Two wins in 29 games. 26 consecutive defeats. The Detroit Pistons’ numbers are the worst in NBA history. They fell to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday to match the worst streak in a single season, previously held by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2013-2014 and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010-2011. But this team, led by former Suns Monty Williams on the bench and Cade Cunningham on the court, still has the option of being the most disastrous of all time.
Gone are the years when the Bad Boys of Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars or Bill Laimbeer won titles and had their foot on the neck of the beardless Michael Jordan at the end of the eighties. It also seems forgotten the era of Grant Hill, one of the stars of the nineties, or that of the title won at the beginning of the century by the rudimentary team led by Wallace and Chauncey Billups, among others.
The franchise is now a shambles despite 2021 No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham (22), Jaden Ivey (21) and rookie Ausar Thompson (20). Too much youth and too little craft has brought them to the edge of the abyss. But everything could get worse tomorrow Tuesday if they lose at home against the Nets, because they would sign the worst streak in history in a single season: 27 straight losses.
However, there is still another border that the Pistons could cross in their descent into hell: that of the 28 consecutive defeats that the Philadelphia 76ers accumulated from 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 counting the end of a season and the beginning of the next one. For that they should lose against the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors (on December 30). With 29 consecutive defeats, there would be no argument when pointing to them as the worst team ever.
