Though most franchises throughout the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL have had some glory days, a handful of teams are still waiting for their first opportunity for a championship.
As a lifelong sports fan, it often feels like narratives throughout most seasons revolves around some variant of a David vs. Goliath narrative – where a proven champion and favorite is pitted against upstart opponents hungry for a shot of their own.
From the recent dominance of the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Dodgers to past dynasties from the Golden State Warriors and Chicago Blackhawks, other teams often evaluate their seasons based on how they played against the titans of the league when it mattered most.
Of the 124 teams between the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Assocation and National Hockey League, 13 have never played for a championship in their franchise history.
Though this includes relative newborns in the Utah Mammoth and Seattle Kraken, it also does not include teams like the Arizona Cardinals, Sacramento Kings, Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions, all of whom have never played for a championship in their respective league’s current format.
The clubs that have missed out on even a championship round appearance have had a variety of histories – some have weathered decades of futility and blown opportunities, while others are still somewhat new franchises who have fallen short in their postseason opportunities.
Here’s a look at how they all got there:
1. Jacksonville Jaguars
In their 31st season of play, the Jaguars’ franchise history has been defined by an early meteoric rise followed by years of mediocrity and futility.
After going 9-7 in their second season of play, the Jaguars made an improbable run to the AFC Championship Game, eventually losing 20-6 to the Drew Bledsoe-led New England Patriots.
Jacksonville bounced back by posting double-digit wins in their next three seasons, including a 14-2 campaign in 1999, though fell short of the Super Bowl each season. The Jaguars reached their second conference championship game in 1999, losing to the Tennessee Titans 33-14.
Since the turn of the century, the Jaguars have made just four playoff appearances, coming the closest they had ever been to the Super Bowl in a narrow AFC Championship Game loss to Tom Brady and the Patriots in the 2017 season.
The Jaguars maintain some hope this season, holding a 7-4 record in a Wild Card position entering Week 13.
2. Houston Texans
Entering the league as an expansion franchise in 2002 to fill the void left by the former Houston Oilers, the Texans have been a strange mix of competitive and futile in their franchise history.
While the Texans have made eight playoff appearances since joining the league, they have failed to make it to even an AFC Championship Game, lacking the close calls the Jaguars have had in their Super Bowl pursuit.
This strangely comes alongside the fact that the Texans have indeed won six playoff games in their team history – with all of them coming in the Wild Card Round.
The Texans are currently 6-5 entering Week 13, in third place in the AFC South and out of a playoff spot.
3. Seattle Mariners
Introducing the most recent heartbreak to this list, the Mariners near half-century as a team has been dominated by poor play and missed opportunities, with 2025 ultimately proving to be no different for Seattle.
The only MLB team to never appear in a World Series, the Mariners have made the postseason just six times in their franchise history, losing in the American League Championship Series on four of those occasions.
The 2025 defeat was undoubtedly the most painful, standing alone as the only one of the four series to go the full seven-game distance, with the Mariners squandering a lead while just eight outs away from their first-ever pennant.
While 2025 presented the franchise’s biggest heartbreak yet, the team remains built to stay competitive for the near future.
4. Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets are unique in that they have a revised franchise history, consisting of their time from 1988 to 2002 as the original Charlotte Hornets, with their lineage continuing as the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004.
Despite the distinct eras, they have all featured plenty of poor play and seasons well out of playoff contention, excluding a period of seven playoff appearances from 1993 to 2001.
Charlotte has made the postseason just three times outside of the span, having failed to qualify since the 2016 postseason. In addition to never playing in the NBA Finals, the Hornets have never even appeared in an Eastern Conference Final, with four appearances to the Eastern Conference Semifinals marking the deepest playoff runs the team has seen.
The 2000-01 Hornets retain the distinction for the team that has made the deepest playoff run, losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games in the ECSF, dropping Game 7 by a score of 104-95.
Unfortunately for Charlotte fans, it doesn’t look like change is on the horizon this year, as the Hornets are off to a 4-13 start to the 2025-26 NBA season.
5. Minnesota Timberwolves
Established in 1989, the Timberwolves are still looking for their first Western Conference championship, with three runs to the Western Conference Finals representing the furthest the team has gone thus far.
The good news for Minnesota fans is two of those three runs have come in the past two seasons, with Minnesota falling to the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder in five games both seasons.
Prior to the current Anthony Edwards-Rudy Gobert focused era, the Timberwolves made the postseason eight seasons in a row from 1997 to 2004, losing in the first round in each of the first seven seasons. Minnesota’s six-game defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 WCF remains the deepest run in team history.
Eager to break through after two crushing postseason defeats, the Wolves will look to make the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season in 2026. Minnesota is currrently in seventh place in the Western Conference with a 10-7 record to start the 2025-26 season.
6. Los Angeles Clippers
One of the more futile franchises in all of professional sports, the Clippers were primarily a bastion of on-court disaster until the start of the Lob City era in the early 2010’s. Established in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves, the Clippers made the playoffs just seven times before the 2011-12 season.
From there, decades of futility turned into soul-crushing heartbreaks seemingly year-after-year. While the Clippers have only missed the playoffs twice since 2012, they have still failed to reach their first NBA Finals.
The Clippers sustained two especially brutal playoff defeats in 2015 and 2020, both of which saw Los Angeles squander a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference Semifinals to the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets, respectively.
A Paul George-led Clippers team finally made it to their first Western Conference Final in 2021, with Los Angeles falling in six games. The Clips are off to a rough start this season, currently standing in 12th place in the Western Conference with a 5-12 record.
7. Memphis Grizzlies
Beginning play in 1995 as the Vancouver Grizzlies, their short-lived tenure north of the border ended with their move to Memphis in 2001, where they have remained since.
While the Grizzlies have certainly improved from their unparalleled barrenness in Vancouver, the franchise is still waiting for its first trip to the NBA finals, with the team having not come all that close so far.
The Grizzlies saw their greatest era of franchise success throughout much of the 2010’s with seven straight playoff appearances from 2011-17 in the “Grit and Grind” era. This included the most successful team in franchise history thus far, the 2012-13 Grizzlies that ultimately fell to the San Antonio Spurs in a four-game sweep in the Western Conference Finals.
Memphis entered a new era of competitiveness in the early 2020’s thanks to a high-octane unit led by Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., though plenty of turbulence and off-court issues involving the former have overshadowed the team’s on-court production.
The Grizzlies are off to a rough start in the 2025-26 season with a 6-12 record, though they are currently in 10th place in the Western Conference – good enough for a play-in tournament berth.
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