Editor’s note: This is an update to a list originally published in April 2021.

25) Aaron James (came closest: ’77-’78 with Jazz)

In the nascent days of New Orleans basketball, Pete Maravich was the biggest star but James was the fan favorite. A local kid who attended Grambling State, James was the first ever draft pick of the expansion Jazz. His long range shooting was deadly and memorialized by announcer Hot Rod Hundley’s signature exclamation “A.J. from the parking lot!” But the Jazz missed the postseason all five years they played in the Crescent City. ’77-’78 was the biggest disappointment, with New Orleans looking like a playoff team until late January, when Maravich suffered a season-ending knee injury and they tumbled in the standings. Disillusioned by the franchise’s 1979 move to Salt Lake City, James absconded overseas, finishing his playing career in Italy and the Philippines. He was retired by the time the Jazz made their first ever playoff appearance, in 1984.

24) Tre Jones (came closest: ’24-’25 with the Bulls)

What do the most sallow eras in Bulls and Spurs franchise history have in common? The presence of Jones, who was drafted by San Antonio in 2020, spent four-plus seasons there, then was sent to the Bulls in 2025 as part of the De’Aaron Fox trade. Jones’ time with the Spurs is fully enveloped in the longest playoff drought in franchise history, one which began in 2019 and ended with an NBA Finals appearance in 2026. Those struggles did allow Jones playing time he likely wouldn’t have received elsewhere. He spent most of ’22-’23 and ’23-’24 as the Spurs’ starting point guard, averaging 11.4 points and 6.4 assists per game. Rendered expendable soon after in San Antonio by the signing of Chris Paul, Jones returned to a starting role with the Bulls in ’25-’26. He averaged a career high 14.1 points per game while Chicago finished 31-51 and missed the playoffs for the eighth time in the last nine years.

23) Ledell Eackles (came closest: ’97-’98 with Wizards)

How does a guy last an entire decade in the modern NBA, average 20+ minutes per game, but never step foot on the court for a playoff game? Getting drafted by the Bullets did the trick for Eackles, who was a second round pick in 1988. But one could argue Eackles relished the opportunity to shoot the ball early and often on a non-contender. As the Bullets were struggling under coach Wes Unseld, seemingly losing 50+ games every year, Eackles was racking up stats off the bench. He averaged 12.7 points per game in his first four seasons but also built a reputation as an unrepentant, out-of-shape gunner and spent the back half of his career bouncing between the NBA, CBA, and Israeli Super League. After the Wizards broke an eight-year playoff drought in 1997, Eackles returned to the team in ’97-’98 but they just missed the postseason, finishing one game behind the Nets for the East’s #8 seed.

22) Geoff Huston (came closest: ’79-’80 with Knicks)

New York was in a playoff position late in Huston’s rookie season, but dropped five of their final six games to miss out on a spot in a tiebreaker. This was just the start of the point guard’s bad luck. The Knicks won 50 games and reached the playoffs in ’80-’81 but without Huston, who was selected by the Mavericks that summer in their expansion draft and spent the rest of his career on horrible teams. Notable stops: 1) as the leading scorer, with 16.1 points per game, on the inaugural Mavericks that lost 67 games, 2) averaging 10.3 points per game for the ’81-’82 Cavaliers that also lost 67 games and cycled through four head coaches, and 3) ending his career on the ’86-’87 Clippers that finished 12-70. His 2,509 career assists are the most by any retired player without a playoff appearance and Huston also still holds the Cavs franchise record for assists in a game, with 27.

21) Lonzo Ball (came closest: ’21-’22 with the Bulls)

Spoiler alert: He’s not the only Ball sibling on this list. But unlike younger brother LaMelo who’s primed to make his playoff debut in 2027, Lonzo Ball might just be stuck here indefinitely. A second overall pick of the Lakers in 2017, Ball almost immediately became the starting point guard and showed serious promise. But he not only has the rare distinction of missing the playoffs with the Lakers (something that’s happened only 12 times in 78 years), but missing it with LeBron James as a teammate. Ball was then traded to the Pelicans in 2019 as part of the package for Anthony Davis, joining a franchise for which missing the playoffs is the norm. After two seasons in New Orleans, Ball headed to Chicago, who made the playoffs with him on the roster in 2022. But Ball wasn’t with them, unavailable due to knee issues that left him sidelined for over two-and-a-half years and effectively ended his career.

