter when Nowitzki injured his knee in a collision with Manu Ginobili. It was soon after diagnosed as a sprained ligament, leaving the superstar German unavailable for the remainder of the season and the Mavericks’ chances as a lost cause. They did fight valiantly, including Michael Finley leading a shocking upset of the Spurs in game five, but ultimately were eliminated in six games. It was an especially disappointing result for the Mavericks, as they would have been heavily favored over the Nets in the ensuing NBA Finals. Nowitzki did return healthy in ’03-’04 and Dallas eventually made its first Finals appearance in 2006 and won its first ever title in 2011.

6) ’73-’74 Milwaukee Bucks: Lucius Allen

With the Lakers’ Wilt Chamberlain having retired and the defending champion Knicks quickly aging, the Bucks entered the ’73-’74 season as title co-favorites with the Celtics. Though legendary point guard Oscar Robertson was starting to show his age, Milwaukee was still stacked with megastar center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar flanked by All-Star small forward Bobby Dandridge and a rising star at shooting guard in Lucius Allen. Allen had been drafted third overall by the Sonics in 1969 but came to the Bucks soon after in a trade. The speedy Allen was arguably the team’s second most important player, an elite play maker who could drive to the basket at will. Milwaukee was cruising to the playoffs when Allen tore his knee in an Ides of March game against the Pistons. His replacement Mickey Davis played admirably down in the stretch and in their playoff victories over the Lakers and Bulls. But Boston’s defensive specialist Don Chaney was able to shut down Davis in the NBA Finals, and with everyone except Kareem struggling offensively, the Bucks lost in seven games. Two years later Abdul-Jabbar and Allen were teammates on the Lakers, and the Bucks haven’t returned to the Finals since.

7) ’67-’68 Philadelphia 76ers: Billy Cunningham

Following a 1967 title that closed out one of the most dominant seasons in NBA history, the 76ers brought back essentially the same roster for ’67-’68. But instead of supplanting the Celtics as the East’s top team, Philly instead lost in the Conference Finals to Boston, which extended its dynasty by two more years. It was a disjointed series, marked by game one tipping off just 24 hours after Martin Luther King’s assassination, and game two delayed so that Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell could attend the civil rights leader’s funeral. The 76ers took a 3-1 series lead and had a chance to put it away at home in game five. But injuries had mounted throughout the playoffs for Philadelphia, including Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Wali Jones, and Luke Jackson, who were all playing through ailments. Most significantly, Cunningham had broken his wrist during a first round series win over the Knicks. A rising star at the time, Cunningham had been crucial to the Sixers’ 1967 title run and his absence was severely felt as the Celtics rallied to win three straight games and take the Conference Finals. Chamberlain was subsequently traded to the Lakers that summer, leaving this potential dynasty with only one title.

8) ’05-’06 Phoenix Suns: Amare Stoudemire

Few players in NBA history can claim a career as star-crossed as Steve Nash. We already detailed his misfortunate with the Mavericks above and those tribulations only increased later in his career in Phoenix. It started in 2005, when the Suns already had a tall task in the Conference Finals against the heavily favored Spurs, and their chances fell to near impossible when Joe Johnson was sidelined with an eye injury. There was a positive takeaway however from that series, as young center Amare Stoudemire put on an incredible performance in the losing effort, portending an MVP-level breakout in ’05-’06. Instead, Stoudemire was sidelined before the season even began, shut down indefinitely after surgery to repair cartilage damage in his knee. He returned that ensuing March, arguably too soon, as Stoudemire was pulled from the lineup again after just three games and left off the postseason roster. Nash and the Suns still made an incredible run to the 2006 Conference Finals but lacked the firepower to hang with the Mavericks this time. Stoudemire would never fully recover his vaunted explosiveness, and, despite being relatively fully healthy, the Suns would come up just short again in the 2007 playoffs against the Spurs.

