The opposite of that is Dame sending the Thunder home saved their franchise, trading PG13 was the catalyst for every asset they have now

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Game 6 of 2001 ECF set the Bucks back for a long time. We’ve finally been able to recover, but it didn’t seem like we ever would. We somehow got blessed with Giannis to stop our suffering.

Game 4 vs Phoenix in 2021

I know we’ve kinda recovered, but that loss (and the series as a whole) virtually solidified the Westbrook trade.

Spurs vs Warriors, Zaza hurts Kawhi

2016 WCF game 6 AKA the Klay game. If the Thunder win that game I truly believe we’re the champions that year. Instead we lose KD and don’t make it out of the first round for 7 years now. We went into the 4th quarter up by 8 with a chance to close vs the best regular season team of all time and advance to the finals

It seems like an obvious answer from recent history is the 76ers getting beaten by the Hawks when Simmons passed up the dunk. I know he’s been hurt, but… It seems like if he dunks it and the 76ers start rolling, he might not get stuck in a bad mental spot and the NBA might look a little different now (especially if he’d kept playing and stayed under the supervision of a training staff, then he doesn’t get traded, etc…).

Kings 2002 G7. They’ve never had a true championship contender since.

Cavs 2018 Finals G1. JR Smith botching that last possession in regulation killed any chance the Cavs had that series. Lebron joined the Lakers that summer.

Edit: the better (or worse) choice for the Kings is 2003 West Semis G2. Kings were as much of a contender as the year before. Webber does his knee in the second half, and his career - and the Kings franchise - is never the same.

A missed layup from Courtney Lee altered the Orlando magic v lakers 2009 finals

I want to include Game 5 of the 2004 NBA Finals, but that was a multiple-game disaster that derailed a franchise.

OKC losing Game 7 against GS after blowing the 3-1 lead certainly ranks up there.

Blazers blowing Game 7 vs the Lakers.

And I’m cheating with this answer as they won the game, but a singular game in NBA history that didn’t involve an on-court injury possibly changing at least parts of the course of the league?

Pistons won it all that year. And Indy was, at least IMO, a better team. With a YOUNG team (outside of Reggie.)