20) Don MacLean (came closest: ’97-’98 with Nets)

Notoriously hot-headed and injury prone, MacLean was traded eight times in his career and played in just 319 games over nine seasons (an average of 35 games per season), none of them in the playoffs. His peak came in ’93-’94, when he averaged career highs in scoring (18.2 points per game) and rebounding (6.2 per game) and won Most Improved Player for a Bullets team mired in its fifth consecutive 50-loss season. Knee tendinitis started to derail his career in ’94-’95 and he bounced around 10 different franchises in his final seven years. Three of those teams actually reached the playoffs but not with MacLean in tow. In ’97-’98, he made nine appearance with the Nets, including the regular season finale, but was left off the postseason roster in favor of Michael Cage. Similar scenarios then played out for MacLean with the Suns in ’99-’00 and the Heat in ’00-’01.

19) Popeye Jones (came closest: ’02-’03 with Mavericks)

Drafted by the Rockets in the second round in 1992, Jones’ hard-nosed defense and rebounding would have made him a perfect role player for the team’s back-to-back championships in the mid ’90s. But just a week later he was traded to a Mavericks team coming off a historically bad 71-loss season. Jones peaked statistically in his three seasons in Dallas, posting a double-double in two of them, as the team averaged 57 losses per year. He was soon after traded to the newly minted and struggling Raptors, where he slummed for two seasons, then spent time on mediocre Celtics, Nuggets, and Wizards rosters. Just as the Mavericks were re-emerging as title contenders thanks to Dirk Nowitzki, Jones signed with the team in ’02-’03. He played in 26 regular season games but was left off the postseason roster as they reached the Conference Finals.

18) Ryan Gomes (came closest: ’11-’12 with Clippers)

As of 2026, the Celtics have missed the playoffs just three times in the last 25 seasons. Gomes was somehow only there for two of those three. A second round pick in 2005, he was a long shot to even make the roster but wound up as the starting power forward and was named 2nd-Team All-Rookie. Gomes played even better in ’06-’07 but the Celtics were tanking and shipped him off that summer to Minnesota as part of the Kevin Garnett trade. His career peak was thus wasted on the dreadful Timberwolves, where he played respectfully but could hardly replace Garnett’s contributions. Gomes was traded to a solid Trail Blazers team in 2010 but waived before the season started and instead signed with the rebuilding Clippers. While Los Angeles made a huge turnaround in ’11-’12 behind Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, Gomes fell out of favor with coach Vinny Del Negro and was left off the postseason roster entirely.

17) Bryant Reeves (came closest: ’00-’01 with Grizzlies)

His name is synonymous with draft bust and the spectacular collective failure of the Vancouver Grizzlies but Reeves actually had a couple solid seasons individually. He was good enough to be named 2nd-Team All-Rookie in ’95-’96 after the Grizzlies drafted him sixth overall, then averaged 16.2 points and 8.0 rebounds over the two subsequent seasons. But the Grizzlies were historically bad in those years, losing 67, 68, and 63 games, respectively. When Bryant signed a $65 million contract in 1998 and then showed up for the lockout season overweight and struggling with back pain, Vancouver fans swiftly turned on him as the whipping boy for all the franchise’s problems until he retired in 2001, just as the team was relocating to Memphis. When his contract expired in 2003 and the Grizzlies no longer had to pay him in retirement, the rebuilt franchise finally made its first playoff appearance.

16) Darius Miles (came closest: ’03-’04 with Trail Blazers)

A spot on this list feels appropriate for Miles, who reportedly once remarked that the Trail Blazers could “lose every game for all I care” when coach Maurice Cheeks attempted to alter his role. One has to wonder what Miles’ career may have looked like if he had accepted a bench role for the Cavaliers after they drafted his small forward replacement, LeBron James. Still only 22 years old at the time, the prep-to-pro phenom was a reliable scorer but also struggling with the pressures of NBA stardom. Getting traded to the Portland “Jail Blazers” certainly didn’t help, and they snapped a 21-year streak of playoff appearances by finishing in 10th in the West in ’03-’04. Miles was averaging a career high 14.0 points per game in ’05-’06 when he shredded his knee, effectively ending his career. He signed with the defending champion Celtics in 2008 but was waived right before the season started.

