We rebuilt every regular-season streak from 1996-97 to 2025-26, 892 team seasons, from NBA.com's official team game logs, and joined the end of each season to the start of the next, as the record lists do. Our longest streak for each team season matches the one in NBA.com's standings in all 690 seasons where the standings report it.
The longest winning streak in NBA history
The Lakers' run began on November 5, 1971, and ended on January 9, 1972, with a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. They finished 69-13 and won the title. No team has won more than 28 in a row since. The next three, by Wikipedia's list of regular-season streaks:
- Golden State Warriors, 28: four wins to close 2014-15, then a 24-0 start to 2015-16, ended by the Bucks on December 12, 2015.
- Miami Heat, 27, from February 3 to March 25, 2013, the longest within a single season behind the Lakers.
- Houston Rockets, 22, from January 29 to March 16, 2008.
Since 1996-97 the next-longest are four streaks of 19, by the 1999-00 Lakers, the 2008-09 Boston Celtics, the 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs and the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks.
| Rank | Wins in a row | Team | Season | Record | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 (4 + 24) | Golden State Warriors | 2014-15 and 2015-16 | 67-15 and 73-9 | Lost Finals |
| 2 | 27 | Miami Heat | 2012-13 | 66-16 | Won title |
| 3 | 22 | Houston Rockets | 2007-08 | 55-27 | Lost first round |
| 4 | 19 | Los Angeles Lakers | 1999-00 | 67-15 | Won title |
| 4 | 19 | Boston Celtics | 2008-09 | 62-20 | Lost conf. semifinals |
| 4 | 19 | San Antonio Spurs | 2013-14 | 62-20 | Won title |
| 4 | 19 | Atlanta Hawks | 2014-15 | 60-22 | Lost conf. finals |
| 8 | 18 | Milwaukee Bucks | 2019-20 | 56-17 | Lost conf. semifinals |
| 8 | 18 | Phoenix Suns | 2021-22 | 64-18 | Lost conf. semifinals |
The longest losing streak in NBA history
The losing record is 28 games, and two teams share it. The 2023-24 Detroit Pistons lost 28 straight between October 30 and December 28, 2023, the longest within one season. The Philadelphia 76ers lost their last 10 games of 2014-15 and their first 18 of 2015-16; the 27th loss broke the record of 26 set by the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost 26 straight after LeBron James left. The 76ers matched those 26 in 2013-14.
| Rank | Losses in a row | Team | Season | Record | League finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 (10 + 18) | Philadelphia 76ers | 2014-15 and 2015-16 | 18-64 and 10-72 | Worst |
| 1 | 28 | Detroit Pistons | 2023-24 | 14-68 | Worst |
| 3 | 26 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 2010-11 | 19-63 | 2nd worst |
| 3 | 26 | Philadelphia 76ers | 2013-14 | 19-63 | 2nd worst |
| 5 | 23 | Denver Nuggets | 1997-98 | 11-71 | Worst |
| 5 | 23 | Charlotte Bobcats | 2011-12 | 7-59 | Worst |
| 7 | 20 | Houston Rockets | 2020-21 | 17-55 | Worst |
Are NBA winning streaks more than chance
To test that, we took each team's actual record and asked how likely each streak length would be if its wins and losses had been shuffled into a random order. Every game is treated as equally winnable for that team, with no hot hand, no injuries and no soft stretch of schedule.
For winning streaks the answer is close to an exact match. We found 119 team seasons with a 10-game winning streak against 115.7 expected by chance, 56 with 12 or more against 56.2, and 23 with 15 or more against 19.6. The average team's longest winning streak was 6.2 games, the same as the random baseline.
So a long winning streak mostly says the team is good, not that it found a gear its record does not show. A 67-15 team has about an even chance of a 15-game streak from the order of its results alone. The very top of the list is different. A 66-16 team wins 27 straight in a random order about 1.2 percent of the time, so Miami's run was roughly a 1-in-83 event, and the Lakers' 33 at 69-13 about 1 in 121. Golden State's 24-0 start was less surprising than it looks: a 73-9 team has a 35.5 percent chance of a 24-game streak somewhere in its season.
Losing streaks run longer than chance. Teams lost 15 or more in a row 40 times, against 29.8 expected, about a third more. Teams under .300 account for all of the gap, 37 such streaks against 26.5 expected. A likely reason is that a bad team's strength shifts during a season more than the model allows, through trades, injuries and minutes for young players. The Pistons' 28 at 14-68 had a 2.2 percent chance, and the Cavaliers' 26 at 19-63 a 0.4 percent chance.
How common is a 10-game winning streak in the NBA
Every season since 1996-97 has had at least one, an average of 4.0 a season. The fewest were one, in the lockout-shortened 2011-12, in 2018-19 and in the 72-game 2020-21, and the most was nine, in 2017-18. The longest streak of a season has been as short as 11 games, six times, and the median is 14.5.
