Every NBA franchise's most infamous villain

Over 20-plus years, LeBron has given pretty much every team in the NBA some significant trouble. That includes the 2015 Atlanta Hawks. The franchise hadn't won a championship since their first in 1958, but they appeared to have a good shot at it in '15 with a hot 60-win squad. LeBron and his Cavs, though, swept them in the conference finals, stopping Atlanta short in their strongest championship pursuit in decades.

The Kyrie Irving era in Boston began with a bad omen when fellow new acquisition Gordon Hayward suffered a gruesome leg injury minutes into his first game. Still, Kyrie led the team as its All-Star point guard and played very well. After just two seasons, though, he left the team on shaky terms and was routinely booed whenever he returned to the Boston Garden.

As a GM, Ainge developed a reputation as routinely getting the best of teams in trades during his time with the Celtics. His most famous victim is the Nets. Ainge managed to trade aging stars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett for some significant draft capital. The Nets didn't do much winning with their new acquisitions, while two of those draft picks ended up being All-NBA stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

MJ is, to many, the greatest to ever play the game. He hasn't had that same level of success as the owner of the Bobcats/Hornets, though. Jordan's teams never had much success and he whiffed on high draft picks like Adam Morrison, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Cody Zeller, and Frank Kaminsky.

For his first few years in the NBA, Jordan was an undeniable star, but one who was unable to carry a team to the Finals. In 1989 and 1990, that was thanks to Isiah Thomas and the Pistons. Part of the reason they were a roadblock was the team's "Jordan Rules," a physical style of play intended to frustrate MJ and limit his impact.

The Cavaliers and Warriors had the defining NBA rivalry of the 2010s, meeting in the Finals for four consecutive seasons. Their match-ups were initially competitive, but the balance shifted when Durant left the Thunder to join Golden State in 2017. Instead of even re-matches, the Warriors made light work of the Cavs, dispatching them in a 4-1 series in 2017 and 4-0 in 2018.

Harrison is the architect of one of the NBA's most baffling transactions ever. In 2025, he traded Luka Dončić, a regular MVP candidate for half a decade, for Anthony Davis, who is also great but significantly older and more injury-prone than Dončić. Mavs fans quickly turned on Harrison, and by the end of the year, he was relieved of his GM duties.

As a Nugget, Carmelo was a four-time All-NBA selection and one of the league's most lethal scorers. It was the end of his time in Denver that left a bad taste. He forced his way out in 2011, which led to boos raining on him whenever he returned as an opponent.

It was initially the Pistons who proved to be a roadblock to MJ. They were the final mountain he needed to climb to win his first championship, after Detroit beat the Bulls in the Conference Finals in 1989 and 1990. Jordan ended the Pistons' reign, though, in 1991, securing his first title and marking the end of an era in Detroit.

As aforementioned, LeBron and the Warriors were all over the Finals in the 2010s. The most infamous of them was the 2016 series, in which the Warriors were sitting pretty up 3-1. Improbably, though, LeBron led his Cavaliers to three straight wins, snatching victory from the jaws of what seemed like inevitable defeat.

In 1997, the Rockets were eyeing one last title with a core of Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and Charles Barkley. They ran into a formidable Jazz team in the Conference Finals that year, though. Down 3-2 in the series, Stockton had a late three that sealed the Rockets' fate, putting their championship chase to an end.

LeBron is a regular on this list due to his lengthy reign of dominance in the Eastern Conference. Indiana was one of LeBron's most frequent postseason punching bags. In the 2010s, they faced either the Heat or the Cavs in the playoffs five times, failing to win a single one of those series.

For years, Sterling fostered a reputation as an ineffective and stingy owner while presiding over the Clippers. Then came the scandals that surfaced in the 2010s, in which he made inappropriate remarks. He was forced to sell the team, and Clippers fans celebrated.

A new chapter of the Celtics/Lakers rivalry was written in the late 2000s and early 2010s, with Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant as the faces of their respective franchises. One big moment that sparked hatred was his injury in the 2008 Finals that ended with him leaving the court in a wheelchair. Some thought his malady was faked or exaggerated, and Pierce later indicated it was indeed bathroom-related.

