In the history of the NBA only 14 teams have ever lost 20 or more games in a row. Losing that many games in a row is hard. It is a dubious distinction that marks some of the worst teams in the history of the league.
This season the Detroit Pistons have joined that group with 24 straight losses. That is two away from tying the all-time record for an in-season losing streak and four away from the all-time record.
Over the next four games a lot of eyes are going to be on Detroit with pressure on the team trying to not become an all-time loser.
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Right now the record for the most consecutive losses in a row is held by the Philadelphia 76ers between the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. They lost 28 games in a row combined between those two seasons with 10 in a row to end the 2014-15 season and then 18 straight to start the 2015-16 season which jumped off “the process.”
The record for the most losses in a row in one season is 26 straight games – a record held by two different teams.
Again, Philadelphia appears on this list in the 2013-14 season and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2010-11 season. That was Cleveland’s first season without LeBron James and absolutely no young talent to build around.
The common thread between those teams is that they were in the first chapter and in some cases the first sentence of their rebuilds.
Philadelphia over those three years were starting “the process” drafting Michael Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor in the lottery after trading away Jrue Holiday and moving on from all of their veterans to begin a rebuild.
For Cleveland, it is as simple as James leaving in the offseason to join the Miami Heat. They were led by 34-year-old Antawn Jamison and the collection of J.J. Hickson, Mo Williams, Ramon Sessions and Daniel Gibson.
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Those teams are not this Detroit team.
Heading into this season Detroit hired the coach it thought was going to build the cohesion and culture to a roster that is loaded with talent in Monty Williams. He built a coaching staff with former players and head coaches that infused experience, knowledge and more voices for the young players to connect with.
This roster features 2021 No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, 2022 fifth overall pick Jaden Ivey and 13th overall pick Jalen Duren and 2023 fifth overall pick Ausar Thompson.
At this point in any rebuild any team would hope to see much more returns from a roster that features four lottery picks in the rotation along with several more talented players they have hit on later in the draft in Isaiah Stewart, Marcus Sasser, along with projects like James Wiseman and Killian Hayes on the roster.
There is too much talent on the roster and smart minds on the bench, taking injuries into consideration, for Detroit to be in a position to break this record.
Detroit started off the season 2-1 through its first three games. They looked solid to start the season under Williams, the play of Cunningham and the immediate impact of rookie Thompson.
Since then it has been one loss after another leading to the team being on a trajectory to break the record for most losses in a row before the end of the calendar year.
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The next five games for Detroit are potentially the best opportunity for the team to snap the streak before it hits historic heights.
Up next is a home game against the Utah Jazz. They are bottom eight in the league in both points per game and points allowed to opponents. On the road they are even worse with a net margin of -16.8 points per game and a 2-12 overall record. That is the game the team has to have circled on the calendar. The Pistons will have two full days rest and practice to prepare and game plan for Utah, something they haven’t had for two weeks.
From there the rest of the schedule leading up to potentially breaking the record has Utah playing the Brooklyn Nets twice, once on the road and then at home.
Losing all three of those games sets the record for the most losses in a row in one season.
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On the other side of this losing streak, whether it is an all-time record or not, is another loathsome journey for this Detroit team.
At their current pace, the Pistons will finish this season with just six wins. That would break the all-time worst record in NBA history by three games. In the 1972-73 season Philadelphia won just nine games and were the only team in an 82-game season to win less than 10 games total.
To avoid having arguably the worst regular season in NBA history Detroit needs to win one of its next five games and go at least 8-47 to close out the season.
The talent and leadership are both there on paper, but games are played on the court and so far this season Detroit has won two of 27 games, lost 24 in a row, and have shown few signs of being a team that can win one out of every seven games to close out the season.
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