The NBA’s 82-game regular season leaves plenty of margin for error for a bad stretch of play. This is a league where 53% of teams make the playoffs, not counting the four other teams who have the opportunity to earn their way into the postseason with one or two wins in the play-in tournament. There are still five months left on the schedule, with back-to-backs and spells of three-games-in-four-nights filling in the calendar.

Most teams can get off to a bad start and still be just fine. Some teams already know their season is over before it ever really starts. Check out our NBA power rankings this week for full coverage of the league.

Just over two weeks into the season, it already feels like there are six teams who are already toast. Some of these teams knew they would be bad coming into the year, while others dreamed of breaking into the playoffs. The unfortunate reality for these teams is they can’t even count on a high draft pick next year anymore after the league’s anti-tanking lottery reform was put in place this season ahead of the 2027 draft. Of course, there’s plenty of time for things to change with only about 10% of the schedule complete, but these six teams already look cooked.

The Kings appeared to have no hope coming into the season, and at this point the only intrigue left is to see if they avoid being the worst team of the 2020s, a stake currently held by the 14-win Detroit Pistons in 2023-24. Rookie guard Darius Acuff is the best thing this franchise has going for them, and he’s getting thrown into the deep end from the very start of his career. Acuff leads the NBA in minutes per game and he’s one field goal attempt behind 2-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the league-lead in that category. The Kings could probably stand to give some of Acuff’s usage (32.5%) to Domantas Sabonis (16.1% usage rate), but they would still be a bad team, and at least now the rookie guard has the ability to learn from his mistakes. Keegan Murray being out again with an ankle injury after only playing 23 games last year is the real bummer for the start of this season. The Kings felt like the worst team in the league entering the season, and they still feel like the worst team in the league. Try to enjoy the Acuff roller coaster, Kings fans, because there’s nothing else to latch onto.

The good news is that rookie forward Caleb Wilson looks like he can be the franchise player the Bulls have been missing since their horrible Jimmy Butler trade 10 years ago. The bad news is they might need four new starters around him long-term. It’s been a truly disappointing start for Matas Buzelis, who looked like a keeper in his first two seasons under Billy Donovan, but is regressing and seemingly falling out of favor under new head coach Tiago Splitter. Buzelis’ inability to beat mismatches when teams put their tiny guards on him is the single most alarming trend of this season for Chicago. Josh Giddey has also been terrible, and likely won’t be around the next time the Bulls have a playoff team. No. 15 overall pick Dailyn Swain can’t even get on the floor during blowouts. Chicago’s perimeter defense is atrocious with Giddey and Norm Powell, it can’t grab a defensive rebound (No. 28 in d-rebound rate), and it’s dead-last in three-point percentage. This team stinks out loud, but a brutal schedule to open the season will get softer eventually, and Wilson’s highlights will at least give the fanbase something to dream on.

It was simply unavoidable that the Bucks would be in for a hard season after trading Giannis Antetokounmpo, and it’s playing out as expected. Milwaukee is hanging tough in most of their games under new head coach Taylor Jenkins, but they just don’t have the talent to win in the fourth quarter yet. Milwaukee is dead-last at forcing turnovers on defense, and they’re near the bottom of the league in both free throw rate and free throw percentage. The Bucks just don’t get anything easy right now, which is the true sign of a terrible team. There are some positives thus far: rookie guard Brayden Burries looks pretty good despite a cold start as a shooter, while Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyler Herro are both playing well enough to fetch something decent on the trade market. Kel’el Ware, who is playing under 19 minutes per game, has possibly been the biggest disappointment here so far with a lot of sloppy turnovers, undisciplined fouls, and bricked jumpers to start the year. Getting Ware going next to Burries would at least improve the vibes the rest of the way.

The Suns became the feel-good story of last season by grinding out 45 wins with maximum effort on the offensive glass and forcing defensive takeaways. This year’s team had to take a step forward after trading their last remaining future first-round pick for Miles Bridges, but it was easy to tell that move was doomed to fail from the start. Bridges hasn’t added much of anything to Phoenix at either end of the floor, but that’s just the start of their problems. This team continues to play Jalen Green over Collin Gillespie for some reason, even though every piece of evidence points to Gillespie being the exact player they need. The Suns have more of a chance to turn it around this season than most of these other teams provided they finally start playing their best point guard, but their issues in the middle don’t have such an easy solution. I loved Khaman Maluach as a draft prospect, but he just doesn’t look ready for starting center minutes at all right now. Oso Ighodaro has been better offensively, but he’s too small to play full-time center, and the defense completely falls apart when he’s on the floor (a ghastly 129 defensive rating in his minutes). Devin Booker is getting paid enough to lift this team through tough times, but he’s just not a great enough shot-maker to overcome his lack of rim attempts. Phoenix has some chance to turn it around, but the early returns are highly discouraging.

I was foolish enough to think the Jazz could be a playoff team this year, but my optimism started to fade once Jusuf Nurkic went down with a foot injury in the team’s preseason opener. A length injury to Jaren Jackson Jr. followed, which has put an already thin front court in a dangerous spot to start the season. It’s a bad sign that Utah’s offense has been the main culprit for their struggles, ranking No. 29 in the league right now. There should be a ton of firepower here, but the team has been ice cold from three (31.5 percent, No. 27 in the league), and rookie Darryn Peterson is still figuring out his spots on the floor. Peterson is relying way too heavily on floaters and other non-rim two-pointers right now, and it’s tanking his efficiency (46.5% true shooting). There’s also just a huge lack of high-level passing on this team right now, and it’s one reason why Lauri Markkanen just can’t seem to get going. The JJJ trade looks like an abomination. This was supposed to be the season the Jazz finally stopped rebuilding and started getting serious, but the product on the floor remains extremely poor.

The Clippers’ future was decimated by the NBA for their dealings with Kawhi Leonard in a cap circumvention scandal, but they still had a chance to be competitive this year. It already feels like that hope is over. Brandon Ingram reported to training camp with a partially torn Achilles, Max Strus is just returning now from a foot injury, and the big man room might be the worst in the league. Meanwhile, Darius Garland is turning the ball over like crazy, and rookie Keaton Wagler might be the worst inside the arc scorer in the NBA (25% on two-pointers). The Clippers turn the ball over more than any team in the league, and only four clubs allow their opponents to score with better efficiency. Worst of all, they owe their 2027 draft pick to the Thunder. I have mad respect for Ty Lue as a head coach, but there’s nothing he can do to stop this mess.