I don’t follow a tremendous amount of NBA these days, but there have been some interesting storylines that have played out over the course of this season that has had me attuned to the league a little bit more than usual. The weird In-Season Tournament, the collapse of the Warriors, Draymond Green going ballistic twice and out indefinitely, the seemingly endless beef between Luka and Booker, etc, etc. But behind all of these microbeefs, has been one thing that has grown into one of the more notable storylines that won’t just be for this season, but NBA history.
With their 27th consecutive loss within a single season, the Detroit Pistons have entered rarified air of being able to say that they’ve embarked on the worst losing streak in NBA history. So often times in sports, we see hallowed and/or embarrassing records be reached and either they’re tickled, or in lots of cases, tied. It’s truly not often that many records really break, if they’re of any substance, and even in today’s NBA where at any given point there are numerous teams trying to tank and deliberately take losses for draft positioning the following year, so the fact that the Pistons have managed to eat 27 losses in a row really is something that probably did involve some luck and determination to allow happen.
Of course, there is still one more record to chase, and I feel like I’m jinxing it because I am the lord king of sports fate and if I address it, I am doomed to be defied but it’s too late because I’ve started writing it and history be damned, this will stand. But apparently in 2014 and 2015, there was a stretch between two separate seasons where the Philadelphia 76ers managed to eat 28 straight losses, but considering the Pistons are currently playing to a .067 clip, it’s a safe bet that they’ll at the very least catch the record and should for all intents and purposes break it, but like I said, I am tempting fate by writing about it right now.
It’s funny because three games into the season, the Pistons were 2-1. Fans at home were probably thinking, it’s early, but we’re looking good! With 10 playoff seeds now, maybe we’ll be able to get in this year! But then that win against the Bulls back in October was the last W they’d ever see, as they’d then proceed to go through all of November without a single win, spawning all sorts of memes about how the Pistons succeeded in No-Win November, but then proceed to keep on chugging through December without any wins and are in prime position to finish All-Defeat December.
I had to look up some of the official numbers since my knowledge of bad basketball records has apparently grown outdated, but the worst record in history seems to be declared to be the 2012 Charlotte Bobcats, who went 7-59, a winning percentage of just .110. But in a full 82-game season, the 1973 Philadelphia 76ers went 9-73, a winning percentage of just .101. As unlikely as it would be in today’s NBA climate, but if the Pistons’ current winning rate were to stay steady, they would finish the season at 5-77, shattering both records with room to spare.
And then the ultimate failure would be that in spite of having the most balls in the draft lottery, anyone else gets picked before they do. All the hotshot prospects in college right now are probably talking with their representation about their eligibility and NIL money comparisons to hard consider sticking around another year versus risk getting drafted by the Pistons.
It’s just funny though, because it just seems like the city of Detroit is destined to at any given time, have some tragically bad sports franchise. Like there’s a shared pool of sports talent in the city, and when one franchise is taking the lion’s share, another is starving to death. Like in the early 2000s, the Detroit Tigers were losing 100 games and threatening the all-time losses record, but then the Pistons won an NBA championship. Then the Tigers were becoming playoff regulars, while the Detroit Lions had a season where they literally went 0-16 and I think tacked on a few more L’s the following season before upending the Redskins to end their torment. And now the Lions have secured the NFC North and are playoff bound, while the Pistons are embarking on a journey to become the worst NBA team in history.
Anyway, I know I’m tempting fate by having exerted effort to write about it, but I for one love seeing sports history, especially when it’s a team that I have no real care for, at the risk of making the wrong side of it. I can’t say that any point in my life I’ve ever really been a Pistons fan, or a fan of any team from Detroit for that matter, so here’s to hoping we’ll see some fresh history coming up in a few days.