15) Nikola Pekovic (came closest: ’13-’14 with Timberwolves)

His NBA career was brief, lasting only 271 games over six seasons, but it’s still striking how Pekovic never came even reasonably close to reaching the postseason. You can largely blame the competitive Western Conference, where the Timberwolves could finish a respectable 40-42 in the ’13-’14 season behind the efforts of Pekovic and Kevin Love but still be nine games out of playoff position. After leading Panathinaikos to the Greek League and EuroLeague titles in 2009, Pekovic joined the Timberwolves team that drafted him late in the first round. He averaged as many as 17.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game in his prime but struggled almost constantly with leg, foot, and ankle injuries. In Pekovic’s six seasons, the Timberwolves won just 33% of the games they played and twice suffered 65 or more losses.

“Perhaps it’s unfair to lay so much blame for the Pelicans’ failures at Williamson’s feet but he’s certainly the poster boy”

14) Eddy Curry (came closest: ’04-’05 with Bulls)

Drafted fourth overall by the Bulls in 2001, Curry was tasked as a teenager to turn around a moribund franchise. By the time Chicago finally returned to the playoffs in 2005, Curry was sidelined indefinitely due to an irregular heartbeat. He was the leading scorer for that Chicago team that lost to the Wizards in the first round without him. Concerned about his longterm health, the Bulls traded Curry that summer to the Knicks, a team in the midst of its own painful rebuild under president and coach Isiah Thomas. Curry led the Knicks in scoring in ’06-’07 with a career high 19.5 points per game, then showed up to camp in 2008 so out-of-shape that new coach Mike D’Antoni basically benched him for the season. He eventually wound up with the Heat and, newly in decent shape again, played some down the stretch of the ’11-’12 season but not in the playoffs (he did receive a title ring for his efforts).

13) Christian Wood (came closest: ’23-’24 with Lakers)

Following a Rockets-Spurs game during the ’20-’21 season, Inside the NBA analyst Shaquille O’Neal had a seemingly innocuous quote that went viral as an internet meme: “I owe you an apology, I wasn’t really familiar with your game.” Millions around the world have referenced it over the years, but how many realize Shaq was talking about Wood? One of the top prospects of his high school class, Wood had two mediocre seasons at UNLV and went un-drafted in 2015. His NBA career followed suit, playing for eight franchises in eight seasons. That he got so many chances and received that praise from O’Neal was a testament to Wood’s incredible offensive talent. But his inclusion on this list and his itinerant career path point to his lack of discipline or defensive effort, and his inability to stay healthy. Wood was primed to make his playoff debut in 2024 with the Lakers but a knee injury sidelined him for the postseason and likely ended his NBA career.

12) Brandon Knight (came closest: ’14-’15 with Suns)

How’s this for bad luck? Twice in his career Knight was traded at the deadline from a team that was playoff bound to a team that didn’t qualify. The first was in ’14-’15, when Knight was Milwaukee’s leading scorer through 50 games but got sent to the Suns as part of a three-team deal. The Bucks made the playoffs while the Suns finished in ninth place in the Western Conference. That would be as close as it gets for Knight, who put up solid numbers for Phoenix over the next two seasons until an ACL tear waylaid his career. He was again poised to make the playoffs with the Rockets in 2019 but was instead traded to a Cavaliers team that ended up losing 63 games. Though team success at the pro level was elusive for Knight, the story was different in his amateur career. He led Pine Crest High School to back-to-back Florida state titles in 2008 and 2009, then reached the Final Four with Kentucky in 2011.

11) Collin Sexton (came closest: ’21-’22 with Cavaliers)

After a few seasons in the cellar after LeBron James’ 2018 free agency departure, the Cavaliers seemed to be turning things around in ’21-’22 and Sexton was a big part of it. But the young combo guard tore his meniscus early in the season and his absence may have been the difference maker in Cleveland getting eliminated in the play-in round. Sexton was then traded to the Jazz as part of the package for Donovan Mitchell and has been essentially relegated to NBA exile ever since. In his eight year career, Sexton has averaged 18.3 points per game while his teams have finished in 14th, 15th, 13th, eighth (when he was sidelined), 12th, 12th, 15th, and 12th in their conference. Sexton finally joined a playoff worthy squad in the 2026 offseason, signing with the Lakers and, barring injury, should finally play himself off the list.

