Top 5 Most Disappointing Teams from the 2023 NBA Playoffs

By Jeff Stinger • May 17, 2023

The 2023 NBA Playoffs have been one unpredictable ride, to say the least. Each conference has one team that made it to the Conference Finals through the play-in tournament, which explains why there are more massive upsets in the first two rounds than what we’ve seen in quite some time. In turn, there are a handful of top-flight contenders that were total letdowns after failing to live up to their lofty expectations.

Nitrobetting is ready to dish out key assists and lob passes with betting tips and news coverage throughout the 2023 NBA Playoffs. This time, let’s look back at the five most disappointing teams from the postseason and the impact of their respective absences from the NBA Finals; let alone the Conference Finals.

Top 5 Most Disappointing Teams from the 2023 NBA Playoffs

5. Phoenix Suns

With the acquisition of Kevin Durant mid-season, the Suns were poised to go all the way considering their core of Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and Deandre Ayton remained intact after the deal. They even got off to an auspicious start with a late-regular-season surge and a 4-1 series win over the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs.

However, Phoenix was just outmatched by a more well-rounded Denver team in the second round, losing to a determined Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in six games. As much as the Suns failing to go deep in the postseason stings with so much talent on their squad, their loss to the top seed in the West softens the blow a bit. As we’ll see with the rest of the list below, there are a lot of other teams that suffered worse defeats than KD and Co.

4. Memphis Grizzlies

It was tempting to put the Grizzlies much higher up on our list. But alas, most NBA fans such as us are just glad that the team that talks trash the most has been eliminated from title contention early on. Between Dillon Brooks being the league’s resident villain with his undeserved bravado and Ja Morant’s off-court controversy that led to a short suspension, Memphis was the team everyone loved to hate.

Ultimately, The Grizz got their comeuppance at the hands of the Lakers with LeBron James provoked to turn back the clock to prime King James form and eliminate Memphis in the opening round in six games. So much for another fantastic regular-season campaign for the Grizzlies, who have learned that Brooks is too much of a distraction to keep on the team and will have to deal with another issue regarding Morant and firearms on social media this offseason.

3. Philadelphia 76ers

Give credit to Philadelphia for putting up an amazing fight against the Celtics in the second round for six hard-fought games. We say six instead of seven despite the series going the full seven-game distance because the Sixers’ offensive implosion in Game 7 leaves a bitter taste in the fanbase’s mouth.

Just days after Joel Embiid was named this season’s regular-season MVP, Embiid looked more had one of his worst performances in the postseason in his latest big-game moment in the series finale. The same could be said about James Harden, who joined the 76ers in hopes of breaking his NBA Finals-less curse to no avail. Was The Beard not supposed to be a part of Philly’s process after all? The team has a ton of questions to answer this offseason for sure, and recently-fired head coach Doc Rivers can’t serve as the Sixers’ scapegoat next season.

2. Golden State Warriors

As the No. 6 seed in the West, not many people were high on the Warriors repeating as NBA champions, especially with them being one of the worst road teams during the regular season. Golden State had a phenomenal first-round series win against a young, feisty Sacramento team, though, albeit with the Kings pushing the Dubs to the limit.

However, things started to unravel when the Warriors found themselves down 3-1 in the conference semis against LeBron and the Lakers. They’d salvage Game 5 with a huge home win, but their road woes would come back to haunt them in a blowout loss at LA in Game 6. What makes this failed Warriors run for the title a huge disappointment is that this is the first time in the Stephen Curry-Steve Kerr era that the Dubs were knocked out of the playoffs before even reaching the NBA Finals.

1. Milwaukee Bucks

Many would look back on the 2023 NBA Playoffs as the one wherein the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated in five games (five games!) by an eighth-seeded Miami Heat team. The Heat lost a play-in game for the No. 7 seed before beating the Bulls out for the last spot in the East’s playoff bracket, which goes to show that this should’ve been a cakewalk for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the gang.

The Bucks, who have one of the best defenses in the league, simply had no answers for another patented, heroic playoff effort from Miami’s Jimmy Butler. Butler averaged 37.6 points per game during the series as the Heat used this amazing momentum to reach the Eastern Conference Finals to date. Milwaukee, meanwhile, will have to endure the memes that came from this bitter upset. The team will now have to reconfigure its game plan for the 2023-24 season without head coach Mike Budenholzer, who was fired shortly after the Bucks’ first-round exit.

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