2022-23 NBA Preseason Media Poll: Who Will Finish With The Worst Record?
A new NBA season is upon us and with it comes speculation about what will happen over the next few months.
Who will win this season's awards? Which teams will finish with the best and worst records? Who has the best chance to make the All-Star Game for the first time in their career?
Fastbreak on FanNation polled 21 different NBA media members, some who cover the league as a whole and some who cover an individual team, asking them these specific questions and gathering their results.
Below are the results for who NBA media members believe will finish with the worst record in the NBA during the 2022-23 season:
Media Members Pick To Finish With The Worst Record In The League:
San Antonio Spurs - 6 Total Votes
The San Antonio Spurs are one of the most successful franchises in all of professional sports. Their streak of 22 consecutive playoff appearances from 1998-2019 resulted in five total championships, ranking the Spurs fifth all-time in Finals victories.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end at some point and the last few years for the Spurs have not been what their fans are accustomed to seeing. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, San Antonio has won just 44 percent of their games and they have missed the playoffs for three consecutive years.
Once again, it seems like the Spurs will be on the outside looking in this season, as many are projecting this team to finish with the worst record in the NBA during the 2022-23 season. They no longer have Kawhi Leonard nor DeMar DeRozan and the Spurs recently dealt All-Star guard Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks this offseason.
With Jakob Poeltl having his name draw attention in trade rumors around the league, it seems like Keldon Johnson is now the key name on this roster along with third-year wing Devin Vassell and last year’s first-round pick Joshua Primo. Expect the Spurs to be a rebuilding franchise all year long as they look to figure out a plan long-term.
Trading Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Bojan Bogdanovic this offseason, the Utah Jazz finished second in the voting for who NBA media members believe will finish with the worst regular season record this year. The Jazz definitely have talent, but their roster looks very unorganized and nobody knows what to expect from them, especially with first-time head coach Will Hardy.
The Jazz may not be done making moves either, as Jordan Clarkson and Mike Conley are both veteran players who have received trade interest the last few months and Utah could very much look ahead to the 2023 NBA Draft, highlighted by French big man Victor Wembanyama, a prospect many are saying could end up being the best draft prospect to ever enter the league.
The Houston Rockets received four votes in the preseason poll, the Oklahoma City Thunder received three votes and the Indiana Pacers received two votes to round out the Top-5. The Orlando Magic were the only other team picked to finish with the worst record in the league with just one vote.
Four of the six teams to finish with under 30 wins last season ended up receiving at least one vote to finish with the worst record during the 2022-23 season, as the Detroit Pistons and Portland Trail Blazers did not receive any votes.
All six of the teams to receive a vote to finish with the worst record are definitely in a rebuilding mode as a franchise and it would be a surprise to see any of them sneak into the playoffs this year.
Complete voting results from 2022-23 NBA Preseason Media Poll:
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Most Valuable Player
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Rookie of the Year
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Most Improved Player
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Sixth-Man of the Year
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Coach of the Year
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
- Who Will Finish With The Worst Regular Season Record?
- Who Will Finish With The Best Regular Season Record?
- Which Team Will Win The Eastern Conference?
- Which Team Will Win The Western Conference?
- Which Team Will Win The 2023 NBA Finals?
- Who Is Most Likely To Be A First-Time All-Star During The 2022-23 NBA Season?
