The NBA Playoffs are underway and as you look at this year’s bracket, you notice that there are a few notable teams that are missing. That’s because of massive underperformances from those certain teams and in some cases, it’s quite surprising. Whether it’s due to injuries or stars just not playing well together, the 2024-25 playoffs are without a few teams that were thought to make it before the season. I
f you’re curious about betting and want to try your luck without spending any real money, you can play demo roulette for free here. For fans of these teams, it’s a great distraction from whatever came of the regular season. With that being said, let’s take a look at three squads that shockingly underperformed during the 2024-25 NBA campaign.
Teams That Underperformed in the 2024-25 NBA Season
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Phoenix Suns
Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradly Beal. Those three names alone would make you think that the Phoenix Suns would be in a good spot to contend this season but that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, they failed to even make the NBA Play-In Tournament.
The Suns invested in a roster to compete this year and even hired a winning coach in Mike Budenholzer. Ultimately, everything that could go wrong did go wrong and they ended with a record under .500 at 36-46, firing Budenholzer after one season. The Suns now look forward to the off-season where many questions loom, including the inevitable trade of Durant and whether they should build around Booker or get as much as they can for him.
Things quickly went south for the Suns and it made for one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.
Philadelphia 76ers
Injuries. That basically sums up the Philadelphia 76ers 2024-25 season. Joel Embiid only played 19 games this season due to a knee injury and Paul George, who was signed to a four-year, $212M deal this offseason, only played in 41 games. Even rising star Tyrese Maxey missed some time with an injury.
Losing two superstars for over 50 percent of the games, well over 50 percent in Embiids’ case, is enough to prevent any team from making any type of noise. However, through all the mess, the 76ers did see great things from rookie Jared McCain but that isn’t enough to make the teams’ abysmal 24-58 record any better.
The 76ers have the players to compete in the Eastern Conference, but their staying on the floor is key to any success that they hope to have in the future.
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings made the NBA Playoffs in 2023-24 for the first time since 2005-06. It was followed by missing the playoffs the next season but only lost two more games than in their playoff season. Looking to get back into the postseason, the Kings went out in free agency and signed DeMar DeRozan to a three-year, $74M deal to pair with the likes of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis.
In the end, DeRozan didn’t fit in with that duo and that’s what ultimately led to the downfall of the Kings. The team ended up trading Fox to the San Antonio Spurs in a three-team trade. In the end, they did get Zach LaVine in that trade, who did well for the Kings, but it wasn’t enough to overcome what they thought the trio of Derozan, Sabonis, and Fox would bring at the start of the season. They also ended up firing head coach Mike Brown after starting 13-18 and named Doug Christie interim head coach the rest of the way.
The Kings ended the season 40-42, which isn’t the worst but they decreased their win total by six from the previous season and eight from their playoff season. It’ll be interesting to see what the Kings do this offseason but they surprisingly underperformed in 2024-25.
Main Image: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
