5 NBA teams who have disappointed during the 2023-24 season

Highlights

• Key player injuries derail teams’ expectations, as seen with Embiid’s absence for the 76ers.
• Despite successful player duos, teams like the Hawks and Lakers remain mediocre.
• Talented teams like the Warriors struggle due to under-performance, as with Thompson’s and Green’s down years.

Teams who come into the season with high expectations sometimes fall flat. This is often the case in the NBA, where talented teams who are expected to go far, or who did go far the previous season, fail to live up to those expectations and the season turns into a disappointment.

Reasons for this vary, but it usually comes down to a key player being lost. This either happens due to injury or the player leaving, but in the case of the latter, it usually leads to a drop in expectations from the get-go as the team will automatically be weaker without said player. However, in the case of injuries, the team collapses in a shorter notice and it becomes more disappointing.

Various teams in the NBA this year have lived up to expectations and have even surpassed them, but a few of them have disappointed this season for a plethora of reasons. Some of these teams are still alive in the playoff hunt, while others squandered that opportunity long ago. These are five teams who have disappointed so far in the 2023-24 season.

5 Philadelphia 76ers

The Sixers are still in the playoff hunt but have disappointed after the loss of Embiid

The majority of cases involving disappointing teams come down to injuries of key players. This is the exact case for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2024, as they are currently without the talent of superstar Joel Embiid for the foreseeable future. The loss of Embiid has negatively affected the 76ers.

Coming off an MVP season last year, Embiid was poised to repeat as he put up a career-high in scoring this season, averaging 35.3 points per game. This included a 48-point affair on November 6, 2023, against the Washington Wizards, and a 50-point game on December 6, also against the Wizards. On January 20, he became only the third player in NBA history after Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James to score at least 30 points in twenty straight games, an unbelievable feat.

However, the glory of Embiid got cut short on January 30, 2024, when the superstar suffered an injury to his lateral meniscus after Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga landed on Embiid’s knee. This has sidelined him from playing ever since and even caused Embiid to be eliminated from repeating as MVP, due to a new rule which requires players to play at least 65 games to be eligible. It’s safe to say the Sixers have struggled since his departure.

The 76ers were 29-17 and in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference before Embiid became injured, but following the injury, they slipped to 33-22 and 5th place in the East. Their season is not over by any means, as they remain a talented team and in a playoff position, but they will need Embiid to return before the playoffs to not turn the season into a disappointment.

4 Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks remain mediocre despite the top talent of Young and Murray

Last season, the Atlanta Hawks squeaked into the playoffs despite having a .500 record of 41-41. They would lose to the Boston Celtics in the first round in six games, and the season was widely viewed as a disappointment since it was the first year of the Trae Young and Dejounte Murray combo after the Hawks traded for Murray last offseason.

However, the duo never seemed to click, leading to the Hawks’ mediocrity. That was expected to change this season as Young and Murray would now be in their second season together, but things have not only been mediocre, they have been worse. The Hawks currently sit seven games under .500 at 24-31, and 10th in the Eastern Conference.

It is intriguing to consider what has gone wrong for the team. It is not as if Young and Murray have not performed, as the two have been shining stars in what has otherwise been an average ballclub. Young is averaging 26.7 points and 10.9 assists per game, while Murray is putting up 21.4 points and 5.3 assists per game.

The two are clearly not the problem with the team in their own right, but the chemistry could be a primary factor. In fact, this past Trade Deadline, deals for both Murray and Young were considered but did not go through. It is known that a potential deal for Murray which would have sent him to the New Orleans Pelicans was almost fulfilled, but canceled at the last minute.

And a recent report revealed that the San Antonio Spurs did discuss a Trae Young trade with Atlanta, but that never went through. While the Hawks are in 10th place, a run at the play-in tournament is not out of the question, but it is undeniable that this season has been a disappointment for them thus far.

3 Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers remain mediocre despite a big duo of James and Davis

The Los Angeles Lakers have turned it around slightly in recent weeks, but the reality is that they remain mediocre. On paper, this should not be the case, as they are anchored by a big duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis—the same duo that led the franchise to its 17th championship in 2020—but games are not won on paper.

The reality is that the Lakers currently sit at 9th in the Western Conference, five games over .500 at 30-25. This record was significantly worse a few weeks ago when they were under .500 and in 11th place. For a while, the Lakers simply hovered around mediocrity and could not achieve a winning record, consistently hovering under and around .500 but never over.

In February, after opting to stand pat at the Trade Deadline and not make any significant moves (much to the chagrin of most fans), the Lakers began winning some games and finally crossed into winning territory. James and Davis haven’t been the issue, either, as they are averaging 24.8 and 24.9 points per game, respectively. However, they don’t change the fact that the Lakers have been average this season and remain a disappointment.

2 Golden State Warriors

The Warriors possess the talent but have remained a losing team for much of the season

Over the past almost decade, the Golden State Warriors have been a winning organization. They are therefore not used to being a losing team, but that is exactly what has happened in the 2023-24 season. The Warriors are currently one game over .500 at 27-26, but have been under that mark for the majority of the season.

Aside from an abysmal 15-50 campaign in 2020 which was derailed by injuries, the current Warriors appear to be hovering in a state of mediocrity. Stephen Curry is still the three-point god he’s been throughout his career, and is averaging 28 points per game with a 42.1 percent three-point percentage. But down years from Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have brought down the Warriors as a whole.

Thompson has been having such a below-average campaign that he even recently admitted that he would be open to re-signing with the Warriors and serving a reduced role. This comes after he rejected a contract extension at the end of last season, something he is most certainly regretting.

The Warriors can never be counted out, though, due to the sheer talent they possess. This is a lesson the basketball world learned after Golden State won the chip in 2022, after a few down years and beliefs that the dynasty was over. But if they aspire to return to that glory, they must shed the mediocrity that has rendered the majority of their season a disappointment thus far.

1 Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies’ season has been derailed by injuries

The Memphis Grizzlies had a promising 2022-23 season last year. They finished in second place in the Western Conference with a 51-31 record, and although they were upset by the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, morale was looking up despite some controversies. In a big splash, the Grizzlies traded for Celtics’ point guard Marcus Smart to solidify their core.

This season, the complete opposite has occurred. Right out of the gate, Memphis was without their star Ja Morant for the first 25 games of the season after he was seen flashing a gun on a video. The Grizzlies lost their first six games and were the final team in the NBA to notch a win, on November 5. By the time Morant returned to play on December 18, the Grizzlies were 6-19 and in a deep hole.

Morant was not even with the team for long, before he suffered a severe subluxation injury during practice on January 8, and would be forced to miss the rest of the season. The Grizzlies were also derailed by injuries to Smart, Steven Adams, Desmond Bane, and Derrick Rose, among others.

At one point, 13 out of 18 players on the roster were ruled out due to injuries. The Grizzlies remained strong at the Trade Deadline, however, refusing to trade off any pieces as they view this year as an anomaly and seek to compete next year. All of these issues have combined to derail the Grizzlies’ 2023-24 campaign, though, rendering them the biggest disappointment in the NBA this season.