9) ’77-’78 Portland Trail Blazers: Bill Walton

Hailed as a savior in Portland when he was drafted with the first pick in the 1974 draft, Walton suffered through two injury-heavy seasons before making good on his potential in ’76-’77, leading the Blazers to their first (and still only) title in franchise history. Though that 1977 Finals victory over Philadelphia was an upset, Portland was an undisputed title favorite in ’77-’78, especially after they raced out to a 49-10 start. Their 50th win was a marquee one over the Sixers, but it came at the cost of Walton breaking his foot. Without their star center the Blazers struggled down the stretch, winning just 8 of their final 22 games, but still managed to hold on to the top seed in a weak Western Conference. Walton’s return was announced for a Conference Semifinals matchup with Seattle, but the big man was injured again during game two, fracturing a bone in his foot. The Sonics won the series in six games and Walton would never suit up again for Portland. He demanded a trade that offseason, citing the negligence of the Blazers training staff as the cause of his injury woes, and when the trade wasn’t granted he sat out the ’78-’79 season in protest before leaving as a free agent. Though he would never fully return to 100% on the court, Walton did eventually win one more title as a member of the Celtics bench in 1986. The Blazers seem to have been cursed ever since at the center position, weathering devastating injuries to Mychal Thompson, Sam Bowie, and Greg Oden.

10) ’82-’83 Los Angeles Lakers: James Worthy

Despite coming off their second NBA title in three seasons, the Lakers were able to net Worthy with the top pick of the 1982 draft thanks to a years-old trade with the cellar-dwelling Cavs. Worthy had an astounding rookie season coming off the bench at both forward positions before it came to a crashing end in an April game against the Suns with a fractured tibia. Los Angeles was still able to net the West’s top seed and defeat the Blazers and Spurs in playoff series to set up an NBA Finals rematch with the 76ers. But not only were the Lakers missing Worthy in that series, they were also getting limited minutes from key reserves Bob McAdoo (who tore his hamstring in the Conference Finals) and Norm Nixon (who separated his shoulder in game one against Philadelphia). This left the team razor-thin on the bench, and despite leading every Finals game at halftime, they wore down in each second half and were swept by Moses Malone and the overpowering Sixers. Though Worthy would return healthy in ’83-’84 and help the Lakers to three titles (including a Finals MVP performance in 1987), coach Pat Riley lamented the injury for years, and considered the 1983 playoffs one of his greatest disappointments.

11) ’57-’58 Boston Celtics: Bill Russell

Bill Russell famously won 11 titles in his 13 seasons in the NBA, a total arguably unheralded in any major professional sport. The reasoning for how his Celtics teams so dominated the era have been well documented, and the inverse question is apparent but less pried: what happened in the two seasons they didn’t win the title? When analyzing the ’66-’67 season, the answer is a mixed bag: Red Auerbach’s retirement (forcing Russell into an exhausting player-coach role), trying to work in new starting power forward Bailey Howell, and the suddenly abrupt decline of aging point guard K.C. Jones led to a Conference Finals loss to a Sixers team that was easily the best non-Boston squad of the ’60s. In the 1958 the answer is much simpler: with their NBA Finals series against the St. Louis Hawks split 1-1, Russell went down with a severely sprained ankle in game three. Boston played on valiantly without their star center, but lost the series in six games. It was the only title in Hawks history, even though the squad, led by Bob Pettit, made three other Finals appearances in the era, losing to Russell’s Celtics in 1957, 1960, and 1961.

12) ’86-’87 Houston Rockets: Ralph Sampson

Led by the “Twin Towers” Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Oaljuwon, the ’85-’86 Rockets were a revelation. Though they lost in the Finals to Boston, the stage seemed set for the youthful team to take the NBA by storm. Expectations were high coming into ’86-’87 but problems arose from the beginning. Sampson was obviously laboring from knee and hip issues lingering from a nasty fall taken late in the prior season, while Mitchell Wiggins and Lewis Lloyd missed significant time with suspensions for violating the substance abuse policy. The Rockets started the season 10-17 but rallied late to sneak into the playoffs as a #6 seed and then upset the Trail Blazers in the first round. But with Sampson hobbling, Houston was knocked out in the next round against the SuperSonics and that was essentially the end of this brief era. Sampson was traded to the Warriors early in the ’87-’88 season and never fully recovered from his injuries. Olajuwon and the Rockets did eventually win back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995.

