Don't read this, Spurs fans: Young NBA teams with bright futures that never returned to the Finals

Despite the disappointing loss to the New York Knicks in the 2026 NBA Finals, one in which the Spurs very much showed their youth and inexperience at that stage, there is a silver lining for San Antonio in that the team is quite young (and talented), led by a superstar 22-year-old in Victor Wembanyama .

Some eventual NBA champions had to pay their dues before being ready to bring home titles, as is very much expected to be the case with this San Antonio squad. The team has a strong foundation not just in Wembanyama, already one of the most impactful two-way players in league history, but also in its talented, even younger, backcourt, featuring Stephon Castle (21) and Dylan Harper (20). Wembanyama is already seemingly on a potential GOAT trajectory, while Castle and Harper look like future multi-time All-Stars with All-NBA potential.

But, of course, what we're here to remind everyone is that nothing is guaranteed in the NBA. In league history, there has been no shortage of NBA finalists who thought the best was yet to come, before the door shockingly shut on them forever. (At least for those specific renditions of those teams.)

Today, with the Spurs officially falling short of winning a title in 2026, we're here to break down five NBA teams that thought they had bright futures but never returned to the Finals with that group.

A little-known fact is that the 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers are the youngest team in league history, by weighted average age, taking into account minutes played, to not only reach an NBA Finals, but win a championship outright, edging out this year's Spurs and last season's Oklahoma City Thunder ( via X ):

They accomplished that magnificent feat thanks to the efforts primarily of Bill Walton , who was on a historic pace early on in his career before injuries cut his peak as a player short. From '76 through '78, Walton's second season through his fourth, the UCLA legend averaged 17.5 points, 13.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.5 blocks on 50.3 percent shooting, earning one 1st Team All-NBA and one 2nd Team All-NBA in that stretch, while winning MVP in '78 and finishing second in the vote to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in '77.

That Blazers group was loaded outside of Walton, however, as five-time All-Star Maurice Lucas actually led the team in scoring in '77, the year they won the title, averaging 20.2 points and 11.4 rebounds that campaign, his age-24 season. Portland also had Lionel Hollins as its starting point guard. Hollins is best remembered for his time spent as an NBA head coach, but he was a very effective two-way lead guard as a player, too, earning two All-Defensive Team nods in his career, including one as a 1st Teamer in 1977-78. The year the Blazers won that 1976-77 championship, Hollins was just in his age-23 season.

So why was that team never able to reach that championship level again?