As you probably know, the winners of the NBA Finals receive a specially-made ring for their trouble. However, some of the best players in the NBA haven’t won a ring yet.
It takes more than one great player to win the game, it takes teamwork and the right environment. Let’s take a look at some NBA legends who haven’t won an NBA championship.
If you want to back modern players on their way to the Finals, you should check out NBA betting odds.
1. Karl Malone
Karl Malone is the biggest and most shocking case of a star player never winning a ring. He’s one of the best power forwards in history and made the Finals just three times. They never won, with two of those three Finals games being foiled by Michael Jordan.
Over his career, Malone scored an average of 25 points per game, 10.1 rebounds, and 3.6 assists. His 36,928 career points are second in NBA league history. You only see those metrics with players like Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor.
2. Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley is the other commonly-known basketball player who never got a ring. As one of the NBA’s beloved, he appeared in just the 1993 Finals. Yes, that’s right, the year Michael Jordan conquered the NBA and reached the peak of his career.
No prizes for guessing what happened next, Barkley and the Phoenix Suns were crushed. In that game, Barkley put up 27.3 points, 13 rebounds, and 5.5 assists, an admirable performance despite the loss.
3. Elgin Baylor
We mentioned him already, so let’s get to it. Elgin Baylor also doesn’t have a ring despite creating the blueprints that basketball superstars follow today, so his influence over the NBA cannot be denied.
Baylor played 8 Finals and lost all of them, playing with the L.A Lakers each time. He bowed out of 1971-72 nine games into the season, then the Lakers won the Finals, so Baylor narrowly missed his chance at a ring.
4. Chris Paul
Now for a more modern player who has never won a ring – Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns, though he has spent most of his time with the New Orleans Hornets and the L.A. Clippers.
Having previously never made it to a Finals, he did at the end of 2021 with the Suns. After a promising start, beating the Milwaukee Bucks 118-105, the Bucks crushed them in the next games.
5. Patrick Ewing
Over seventeen years, Patrick Ewing is best known as a center for the New York Knicks during the ‘80s and ‘90s. There was no shortage of high-volume scorers during the ‘90s and Ewing was one of them, averaging 23.5 points with 10.4 rebounds and 2.7 blocks.
With him in the squad, the Knicks made the Finals twice for the 1993-94 season and the 1999-2000 season. The first saw the Knicks lose to the Houston Rockets while the San Antonio Spurs had home-court advantage in the 1999 Finals.
6. Reggie Miller
Reggie Miller is known for two things – his height and his sharpshooting ability. So why did he never get a ring? First, the Indiana Pacers only ever made it to the 2000 Finals with Miller in their roster. They were against Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and the L.A. Lakers. It didn’t go well for them.
Miller is also known as the Knick Killer because, when the Knicks wouldn’t make it to Finals, it was usually because of the Indiana Pacers. While he was keeping Patrick Ewing from securing a Finals victory, Miller would never get one for himself.
7. John Stockton
Next is John Stockton, prolific points scorer (36,928, second-most in all-time NBA history) and is perhaps best known for leading the Utah Jazz to the 1997 and 1998 Finals games. He isn’t known for winning them, however.
Stockton worked with Karl Malone to elevate the Jazz, that much is clear, but despite nearly 20 seasons on the court they never won a ring. So, what went wrong? Well, this is the late ‘90s – they went against Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in both Finals games. The truth is, if Jordan didn’t exist, half the players on this list might have gotten their ring.
8. Steve Nash
Like Chris Paul in more recent days, Steve Nash was a great acquisition by the Phoenix Suns to become more competitive in the 2000s. They weren’t competitive enough, unfortunately.
While great at points scoring and assists, his defensive game wasn’t as strong and he never made it to the Finals, period. They made it to conference finals four times, most notably in 2005 when the San Antonio Spurs put an end to their run.
9. Allen Iverson
Of all the modern players here, Allen Iverson was a merc who played for five NBA franchises in just over a decade. Despite moving around so much, and being a fantastic guard, he never got his ring.
In fact, you could argue Iverson’s greatest moment was in the 2000-01 season. This was where, against all odds, he led the Philadelphia 76ers to the Finals. Then he recorded 48 points in Game 1 against the L.A. Lakers. The Lakers would win but it was clear that Iverson did something special that season.
10. James Harden
Lastly, we have one of the best shooting guards in the NBA. James Harden’s career started off playing second fiddle to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Then came the 2012 Finals, where the Thunder went up against the Miami Heat and lost. While he has since distinguished himself with an NBA MVP award in the 2017-18 playoffs, 2012 was Harden’s only Finals appearance so far.
Conclusion
These ten players are the best NBA athletes who haven’t won a championship title yet. Some of them are still on the court while others, like Ewing and Nash, have since become coaches and may lead their teams to future Finals success.
