The Detroit Pistons will knock on the door of historic ineptitude on Tuesday night. The Pistons, who have lost 26 straight games, are one loss away from entering the record books as sole owners of the longest single-season losing streak in NBA history.
Detroit will make its final attempt to avoid infamy by hosting the Brooklyn Nets at Little Caesars Arena, just miles from where the franchise hoisted Larry O'Brien trophies in three consecutive decades. While these tough teams have earned the right to be circled on opponents' calendars, the Pistons' 2023-24 calendar looks very different – the team hasn't won a game since October 28th.
But Detroit was not an innovator with incredible incompetence. With today's defeat they would join a pantheon of legendary losers from around the world. Here are the longest defeats in the history of sports. Take comfort, Pistons loyal bigger losers have been here before.
NFL: Chicago Cardinals, 29 games
If 27 basketball games in an 82-game schedule sounds bad, how about 29 football games in an era of 10-game schedules? Before the AFL-NFL merger, the Chicago Cardinals started the 1942 season 3-2 with a Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Rams.
Philadelphia Eagles legend Steve Van Buren scores against the Chicago Cardinals in the 1948 championship game. (Photo via Getty)
Chicago wouldn't get another win until Week 4 of the 1945 season. The Cardinals (later St. Louis Cardinals, later Phoenix Cardinals, later Arizona Cardinals) finished 1945 with a seven-game losing streak, going 1-9 and failing to make the playoffs for the 20th straight season.
In recent history, the Jacksonville Jaguars are on a 20-game losing streak from 2020 to 2021. A 15-game losing streak to end the 2020 season put the Jags in position to sign franchise QB Trevor Lawrence, but led directly to the rotten Urban Meyer era.
Yes, the Pistons will take the brunt of the losing streak if they fail to set the season record tonight, but they would have to lose again to the Boston Celtics on Thursday if they want to match the 76ers' all-time mark. Philadelphia's run spanned two seasons as the Sixers finished the 2014-15 season with a 10-game losing streak and then opened the next season 0-18 before securing their first win in December.
The 2015-16 Sixers won just 10 games, the second fewest of any team in an 82-game season. The record for fewest wins was set by the 76ers in 1972-73 at 9:73, a team whose 20-game losing streak set the NBA record at the time.
In terms of current single-season record, the Pistons are currently tied with the 2013-14 76ers and the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers with 26 losses.
A fan brings a sign with the fan community's slogan “Trust the Process” to a 76ers game in 2015. (Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
WNBA: Tulsa Shock and Indiana Fever, 20 games
The Indiana Fever finished 2022 with 18 straight losses in a 5-31 season, but got a chance for a reset by winning the WNBA lottery and selecting South Carolina legend Aliyah Boston, who just had ended one of the greatest NCAA women's basketball runs in history.
But even with Boston – named an All-Star and named Rookie of the Year – the Fever's losing streak continued, dropping their first two games of 2023, tying the Tulsa Shock's losing streak record set in 2011. While Boston's presence resulted in an eight-game winning streak, the Fever failed to make the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.
In 2011, the Shock finished 3-31 and posted the WNBA's worst winning percentage of all time at .088. With a mismatched roster that included 40-year-old legend Sheryl Swoopes coming out of retirement and a 19-year-old rookie All-Star in Liz Cambage, Tulsa's losing streak lasted from June 21 to August 25 .
After coming out of retirement, Sheryl Swoopes responds to a call amid Tulsa's record-breaking losing streak. (Photo: Shane Bevel/NBAE via Getty Images)
NHL: Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres, 18 games
A COVID-shortened 2021 NHL season wasn't short enough to prevent the Sabers from matching the Penguins' 2003-04 mark. While the Pens were 0-17-1, Buffalo was 0-15-3, with the 18th loss being particularly painful.
With a 3-0 lead early in the third period, the Sabers allowed three goals in the final frame before Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov scored 42 seconds into overtime to extend the lead.
“It’s embarrassing,” Sabers defenseman Brandon Montour said after that loss. “This whole stretch is embarrassing. This is a win for every team in the NHL.”
MLB: Louisville Colonels, 26 games
During the days of Benjamin Harrison's presidential administration, the 1889 Louisville Colonels finished with an impressively terrible record of 27-111 while losing 26 straight games.
The season began with team owner Mordecai Davidson replacing his coaching position with Dude Esterbrook, but Esterbrook was fired after just 10 games. Outfielder Jimmy “Chicken” Wolf assumed the role of player-manager, but Davidson, concerned about player behavior, later hired local bouncer Buck McKinney as team manager as the losing streak ended.