10) John Brisker (came closest: ’75-’76 with SuperSonics)

Not only did Brisker miss the postseason in his three NBA seasons but also in his three ABA seasons, where a playoff berth awaited eight out of a possible 11 teams. He was the leading scorer for the Pittsburgh Condors of the ABA in all three seasons he played, and made two All-Star appearances, but the team was in financial free fall. When the Condors folded in 1972, Brisker signed with a nascent SuperSonics franchise. Seattle was struggling to find its feet and it didn’t help when the freewheeling Brisker butted heads with conservative head coach Bill Russell. This led to Brisker being left off the postseason roster in 1976 when the Sonics made their playoff debut, and waived that subsequent offseason. Two years later, Brisker boarded a flight to Uganda and was never heard from again. It’s been long rumored that he took a position within the regime of oppressive dictator and noted basketball fan Idi Amin.

9) Bob Rule (came closest: ’69-’70 with SuperSonics)

The original Sonics in ’67-’68 were hardly a group of world beaters, but they were certainly tough, likable and memorable. The focal point was Rule, an undersized center who just seemed to play big. Rule was 1st-Team All-Rookie and soon after made his All-Star debut while averaging 24.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game in ’69-’70. But Seattle seemed indefinitely stuck, unable to build a winning roster around Rule and player-coach Lenny WIlkens. They came relatively close in ’69-’70, missing out by just three games despite finishing with a losing record. Things seemed promising in ’70-’71 until Rule tore his Achilles’ tendon just four games into the season. He failed to fully recover and was never the same, struggling in later stops with losing teams in Philly, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. Rule retired in 1975 and one year later the Sonics finally made their first playoff appearance in franchise history.

8) Lauri Markkanen (came closest: ’21-’22 with Cavaliers)

Part of the same package with Collin Sexton that brought Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland, Markkanen was a breakout star in his first season with the Jazz, winning Most Improved Player and making his All-Star debut. But the team was far from competitive and that pattern has continued ever since as Markkanen’s career seemingly stalled. It was the second time in his career that Markkanen was traded, missed the playoffs with his new team, and watched his old team reach the postseason. Previously, it was the Bulls, who dealt Markkanen to the Cavaliers in 2021. When Cleveland was eliminated in the 2022 play-in round, they sent Markkanen along to Utah after just one season. The Finnish big man did show some signs of rejuvenation in ’25-’26, averaging a career high 26.7 points per game, and the Jazz are trending up as well heading into ’26-’27.

7) Clark Kellogg (came closest: ’85-’86 with Pacers)

Hailed as a franchise savior when Indiana drafted him in the first round in 1982, Kellogg was a basketball prodigy from Cleveland who rewrote the Ohio high school record books. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in ’82-’83 and averaged 19.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game over his first three seasons. But the franchise was an absolute mess, with an owner threatening to sell to California investors. That deal never came to fruition (he wound up selling instead to the Indiana-based businessman Herb Simon) but the product on the court didn’t improve, as the Pacers lost 62 games in ’82-’83, 56 in ’83-’84, and 60 in ’84-’85. Then, early in the ’85-’86 season, Kellogg suffered two major knee injuries that essentially ended his career. He was forced to watch from the bench when the Pacers made the playoffs in 1987, the first of 16 appearances over the next 19 years.

6) Otto Moore (came closest: ’70-’71 with Pistons)

As much as fans complain now that the NBA would be fairer if the top 16 teams made the playoffs regardless of conference, things were even worse in the early ’70s. In ’70-’71 the Pistons, led by Dave Bing and Bob Lanier and featuring Moore as a backup center, finished 45-37 but missed the postseason. That’s because back then only two teams from each division would reach the playoffs and Detroit had the misfortune of playing in the toughest division. Moore was traded that offseason to Phoenix only to have the exact same thing happen to him in ’71-’72, as the Suns won 49 games but fell well short of a playoff berth. Those turned out to be the only winning seasons of Moore’s career, as he spent the remainder of the decade with cellar dwellers like the Jazz and Kings. Moore’s 5,575 career rebounds is by far the all-time record for players without a playoff appearance.