13) ’14-’15 Cleveland Cavaliers: Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love
14) ’16-’17 San Antonio Spurs: Kawhi Leonard
15) ’17-’18 Houston Rockets: Chris Paul

Consistently sporting a lineup of at least three All-Stars since the ’14-’15 season, the Warriors certainly didn’t needed any additional luck over the past few seasons to help them win titles, but they’ve often received it anyway. It started in the spring of 2015, when the new look Cavaliers, led by the recently returned LeBron James, were the second seed in the East but the definitive conference favorites. They managed to reach the NBA Finals despite losing Love to a dislocated shoulder in the first round (in an arguably dirty play by Boston’s Kelly Olynyk), and took the heavily favored Warriors to overtime in game one before losing. But it was then announced that Irving would miss the remainder of the series with a fractured kneecap, and though James battled valiantly, the Warriors won the series in six games. 

Two years later, with Kevin Durant on the roster, ’16-’17 seemed like a foregone conclusion coronation season for the Warriors. But lest we forget game one of the Western Conference Finals, when the Spurs waltzed into Oracle Arena and almost ran the mighty Warriors off their home floor. Led by an absolutely dominant two-way performance by Leonard, the Spurs opened up a 78-55 lead early in the third quarter. But things turned quickly when Zaza Pachulia undercut Leonard on a jumper, causing the Spurs star to land awkwardly and severely sprain his ankle. Golden State went on an immediate 18-0 run with Leonard on the bench, and eventually won the game 113-111. With Leonard unable to return, the undermanned Spurs were blown out in each of the remaining games and Golden State went on to win the title. Golden State was legitimately on the ropes a year later, falling behind 3-2 in the Conference Finals against Houston. But Paul pulled his hamstring late in the game five Rockets win, leaving them without their floor general for the final two games of the series. Houston opened up significant first half leads in games six and seven, but wore down in the second half due to fatigue and a barrage of Warriors three-point shots. The Warriors won their fourth consecutive Western Conference title and soon their third NBA title over that stretch. Karma finally caught up in 2019, when two separate major injuries to Kevin Durant, plus tough breaks for DeMarcus Cousins and Klay Thompson, likely cost Golden State a chance at three straight titles.

16) ’50-’51 Minneapolis Lakers: George Mikan

Simply put, Mikan dominated basketball no matter where or with whom he played. He led DePaul to the NIT title in 1946 (which was arguably more prestigious than the NCAA title back then), then turned pro and won back-to-back NBL titles in his two seasons in the league, first with the Chicago American Gears in 1947 and then with the Minneapolis Lakers in 1948. After the Lakers joined the NBA for the ’48-’49 season, Mikan spent six full years in the league (not counting his ill-fated, partial-season comeback in ’55-’56) and lead the Lakers to titles in five of them. What happened in the one season that Mikan and the Lakers didn’t wind up as champions? While taking on the rival Rochester Royals in the 1951 Conference Finals, Mikan fractured his leg early in the series and was forced to essentially dodder around the court on one foot for the remainder. Even though the Lakers had managed to win the championship in 1949 when Mikan was playing with a broken hand, this leg injury proved to be too much to overcome and the Royals won the series three-games-to-one, en route to their first and only title in franchise history (they are now the Sacramento Kings). Minneapolis came back to become the first NBA team with three consecutive titles, winning in 1952, 1953, and 1954, which means that without his fractured leg, Mikan likely would have captured a Bill Russell-esque eight titles in all eight of his full pro seasons.