Worst No. 1 seeds in NBA history: How 2026 Pistons could compare to all-time playoff chokes originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Detroit Pistons were one of the feel-good stories of the 2025-26 NBA season, but whether they could actually make a deep run in the East was a lingering question 18 years after their last playoff series win.
The answer might not be the one Pistons fans were hoping to hear. Detroit is on the verge of elimination against the Orlando Magic, one loss away from becoming the seventh No. 1 seed to lose in their first round.
The Pistons can be proud of their stellar regular season, but their playoff struggles put them among the worst No. 1 seeds in NBA history.
Here's a look at where the Pistons rank since the playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 1984.
MORE:Every No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in NBA history
The Bucks were two years removed from an NBA championship and won 58 games in the regular season in 2022-23, but their playoff performances stands as one of the worst all-time by a No. 1 seed. Milwaukee won just one playoff game, blowing late leads and losing to the Heat in five games.
Giannis Antetokounmpo missed two of those five games, but the Bucks couldn't find a way to stop Jimmy Butler with or without him and looked broken down by the time the playoffs arrived.
The Spurs would lose in the first round as a No. 1 seed a decade later, but Gregg Popovich's 2001 squad might have been the worst top seed under his watch.
While they were winners of 58 games and reached the Western Conference Finals, the Spurs were in a bit of an in-between phase after winning it all in 1999. David Robinson was showing signs of decline and made his final All-Star appearance in 2001, and San Antonio didn't yet have Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili at its disposal.
The result was a very good but at times offensively challenged team that was no match for the Lakers when it mattered. L.A. swept the Spurs in the conference finals, winning the final two games by 39 and 29 points, respectively.
The 2014-15 Hawks have been dubbed by some the worst 60-win team of all-time. Is that fair? Well, every 60-win team has to be pretty great, but Atlanta certainly didn't have the star power that most do.
The Mike Budenholzer-led Hawks instead relied on a solid core of Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague and DeMarre Carroll, which got them to the conference finals after 4-2 series wins over the Nets and Wizards but didn't get them particularly close to the NBA Finals. The Cavaliers swept the Hawks, winning Game 4 by 30 points to put an exclamation point on a mismatch despite Atlanta owning the better record.
The Pacers were a fun team during the height of the Paul George era and finished with a better record in 2013-14 than they did a year earlier when they came within one win of the NBA Finals, but something was off about Indiana late in the season.
The Pacers needed a Game 7 win to survive the 38-44 Hawks in the first round and dropped two games against the Wizards in the second round before saving face with a decent showing in a conference finals loss to the Heat.
Roy Hibbert's pronounced playoff struggles left Indiana reeling at times, and George's broken leg the following offseason would bring the Pacers' run of success to a close.
MORE:14 most devastating playoff injuries in NBA history
Under Dwane Casey, the Raptors mastered the art of stacking wins in the regular season and losing to LeBron James in the playoffs. With the Cavaliers looking extremely vulnerable and Toronto in possession of the No. 1 seed, the hope for the Raptors was that 2018 would finally be the year they get over the hump. Instead, James effectively carried Cleveland himself to a second-round sweep, with the Raptors losing Game 4 by 35 points.
Casey was fired four days later, and the Raptors shook up their roster by trading DeMar DeRozan and more for Kawhi Leonard. Those two moves helped Toronto win a championship one year later.
When fans joke about Joel Embiid never making the conference finals, the 2020-21 season is the real reason why.