Draymond Green has been rubbing opponents the wrong way for his entire career, but in the Western Conference, the Grizzlies have been particularly miffed. They and the Warriors met in the playoffs in 2015 and 2022, and those matchups were always chippy. Notably, Draymond got ejected from the first game of their 2022 series, and Dillon Brooks later explicitly said he doesn't like Draymond or the Warriors.

The rivalry between the Knicks and Heat was short-lived but fiery: The teams met in the playoffs every year from 1997 to 2000. The games were intensely physical, and through the years, there were multiple brawls and fights. Between that and dramatic victories, it was must-see TV when these teams met in the postseason.

This one is blossoming as Haliburton continues to establish himself as one of the East's biggest stars in Indiana. The Bucks and Pacers had a contentious NBA Cup series in 2024, with Haliburton apparently keeping the game ball from Giannis after he set a personal/franchise high with 64 points. Haliburton's dad even got into the mix, later exchanging words with Giannis. Now that's a rivalry.

Butler only played less than a season's worth of games for the Timberwolves, but he still left quite the impression on the franchise. It wasn't pretty: After requesting a trade in 2018, he showed up to a practice, largely to shout at and taunt management and teammates. A few games into the 2019 season, he was shipped off to Philadelphia.

Davis was supposed to be the Pelicans' savior. Instead, he ended up becoming the villain. Toward the end of his tenure, he demanded a trade to the Lakers, adding to the toxicity in his relationship with the team and its fans. He notably slammed the door on the way out by wearing a "That's All Folks" shirt before one of his final games with the franchise.

This is perhaps the most obvious pick on this whole list. Whenever Reggie played the Knicks, it was an event. There was the choking taunt to Spike Lee, scoring eight points in nine seconds, and various other clutch shots. Miller vs. New York was basketball theater.

Durant was supposed to be an OKC lifer, a Nick Collison, but a Hall of Famer. That changed after the Warriors eliminated the Thunder from the playoffs in 2016; the next season, KD joined them. It felt like a betrayal, and it forever damaged his relationship with his first NBA home.

After losing the Finals in 1995, the Magic were seeking redemption and their first title in 2009. The issue was that they were going up against the white-hot Lakers. Kobe sent a message early in the series, dropping 40 points in a 25-point Game 1 win, and LA went on to win the series in five games.

There was a time when Simmons was seen as the future of the 76ers, even after missing what was meant to be his rookie season. For his first couple of seasons, he was one of the NBA's most promising players. After injuries and other issues, though, Simmons fell from grace, and as of the 2026 season, he's not on an NBA roster.

Horry has made a number of clutch shots in his career; He is, after all, "Big Shot Bob." One of the most consequential, though, was a physical blow, when he hip-checked Steve Nash into the scorers' table towards the end of Game 4 of the 2007 Western Conference semifinals. Amar'e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw left the bench to confront their point guard, which led to suspensions and helped San Antonio win the series.

The Blazers had a decent shot at going all the way in 2000. They even made it to Game 7 against the Lakers in the Conference Finals. A Kobe-to-Shaq alley-oop sealed the series and was the first of a series of disappointments, as LA eliminated Portland from the next two postseasons, too.

Kings fans will never forget the 2002 Western Conference Finals, particularly Game 6. It was one of the most controversial games in the history of the sport, as many believed the officiating crew rigged the game in the Lakers' favor. The Kings teams of the early 2000s were outstanding, but fans feel they were robbed of their best chance at a title.

There were 0.4 seconds left in Game 5 of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals. The Lakers were inbounding the ball, and somehow, Fisher managed to catch it and get a successful, game-winning shot up before the buzzer sounded. This gave LA momentum in the series, and they ended up beating the Spurs in six games.

Raptors fans have a lot of bad LeBron-related memories: For three straight postseasons, from 2016 to 2018, he knocked the Raptors out of the playoffs. They got their championship in 2019, but that three-year stretch still stings.

John Stockton and Karl Malone are two of the greatest to never win a championship, and that's largely thanks to Jordan. The Jazz were one of the league's best teams in 1997, making it to the Finals to only to lose to MJ's Bulls in six games. They found themselves in the exact same position the next season... only to again lose to the Bulls in six.

In the 2017 playoffs, Boston's Olynyk and Washington's Kelly Oubre got into a scrap over what Oubre felt was dirty play from the Celtics big man. In the seventh game of the series, though, he cooked the Wizards, going for 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting. As a member of the Heat the next season, he rubbed salt in the wound by hitting a game-winner.