Knicks' victory takes them off the list of longest title droughts - ESPN

It's been a long time coming for the New York Knicks.

On Saturday night, New York defeated the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals. While any championship is special, this one is particularly noteworthy. It breaks one of the few championship droughts of 50 years or more in American sports.

Now, the Knicks can happily roll their «years since we won a title» counter to «zero» and leave the category of teams no franchise wants to be a part of. Here are other teams in the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL whose title droughts have reached or exceeded 50 years — including teams 50 or older that have never won a title.

Sacramento Kings: 75 years

If you look in the annals of NBA playoff history, you won't find the Kings winning the 1950-51 NBA Finals. And yet they did… as the Rochester Royals. The future Kings had four Hall of Famers on the roster: Bob Davies, Red Holzman, Arnie Risen and Bobby Wanzer. The team they defeated in seven games in the Finals? The New York Knickerbockers.

Atlanta Hawks: 68 years

The Hawks, who were then based out of St. Louis, defeated the Boston Celtics in the 1958 NBA Finals. This wasn't just any Celtics team, by the way. This was the Bill Russell-Bob Cousy Celtics, coached by Red Auerbach. The Hawks had future Hall of Famer Bob Pettit, however, and he balled out, scoring 50 points and pulling down 19 rebounds in the decisive Game 6.

Utah Jazz: 51 years

The Jazz seemed like they could win a few titles in the late '90s. They made the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals behind the duo of Karl Malone and John Stockton… and ran into Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls both times.

LA Clippers: 55 years

Not only have the Clippers never won a title, they've never even played in a title game. The farthest