People always talk about Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Adrian Dantley as the least lucky players ever, but nobody ever mentions Steve Mix. (Probably because time has largely forgotten him)

Mix played 13 years in the NBA, primarily for the 76ers, from 1969 to 1983. He was never the best player on any team he played for, but he was far from the worst, having career averages of 11, 5, and 2 over 788 career games.

For the first few years of his career, he was almost entirely a benchwarming reserve, even falling out of the league for the 1972-73 season. Despite this, he came back up from the CBA for the 73-74 season, and was selected as an all-star in 1975 while averaging 16, 11, and 2, with over 2 stocks a night.

Outside of Steve, the Sixers were a rather poor team during this team. This obviously changed when they got Erving in 1976. Along with adding Erving, they also acquired Henry Bibby, Darryl Dawkins, and Caldwell Jones in that offseason. With these new additions, the Sixers won 50 games and made the NBA Finals, beating Boston 4-3 and Houston 4-2. They could not reach the promised land however, losing to Bill Walton and the young Trailblazers in 6. (They lost game 6 by only 2 points, 107 to 109, and game 3 by only 6, 104 to 110)

After an ECF loss in 77-78, and a 47 win season in 78-79, they made the finals again in 1980 following a 59 win season where they beat the Bullets 2-0, the Hawks 4-1, and the Celtics 4-1. Yet again, they failed to make it all the way, losing to the Lakers in 6 in the finals.

The next season, the Sixers won 62 games and tied with the Celtics for the most wins in the regular season. They made it back to the ECF, but this time lost in 7 to the eventual champion Celtics. They followed this up with a 58 win season, making the finals for a third time in Mix's career. Just like the previous 2 times, they lost in 6 to Magic Johnson and the Lakers.

Mix left Philidelphia after this season, signing with the Bucks as a free agent in mid September of the offseason. He was now 35, and was far from the individual heights he'd reached nearly a decade by now, being waived just before the end of the season. With the Bucks, he averaged 6, 2, and 1 on under 14mpg. The Lakers picked him up only a few days after the Bucks waived him, and he played just 1 game of the season in the purple and gold. The Lakers made the finals, but unlike last season, were defeated by the Sixers in a 4 game sweep. Mix retired after the season ended.

Over his career, Mix played in 4 finals, losing every single one of them. (6-16 total for finals games) He also missed an entire season of his career, and left the Sixers just before the won the 1983 ring, to join the Lakers, who were beaten by those Sixers in the finals. He may not have as bad of a finals record as Baylor or West, but it's pretty close, especially for a guy who nearly fell out of the league at only 25.