This is a list of National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise post-season appearance droughts. This list includes the all-time and the active consecutive non-playoffs. Aside from the NBA playoff appearance droughts, this list also includes droughts of series wins, appearances in the NBA Finals and NBA championship wins. The oldest franchise to never win the championship is the Suns (54 seasons), while the Royals/Kings and the Hawks have even longer championship droughts (71 and 64 seasons, respectively). Five franchises have never been to the NBA Finals, tied with the National Hockey League for the highest number among the major North American sports. The oldest such team is the Braves/Clippers franchise (52 seasons); the Kings and the Hawks have appearance droughts that are even longer (71 and 61 seasons, respectively). The longest a franchise has gone without appearing in the playoffs at all is 16 seasons: the Kings franchise from 2006 to 2023.
Of the 20 franchises that have won an NBA championship, 6 have droughts of 41 seasons or more, which is to say that the past 40 championships have been shared among only 14 franchises: the Lakers (8), Bulls (6), Spurs (5), Warriors (4), Pistons (3), Celtics (3), Heat (3), Rockets (2), Mavericks (1), Cavaliers (1), Raptors (1), Bucks (1), Nuggets (1), and Thunder (1). By contrast, the other three major North American sports have each had at least 18 franchises become champions over the same period of time.
Active droughts
NBA Playoffs appearance droughts
:Appearance droughts updated through May 30, 2026.
:Playoff picture at NBA.com.
:Play-in games do not count as a playoff game or series.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|style="background-color:#CFECEC; width:3em" align=center|^ ||Longest drought in team history
|-
|style="background-color:#89CFF0; width:3em" align=center|† ||Tied for longest drought in team history
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Seasons
!Team
!Last appearance<br>in NBA playoffs
!class="unsortable"|Reference
|-
|10
|style="background-color:#CFECEC" |Charlotte Hornets ^
|2016 First Round
|
|-
|5
|Washington Wizards
|2021 First Round
|
|-
|4
|Chicago Bulls
|2022 First Round
|
|-
|4
|Utah Jazz
|2022 First Round
|
|-
|3
|Brooklyn Nets
|2023 First Round
|
|-
|3
|Sacramento Kings
|2023 First Round
|
|-
|2
|New Orleans Pelicans
|2024 First Round
|
|-
|1
|Milwaukee Bucks
|2025 First Round
|
|-
|1
|Miami Heat
|2025 First Round
|
|-
|1
|Los Angeles Clippers
|2025 First Round
|
|-
|1
|Golden State Warriors
|2025 Conference Semifinals
|
|-
|1
|Memphis Grizzlies
|2025 First Round
|
|-
|1
|Indiana Pacers
|2025 NBA Finals
|
|-
| colspan="4" align="center" bgcolor="#054ea4" | <span style="color:white;">2026 Playoff teams</span>
|-
|
|Boston Celtics
|2026 First Round
|
|-
|
|Toronto Raptors
|2026 First Round
|
|-
|
|Atlanta Hawks
|2026 First Round
|
|-
|
|Denver Nuggets
|2026 First Round
|
|-
|
|Houston Rockets
|2026 First Round
|
|-
|
|Portland Trail Blazers
|2026 First Round
|
|-
|
|Phoenix Suns
|2026 First Round
|
|-
|
|Minnesota Timberwolves
|2026 Conference Semifinals
|
|-
|
|Los Angeles Lakers
|2026 Conference Semifinals
|
|-
|
|Philadelphia 76ers
|2026 Conference Semifinals
|
|-
|
|Detroit Pistons
|2026 Conference Semifinals
|
|-
|
|Oklahoma City Thunder
|2026 Conference Finals
|
|-
|
|Cleveland Cavaliers
|2026 Conference Finals
|
|-
|
|New York Knicks
|2026 NBA Finals
|
|-
|
|San Antonio Spurs
|2026 NBA Finals
|
|-
|}
NBA Playoffs series win droughts
:Droughts updated through May 30, 2026.
:Playoff picture at NBA.com
|-
|-bgcolor="#054ea4"
|<span style="display:none">z</span> || align=center|<span style="display:none">3000</span><span style="color:white;">2026 Playoff Series</span> || align=center|<span style="display:none">0</span><span style="color:white;"> Winners</span> ||<span style="display:none">3000</span>||<span style="display:none">3000</span> ||
|-
| align="center" |
| Minnesota Timberwolves
|2026 Western First Round
|align=center|0
|align=left |2026 San Antonio
|
|-
|
|Phoenix Suns
|align=center|<span style="display:none">0</span><small>Never (enfranchised 1968)</small>
|
|-
|
|Detroit Pistons
|2004
|