The Dallas Mavericks’ elimination on Sunday is good news if you want to see an NBA champion that you might not have before.
First-round defeats by the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, and Boston Celtics left the Dallas Mavericks as the last team remaining in the playoffs to have won an NBA title in the last 20 years. On Sunday, the Mavericks lost Game 7 to the Los Angeles Clippers, ensuring that the new NBA champion will break a title drought of at least 38 years.
The Philadelphia 76ers, who last won a title in 1983, have the most recent title of the teams still standing. The Milwaukee Bucks last won in 1971, while the Atlanta Hawks franchise’s most recent title came in 1958, when the team was still based in St. Louis. The other five remaining teams — the Nuggets, Clippers, Suns, Nets, and Jazz — have never won an NBA championship.
That’s outstanding news for those who like parity and variety in their sports. Even if the Sixers win, an entire generation of fans will be seeing a new champion for the first time. After two decades of dominance concentrated largely between the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Heat, and Lakers, that should excite a lot of people.
You don’t need to think back that far to remember the last one-off champion and the response they elicited in their city. Whoever wins this year might get a similar treatment.
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