During the 1952-1953 season, the Baltimore Bullets somehow finished with a 16-54 and made it into the postseason.
At the time, the NBA was only comprised of 10 teams that were split up into two divisions of five: the Eastern Division and the Western Division. Unlike the modern day, when only the best of the bunch qualify for the postseason, four teams made the playoffs from each division.
Of the five in the Eastern Division that year, the New York Knickerbockers went 47-23, the Syracuse Nationals went 47-24, the Boston Celtics went 46-25, the aforementioned Bullets went 16-54 and the Philadelphia Warriors went 12-57.
This extreme lack of parity led to the Bullets’ postseason appearance.
Things quickly went downhill as the NBA legends like Don Barksdale, Jim Baechtold, Paul Hoffman and Ray Lumpp were quickly swept by the Knickerbockers.
