Throughout history and the popularization of professional sports, there have been some terrible teams in various leagues and sports. However, this season’s Detroit Pistons are on an unbelievably awful run. After starting off the season 2-1, they broke the record for most games lost in a row by any basketball team in one season, even tying the multiple-season record of 28 straight losses. They are expected to win a total of about six games, with a win percentage of 7.3%, lower than that of any non-NFL sports team in American history. 

In the NBA, the lowest win percentage for a single season is 10%, achieved by the 2012 Charlotte Bobcats, who went 7-59 in a shortened season. This year’s Pistons are not even projected to match that win tally in a full 82-game season. 

The NBA isn’t the only league with truly awful teams, however. The MLB had the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, a team winning only 20 out of their 154 games giving them a win percentage of about 12%. The Spiders also set an MLB record of 24 straight losses in the same historically putrid season, a record that still stands today. In the NHL, the 1975 Washington Capitals won only 8 out of their 70 games in regulation, yielding a win percentage of about 13%. 

Now, if you’re familiar with the NFL, you may recall that the 2017 Cleveland Browns and the 2008 Detroit Lions are the only teams that have failed to win a single game in a season since the league expanded to 16 games. However, the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL) lost 29 straight games throughout several seasons from 1942-45, setting the record for all sports and putting the Pistons’ run in a close second place. 

Any of these teams could be considered the worst sports team in history, but the Pistons could be in contention despite their couple of wins so far this season. Things have gotten so bad that fans are going to games with paper bags on their heads to rally for a transfer in ownership and coaching staff. Despite the fact that the Pistons have only won 3 out of their first 39 games, they have had a good handful of close games and even scored 47 points in the first quarter alone versus the Sacramento Kings on January 9th, the most points they’ve scored in a single quarter in almost 40 years. They’ve had a few close games, even going into overtime with the Celtics, who currently hold the best record in the NBA. Their losing streak was only snapped by a two-point win over the Toronto Raptors, who are currently 12th out of the 15 teams in the Eastern Conference. So this all begs the question: are the Detroit Pistons actually the worst sports team in the history of professional sports across the United States? The answer to that question is still up in the air, and only time will tell if the Pistons can turn their season around.