A 10-game streak has almost always meant a playoff spot: 116 of the 119 teams made the playoffs. The three that did not all finished 41-41, the 2007-08 Portland Trail Blazers and the 2016-17 Miami Heat after 13-game streaks and the 2023-24 Houston Rockets after 11. One team had a 10-game losing streak and a 10-game winning streak in the same season, the 1996-97 Phoenix Suns, who lost 13 in a row, won 11 in a row, finished 40-42 and made the playoffs.
Do winning streaks predict an NBA championship
Of the 56 teams with a 12-game winning streak since 1996-97, 54 made the playoffs, 17 reached the NBA Finals, 30 percent, and 11 won the title, 20 percent. Only 19 of them had the league's best record. Of the 30 champions, 11 had a 12-game streak and 18 had a 10-game streak. The median champion's longest run was 10.5 games.
- Seven champions never won more than eight in a row, among them the 2008-09 Lakers (7, at 65-17) and the 2025-26 New York Knicks (8).
- The team with the season's longest streak, or a share of it, won the title six times: the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls, the 1999-00 Lakers, the 2012-13 Heat, the 2013-14 Spurs, the 2016-17 Warriors and the 2023-24 Celtics, whose 11 tied the Rockets for the longest that season.
- Among teams that won at least 65 percent of their games, those with a 12-game streak won the title 24 percent of the time and the rest 13 percent, but the streak teams were also better, averaging 61 wins per 82 games against 57.
The record says more than the streak. See how often the best record wins the title and what the first 20 games say about a team's final record.
Long losing streaks and the NBA draft lottery
Of the 40 teams that lost 15 or more in a row since 1996-97, none made the playoffs, 34 finished with one of the three worst records and 19 with the worst. Of the 32 teams that finished last or tied for last, 19 had a 15-game losing streak along the way. A 10-game skid is survivable: five teams made the playoffs after one, most recently the 2024-25 Miami Heat, at 37-45 through the play-in.
Finishing at the bottom has not guaranteed the No. 1 pick. The 2015-16 76ers, 10-72, won the 2016 lottery, but the 2023-24 Pistons, worst after their 28 straight losses, fell to fifth in 2024. The 2025-26 Washington Wizards lost 16 straight on the way to 17-65 and won the 2026 lottery. From the 2027 draft the 3-2-1 Lottery gives the three worst records one lottery ball fewer than the other teams that missed the playoffs and the play-in.
The longest NBA winning streaks of 2025-26
The Oklahoma City Thunder won 16 straight from November 7 to December 10, 2025, the longest of the season, and finished with the best record at 64-18, but the San Antonio Spurs beat them in seven games in the Western Conference finals. The Knicks, whose longest streak was eight, beat the Spurs in the Finals.
| Team | Streak | Dates | Record | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma City Thunder | Won 16 | Nov. 7 to Dec. 10 | 64-18 | Lost conf. finals |
| Detroit Pistons | Won 13 | Oct. 29 to Nov. 24 | 60-22 | Lost conf. semifinals |
| Denver Nuggets | Won 12 | March 20 to April 12 | 54-28 | Lost first round |
| Indiana Pacers | Lost 16 | Feb. 19 to March 21 | 19-63 | Missed playoffs |
| Sacramento Kings | Lost 16 | Jan. 18 to Feb. 21 | 22-60 | Missed playoffs |
| Washington Wizards | Lost 16 | Feb. 22 to March 22 | 17-65 | Missed playoffs |
Five teams won 10 in a row in 2025-26. The Denver Nuggets won their last 12 regular-season games, a streak that carries into 2026-27, and the Wizards lost their last 10. Three teams lost 16 straight: the Indiana Pacers, the Sacramento Kings and the Wizards. The 2026-27 season starts on Tuesday, October 20; the NBA schedule lists every game, the NBA simulator lets you play out the standings, and our look at the biggest turnarounds covers how much records change from one year to the next.
Longest NBA winning streaks: frequently asked questions
What is the longest winning streak in NBA history? 33 games, by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers. The Golden State Warriors won 28 across 2014-15 and 2015-16, and the 2012-13 Miami Heat won 27 within one season.
What is the longest losing streak in NBA history? 28 games, shared by the Philadelphia 76ers across 2014-15 and 2015-16 and the 2023-24 Detroit Pistons, whose streak is the longest within one season.
How often does an NBA team win 10 games in a row? About four times a season: 119 teams did it from 1996-97 to 2025-26, close to the 116 expected if results came in random order.
Do long winning streaks lead to championships? Less than you might think. Of the 56 teams with a 12-game streak since 1996-97, 11 won the title, and seven champions never won more than eight in a row.
How this was built: every NBA regular-season game from 1996-97 to 2025-26, 892 team seasons, from NBA.com's official team game logs, sorted by date. Streaks run across seasons for the same franchise as NBA.com identifies it; the Hornets' 2002 move from Charlotte to New Orleans breaks the chain, which changes no streak here. Postseason results come from NBA.com's playoff logs and play-in games are not counted. The chance baseline is the exact probability of each streak length if a team's own wins and losses came in a random order, summed over all team seasons. Streaks before 1996-97 come from the Wikipedia pages linked above.