At the end of every basketball season, the winners of the NBA Finals get a ring. These personal signs of accomplishment are one of the NBA’s most prestigious awards. You’d be surprised at just how many NBA legends never won a ring – we’re going through them all today.
With the regular basketball season schedules back for 2022, you may want to check out NBA betting odds. Maybe one of the active players on this list will finally get their ring.
1. Elgin Baylor
Let’s start with one of the oldest and most influential basketball celebrities – Elgin Baylor. Baylor can be seen in every modern basketball star, he made basketball superstars a thing in American culture.
Despite playing 8 Finals games, his generation of the L.A. Lakers lost all of them. To make matters worse, Baylor’s last games were in the 1971-72 season. He left the NBA without finishing… only for his team to make it to the Finals and win without him.
2. Karl Malone
Malone is more famous than Baylor for being great while also barely making it to the Finals. He made it three times and Michael Jordan was in his way for two of them. For most of these appearances, he was with the Utah Jazz.
Averaging 25 points a game and being the runner-up for most points in league history at 36,928, Malone is one of the NBA’s best who never got a ring.
3. Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley also missed out on his ring despite playing with some of the best. The reason is quite simple, he only appeared in the 1993 Finals. Like Malone, there was another player who was dominating the NBA at that time – Michael Jordan.
So, the Phoenix Suns were sent home, Barkley with them, and he’d never make the league again. The game itself was a great performance by Barkley, who made 27 points.
4. Patrick Ewing
While the Suns and Jazz were experiencing their own disappointment, Patrick Ewing made the New York Knicks a competitive force in ‘90s NBA. He was great at racking up points in a short amount of time, but he couldn’t get a ring.
They only ever made two Finals games – 1993-94 and 1999-2000. The ‘90s game was lost to the Houston Rockets while the other was dominated by the San Antonio Spurs.
5. Reggie Miller
If you know Reggie Miller, you know him as one of the best sharpshooters in the modern NBA era. If you don’t know him, you can take one look at his 6’ 7” frame and guess that he’s good at basketball.
Even then, he never got a ring. With the Indiana Pacers, Miller went to the 2000 Finals only to find the L.A. Lakers, complete with Kobe and Shaq.
6. Chris Paul
Next, we have newly-acquired Phoenix Suns player – Chris Paul. While he had played for the L.A. Clippers, the New Orleans Hornets, and the Houston Rockets, his recent move to the Suns paid off in 2021.
He led them to the 2021 Finals only to get stopped by the Milwaukee Bucks. Their first game went well but after that, it was downhill, and the Suns were shown to be outmatched by the Bucks players.
7. John Stockton
John Stockton’s story is tied to Karl Malone’s, Stockton being the guy that led the Utah Jazz to their two Finals appearances in the late ‘90s.
In both of those Finals bouts, they had to contend with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. If they were up against another team, they may have had a chance.
8. Steve Nash
Before Chris Paul revived the Phoenix Suns, it was Steve Nash’s job. Nash is one of the men that gets credited with bringing the Suns into the 21st Century as a competitive force. However, again, he still never got his ring.
In fact, they never made it to a Finals game. They made conference finals many times, which was an accomplishment, but it was never quite enough.
9. James Harden
James Harden is one of the greatest shooting guards in the NBA right now. He’s also traded around a lot, so surely he’s been on a winning team at least once, right?
Unfortunately, not. Harden’s only brush with the Finals happened in the 2012 game, where his Oklahoma City Thunders had to beat the Miami Heat. They didn’t, though he did get an MVP award for his trouble.
10. Allen Iverson
Lastly, we have Allen Iverson, another modern player who traded around a lot when he was in the association. He only appeared in one Finals after leading the Philadelphia 69ers there.
He wanted to win so much that he made 48 points in one game against the Lakers in those Finals. It wasn’t enough but it showed his fighting spirit and that he probably deserved it.
Conclusion
These are the ten great NBA players that have never won a championship ring. Some of them are still playing, however, so maybe one day players like Chris Paul or James Harden will get their ring.
