Winning an NBA Championship, Making it through the regular season, bearing the load of playing 82 games, cruising through the regular season to the Playoffs and then winning the Ultimate Gold and then having the Bragging Rights all throughout the Offseason is a long Journey. However how great the Player or a Team is, only one player or a team who wins it all at the end of the season. This leads to a conclusion that there are a lot of players who have not tasted that phase of a championship. In this blog, we would be looking at a few of the Notable Players who have never won an NBA Ring.
Tracy McGrady
Considered to be one of the versatile Shooting Guard that the NBA has witnessed. He has one of the most complete game in the NBA. In his best season, he averaged 32 points 6 rebounds and 5 Assists per game. He was a 7x All-Star, 2x NBA Scoring Champion and also a 2x Member of All – NBA 1st Team. Looking at his resume, it can be said that he is one of the greats in the NBA, but not all of the greats have a perfect career. He never got passed further than the 2nd round of NBA Playoffs. His time was then cut off by the number of injuries he had during his career. He had is the best shot for an NBA Championship at the Houston Rockets with Yao Ming with him. But the irony here is 2 of the Greatest Players in NBA whose career was cut short by Injuries where at least one of the guys was injured during a crucial phase of the season leaving Tracy to be one of the greats to never win an NBA Championship.
Also Read | Best Shooters in NBA history
Chris Paul
Chris Paul to win a championship, this could be probably his best shot alongside James Harden. Coming back to Chris Paul, he was one of the best Point Guard in the early 2010s to the 2015’s. In his career, he has been a 9x All-Star, 4x member of All – NBA 1st Team, 7x member of All-Defensive 1st team, 4x Assist Leader, 6x Steals Leader. He had his prime season in the year 2009 where he averaged 23 Points, 3 steals and 11 assists per game. He contains everything that a true Point Guard should have. A great team leader also has a great court vision, great at pick and rolls. Despite having such versatile talents, he is still left with the ultimate goal of winning an NBA Championship.
Dominique Wilkins
He will always be known for his insane in-game dunks and his Dunk Contest battles with Jordan, but in reality, he was more valuable to the team then his showcase to the masses. He is till date Atlanta Hawks all-time leading scorer, 9x All-Star, 1x Scoring Champion. He also averaged 30 PPG for 2 times in his career. But looking at how competitive Eastern Conference was during the 1980s to the early 1990s, the team was not competitive enough to get past the 80’s Celtics and 90’s Bulls. He is still a Hall of Famer, but he has not passed 2nd round of the Playoffs
Steve Nash
Nash has been considered to be one of the NBA All-Time true traditional point guards. He had everything that a Point Guard should contain. In his career, he was a 5x Assist Leader, a 4x Leader of 50-40-90 Club and 2x MVP. In his Prime season, he had 18 PPG, 10 Assists and 4 RPG. He had a slow career start, in his 1st year he played as a backup PG at the Phoenix Suns and then got traded to the Dallas Mavericks where he teamed up with Dirk Nowitzki where he really flourished as a Point Guard. He later signed back with the Suns where with a good team with him, he achieved the most success. His best chance of winning a Ring came in the 2007 season where he and Amare Stoudemire made it to the All NBA 1st Team. But when the famous Robert Horry moment happened in the Finals where he got shoved on to the Announcers table and for which Stoudemire got suspended for Game 5, they lost the momentum where eventually San Antonio Spurs go on to win a Championship.
Allen Iverson
No player stood in Allen Iverson’s career. He can cross on to any defender of any team whenever he wants, but it is considered that he himself was his biggest enemy at times. His Hall of Fame Career was shadowed by his off the court issues. Being just 6ft Tall, he was the League’s MVP where he led the league in scoring 4 times and averaged 31 PPG per game, 2 times in his career. He leads his team to the 2010 NBA Finals with a group of guys who could have never even come close to even qualify for the playoffs. Iverson faced the defending Champions the Los Angeles Lakers where AI stood no chance to defeat them and lost in 5 games. Further, he had a lot of issues with the coaches and also never really got a championship caliber team to build around him
John Stockton and Karl Malone
These two legends almost played their entire career together. I will 1st focus on Karl Malone, he had a most consistent career in NBA History. He is the 2nd All-Time leading Scorer in NBA History, Played 95% of his games in his 19-year-old career where he played almost 80 games for 17 of those 19 seasons he played in NBA where he averaged almost 25 PPG game in his entire pre and postseason for 19 seasons. He was the Member of USA Dream Team, 2x MVP, 14x NBA All-Star and 11x member of All – NBA 1st Team.
But for every Batman, there’s a Robin where the outcome of the games also dependent on John Stockton who was the Architect of Malone’s career. He was also constant like Karl. He played all 82 games for 16 seasons. He averaged 17 PPG and a record 14.5 Assists Per Game in his career. He holds the record for most assists in NBA history. He was a 10x All-Star, 9x Assist Leader, 2x Steals Leader.
These 2 were one of the most dominant Duos in NBA History. Their route to NBA championships was blocked 2 times by Jordan led Bulls in consecutive seasons.
There are more players who have not been listed who also deserved a championship.
Honourable Mentions include:
Carmelo Anthony
Grant Hill
Vince Carter
Reggie Miller
George Gervin
Charles Barkley
