National Basketball Association

76ers can match futile start of infamous 1972-73 squad

Published Nov. 26, 2014 11:48 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Philadelphia 76ers are 0-14. This is historically horrible for a franchise that has already defined the mark for awful.

The 76ers have a ways to go to catch their 1972-73 namesakes. That team went 9-73 -- the worst mark for an 82-game season -- in the NBA.

If this edition of the 76ers loses to the 5-9 Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday they will match the futile start of the 9-73 team. That squad somehow went to Houston and defeated the Rockets, 114-112, on Nov. 11, 1972 to earn its first victory.

The prosperity was short-lived as they reeled off six more losses after the victory in Houston.

While the 76ers' .110 win percentage was putrid, it was "bested" by the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets), who were 7-59 in the lockout-shortened 2011-2012 season. That Charlotte team's "winning" percentage was .106