5) LaMelo Ball (came closest: ’25-’26 with Hornets)

Like a reckless driver behind the wheel, Ball could never get himself on a straight path to the playoffs with the Hornets. They came close three times, reaching the play-in round in 2021, 2022, and 2026. In 2021, the year that Ball was named Rookie of the Year, the Hornets were annihilated in the first play-in game by the Pacers. They put up a slightly better fight in 2022 but were still easily eliminated by the Hawks. Over the next three seasons, Ball averaged 24.3 points, 7.9 assists, and 5.5 rebounds per game but also played in only 105 out of a possible 246 contests due to injuries. In turn, the Hornets finished in 14th, 13th, and 14th respectively in the Eastern Conference Finals. Newly revived by rookie Kon Knueppel, the Hornets finally won a play-in game in 2026 before losing to the Magic in the final round. Now part of the Timberwolves via trade, Ball should finally break through in 2027 if he can stay healthy.

4) Nate Williams (came closest: ’77-’78 with Warriors)

Williams could have been an impact player on any ’70s NBA contender but instead had the misfortune of spending his entire prime with arguably the two most dysfunctional franchises, Kansas City and New Orleans. He was drafted by the then Cincinnati Royals in 1971, the league’s first beneficiary of the “hardship rule” as a college junior. The Royals were a mess, on the cusp of moving to Kansas City, reeling from Oscar Robertson’s departure, coached by an indifferent Bob Cousy, and centered around a ball-hogging Tiny Archibald. Just the (now Kansas City) Kings were rounding into a playoff contender in ’74-’75, Williams was traded at the deadline to the Jazz, who were arguably the most mismanaged franchise of the decade. Williams did come close late in his career with the Warriors, who missed out on a playoff spot in ’77-’78 by virtue of a loss in their final regular season game.

3) Geoff Petrie (came closest: ’74-’75 with Trail Blazers)

Petrie was drafted by Portland as their inaugural first round pick in 1970 and became the franchise’s first star. He was Rookie of the Year, made two All-Star appearances, and three times finished in the top 10 in the NBA in scoring. The Blazers were never a legitimate threat in Petrie’s six seasons there, though they did come within two games of a playoff spot in ’74-’75, with a record of 38-44. Rendered expendable by the emergence of Lionel Hollins, Petrie was traded in 1976 to the Hawks but never suited up for his new team, instead shredding his knee during training camp, an injury that ended his career right then and there. One could argue that Petrie contributed to the Blazers title in ’76-’77 as much as some of the guys on the actual roster, as he was traded for Maurice Lucas, who was the final piece in their championship puzzle.

2) Zion Williamson (’23-’24 with Pelicans)

Few players this century have reached the NBA with the amount of hype surrounding Williamson in 2019. He’s only made good on that potential in fits and starts since. Perhaps it’s unfair to lay so much blame for the Pelicans’ failures at Williamson’s feet but he’s certainly the poster boy. Granted, the Pels have made the playoffs twice with Williamson on the roster but he missed both due to injury. The first case was perhaps the more telling one, with New Orleans reaching the playoffs in ’21-’22 despite Williamson missing the entire season with a fractured foot. The more heartbreaking one was in ’23-’24, when Williamson played a career high 70 games and led the Pelicans into the play-in round. But late in a play-in loss to the Lakers, he suffered a hamstring injury and was sidelined indefinitely. The Pelicans rallied to win their second play-in game and reach the playoffs without Williamson again.

1) Tom Van Arsdale (came closest: ’67-’68 with Royals)

He played in 12 NBA seasons, made three All-Star teams, and holds the record for most career points without a playoff appearance. It’s hard to say which of Van Arsdale’s seasons had the most painful outcome. Candidates include ’67-’68, when Van Arsdale was traded mid-season from the playoff-bound Pistons to a Royals team that missed out on the postseason by one game behind Detroit, ’72-’73 when he played on a 76ers team that set the NBA record for ineptitude with 73 losses, or ’76-’77 when he teamed up with his twin brother Dick (who got to play in four NBA postseasons) on a Suns team that was coming off a Finals appearance the year before but tumbled down the standings and missed the playoffs altogether with a 34-48 record. After a brief period in which DeMarcus Cousins surpassed him on this list, Van Arsdale retook the crown in 2019 and will hold it indefinitely.