Top 5 Biggest NBA Disappointments for the 2024-25 Season

We recently took a look at the five biggest surprises for the 2024-25 NBA regular season, team-wise and today we hit the other end of the spectrum. We dive into the most disappointing teams with the regular season almost halfway over.

Do these five teams have any hope of turning it around for the playoffs?

1. Philadelphia 76ers

• Current Record: 15-20 (53-29 preseason projection)
• Key Stat: 6-10 at home
• Key Development: The 76ers have had Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George together in the lineup for less than 10 games, so far.

The Skinny

We predicted this club would battle the Celtics and Knicks in the Atlantic Division if everything went right. We also mentioned in the preseason there would be some major finger-pointing if things began to sour and boy did they ever. George was not healthy to begin the season, Embiid said his now infamous words about never playing another back-to-back in his career and the team started out a dismal 3-14.

It wasn’t hard to predict there could be some availability problems given the history of the players involved. Many point to the 76ers’ plight when it comes to declining TV ratings and load management, but all is not lost. They have beaten the Celtics in a big game and just need to remain healthy in order to give this core a try together. They won’t be as good as projected, but who is going to want to play this team in the post-season if the core is healthy?

2. Sacramento Kings

• Current Record: 18-19 (50-32 preseason projection)
• Key Stat: 3-6 vs. Pacific Division foes
• Key Development: There were high expectations in the preseason, but this team blows late leads, and blew a 19-point lead vs. Detroit on Dec. 26. That 114-113 loss put their losing streak at five games and might have sealed coach Mike Brown’s fate.

The Skinny

The team let go of Brown six months after signing a three-year extension and a few moments after conducting a film session. Many of the league’s other coaches were publicly upset, but that is the nature of the game. You can’t fire 12 players, so coaches ultimately get the blame. The losing streak reached six games under interim coach Doug Christie and left this club 13-19, but have rattled off a five game winning streak since then.

This club has talent, but seemed a bit bottled up under Brown and has a bit more freedom under Christie, a former player in Sacramento who the players relate to well. More than stats, this team needed a shot in the arm and we’ll see just how real the momentum is when the Kings visit Boston on Jan. 10 against a team that has beaten Sacramento six consecutive times.

3. Minnesota Timberwolves

• Current Record: 19-17 (54-28 preseason projection)
• Key Stat: Sixth best defensive rating (110.0 ppg) but No. 21 in offensive rating (111.4 ppg)
• Key Development: Donte DiVincenzo is not shooting the ball well and point guard Mike Conley is not getting any younger or productive.

The Skinny

The Wolves were involved in a block-buster preseason trade to bring in DiVincenzo and Julius Randle and move on from all-star center Karl-Anthony Towns, and the results have been a mixed bag. It was evident from opening night vs. the Lakers having Randle on the floor at the same time with Rudy Gobert could be problematic in terms of floor spacing. Randle holds on to the ball more than KAT in offensive sets and that is problematic.

Jaden McDaniels has been up and down after making a huge impact in last year’s playoffs and with Conley’s obvious offensive decline, the team is just not completely ready to hand the reins over to Rob Dillingham in the crucial moments. Not having much depth just makes the issues bigger and something will have to be done in the off-season if this team hopes to take the next step up from last year when it reached the Western Conference Finals. Unless something drastic happens by the trade deadline, a deep run seems unlikely again as Minnesota sits in the No. 8 spot in the West.

4. Phoenix Suns

• Current Record: 16-19 (48-34 preseason projection)
• Key Stat: 8-18 after a 8-1 start.
• Key Development: Suns want to move Bradley Beal, but are going to have a hard time finding a team to take on a declining player who is making over $50 million per season.

The Skinny

Sacramento is not the only Pacific Division team struggling, as the Suns were expected to be a tad below championship caliber but are nowhere near that. They were one of the teams mentioned as pursuing the Heat’s Jimmy Butler, but that hasn’t gone anywhere. Tyus Jones is not always handling the ball in crunch time with spacing and execution a problem for this undersized team.

The bottom line is Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant (who the Suns are 1-9 without) are not good enough together to win a NBA title and they often play out of position on defense. The Suns and coach Mike Budenholzer shook things up recently by regulating Beal and center Jusuf Nurkic to the bench, but it remains to be seen what this team can do by the trade deadline to right the ship.

5. Indiana Pacers

• Current Record: 20-18 (46-36 preseason projection)
• Key Stat: They have a -0.4 Net Rating (17th in the league)
• Key Development: Indiana is pretty good at a few things but not great at many and are trying to figure out why.

The Skinny

We projected this team would be quality, but would have a hard time duplicating last year’s run to the Eastern Conference finals. Indiana snuck up on injury-prone teams in the 2024 playoffs and now have hit an injury bug themselves. James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson have been lost for the season and often it seems this team doesn’t play with a sense of urgency. It is a team third to last in rebounds per game (49.1) and is many times over-matched when it matters in crunch time.

Indiana is actually 7-3 in its last 10 games, so it appears the team could be trending upwards, but overall it’s a good team but not a team likely to make another deep run. Think 2021 Atlanta Hawks; sometimes when you are the hunter vs. the hunted things change. Either way, in order for this team to be a serious contender, it must get better on the interior and its stars, Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, must find consistency.