Whether due to injuries, chemistry issues, trade requests, or just an outright underwhelming performance, certain NBA teams failed to live up to the hype during the 2024-25 season. With that in mind, here are the five NBA teams from this past season that left fans frustrated and analysts scratching their heads.
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1. Phoenix Suns
phoenix suns
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The Phoenix Suns‘ big three of Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker just didn’t work out, and Phoenix failed to even make the play-in tournament. With Kevin Durant now officially gone and traded to the Rockets, Suns fans can agree that his time in Phoenix, and specifically this past season, was extremely disappointing.
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2. Philadelphia 76ers
Paul George, Denver Nuggets
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The Philadelphia 76ers were a frustrating team to watch. With the addition of Paul George, fans were excited to witness the duo of PG and Joel Embiid. But both players missed significant time due to injuries, and the 76ers finished in 13th place in the East.
If they both can stay healthy, Philly will likely be a playoff team next season. But the team was plagued with injuries and disappointment last season, so who knows if they can turn that trend around?
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3. Dallas Mavericks
NBA: Milwaukee Bucks at Dallas Mavericks
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The Dallas Mavericks made the NBA Finals a year ago, and as we all know, went ahead and traded the franchise player who got them there, Luka Dončić. Although the future in Dallas seems bright now that they have landed Cooper Flagg, last season was one of the franchise’s most disappointing in recent memory. Even though they acquired Anthony Davis through the trade, Dallas lost Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL and failed to make the playoffs. To go from a Finals appearance to under. 500 and 10th place in the West was a hard pill to swallow for many Mavericks fans.
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4. Miami Heat
NBA: Playoffs-Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami Heat
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The Miami Heat are stuck in a weird middle ground. They are no longer true contenders, but are not bad enough to completely rebuild. After trading Jimmy Butler, there were no more playoff heroics in Miami as they were swept embarrassingly by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Butler’s departure marked the end of the winning era in Miami, and this year’s failure likely signals what’s to come for the Heat in the seasons ahead.
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5. Milwaukee Bucks
NBA: Milwaukee Bucks at Atlanta Hawks
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The Milwaukee Bucks fanbase had championship aspirations heading into the season. But the Bucks had an outright heartbreaking end to their season, seeing their second-best player, 9-time All-Star Damian Lillard, go down with an Achilles tear in the opening round of the playoffs.
They also lost dramatically to Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers’ heroics by one point in overtime. With Lillard being waived, the dream of an NBA Championship is seemingly over, and his time in Milwaukee last season was part of an overall disappointing campaign for the club in 2024-25.