In later years, the Colonels hired future Hall of Famers such as Rube Waddell and Honus Wagner, but the franchise failed in 1899. In modern history, the record has been held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 in a row, and by the 1988 Baltimore challenged Orioles, who lost 21 in a row.
Norwich's yo-yo between the Premier League and second-tier EFL spanned five seasons from 2018 to 2022, with two EFL championships and two Premier League relegations due to bottom-place finishes.
In the Premier League, Norwich ended their 2019-20 basement season with ten consecutive defeats. After being accepted into the EFL and promoted back to the top flight in 2021/22, Norwich began the season with six more league defeats in a row, setting a terrible mark. The series was finally ended with a 0-0 draw in the team's seventh game, but Norwich's first win did not come until the eleventh game, another season in last place.
NCAA football: Northwestern, 34 games
A winless football season is brutal. But how about three in four years? The 1970s and 1980s were not exactly kind to football in the Northwest, as there were four winless seasons from 1976 to 1989 and three one-win seasons during that span. From their third game in 1979 to their fourth game of the 1982 season, the Wildcats went 34 games without a single win.
Northwestern's Ricky Edwards scores one of four touchdowns to give the Wildcats their first win in 35 games. (Photo via Getty)
When the Wildcats lost their 29th straight game, breaking the losing streak record, Northwestern fans sarcastically stormed the field, chanting “We're the worst!” When the losing streak was broken in 1982, fans stormed the field again, tearing at the team took out the goal posts and threw them into Lake Michigan.
That losing streak cost coach Rick Venturi his job, as he finished his tenure with a record of 1-31-1 in three seasons. Venturi's replacement, Dennis Green, had a winless first year himself before turning the Wildcats around in 1982. Green's work in getting three wins out of Northwestern's team was so impressive that he was named Big Ten Coach of the Year despite the team's eight losses.
Below the FBS level, FCS Prairie View A&M has an even more depressing record, losing an astonishing 80 straight games since 1989. The 1998 Panthers finished that streak with just 15 scholarship players.
NCAA Basketball: Chicago State Lady Cougars, 59 games
Chicago State women's basketball experienced a decline in the 2010s unlike any program could imagine. After posting three winning seasons in four years, capped by a best season of 24 wins in 2010-11, the Lady Cougars won just 25 games for the remainder of the decade. The low point came in 2018, when the winless Cougars lost their 59th straight game.
The losing streak began in the 2015/16 season with a seven-game loss to close the season and was then compounded by a winless season in 2016/17 before the streak ended in the 25th game of the 2017/18 team, the Lady Cougars , was canceled. only win of the season.
On the men's side, Towson has the longest losing streak in Division I, 41 games from 2011-12 to 2012-13. But since breaking that streak, the team has had eight winning seasons in the last decade and was co-champion in 2021-22 the CAA crowned.
Exhibition basketball: Washington Generals, 2,495 games
The Washington Generals want to lose. They play the roles of the punching bag and the straight man in the Harlem Globetrotters' high-octane basketball comedy. Throughout their history and under many different aliases, the Generals have employed competitive basketball players, but almost every single one of their 200-plus annual games ends in defeat.
Globetrotters Turbo Pearson dunks against the Washington Generals (Photo: Erick W. Rasco / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
That lasted until January 5, 1971. The Generals – who played that night under the name and jerseys of the New Jersey Reds – and the Globetrotters played an unusual game that night, with Harlem fewer stunts and fewer comedic gags than usual demonstrated. Globetrotters captain and team legend Curly Neal stayed away from the show, and it became more of a classic basketball game than most Globetrotters events.
Washington quickly took the lead, which was not unusual. What was unusual was that the Globetrotters lost track and failed to make their usual dramatic comeback. Generals owner and founder Red Klotz got back into the game in the final seconds and hit the go-ahead basket to put Washington back up 100-99.
Even after the timekeeper inexplicably stopped the clock to give Harlem one last chance, the Globetrotters were unable to continue their winning streak as the crowd sat dumbfounded. Some children were reportedly crying in the stands.
“They look at us like we killed Santa Claus,” Klotz said later.
The 1971 victory may have been one of several victories for the Generals, but the Exhibitionists are not known for their record-keeping skills. While some claim they won as many as six games, the 1971 streak snapper is by far the most famous. It is estimated that the generals lost over 19,000 on additional occasions.
GO DEEPER
In their heyday, the Harlem Globetrotters were also made for television
(Top photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)