Tonight, we get to experience the two best words in sports: Game Seven.
Either the Indiana Pacers or the Oklahoma City Thunder will crawl out from what’s likely to be a bloodbath of a game tonight with their franchise’s first NBA championship. It’s a historic night in the NBA and in the sports world in general.
With a franchise about to win its first championship, and the NBA being in the midst of a renaissance of parity, how do the Washington Wizards fit in?
Not much.
The Wizards last won an NBA championship in 1978, long before they rebranded as the “Wizards,” and long before even the oldest active players were born. What’s more jarring is the team’s conference final drought — a Finals loss in 1979 remains the last time the Wizards have escaped the dreaded second round of the playoffs.
In fact, the Wizards hold the longest active conference final drought in the NBA at a mind-blowing 46 seasons. Two NBA teams have never made the conference finals — the Charlotte Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans — but they both came into existence well into the Wizards’ current drought.
In fact, the Wizards’ 46-year conference final drought coincides with perhaps an even more stunning streak. The 1979 loss in the NBA Finals was also the Wizards’ latest 50-win season. FIFTY! Five-zero. Almost a third of the NBA won 50 games this season alone.
The Wizards’ 46-year drought is dangerously close to claiming the NBA record for longest conference final drought. The LA Clippers failed to appear in a conference final from their founding as a franchise in 1970 all the way until 2021 — 50 seasons of futility.
I grew up as a Clippers fan in Los Angeles, and I got to experience the euphoria of the team’s first-ever conference final appearance when I was in high school. I even attended the closeout Game 6 — a game in which the Clippers were eliminated in a 30-point blowout.
I can speak from experience just how amazing it is to finally see your team reach a height it’s never reached, at least in your lifetime. At that game, even though my team was decimated en route to elimination, the arena was still vibrant and celebratory, as every other Clippers fan and I were just happy to be there.
Hopefully the Wizards are able to avoid taking hold of the Clippers’ treacherous record, but at this rate I’m not so sure. The Wizards still have just the barest skeleton of a competent team in place.