NBA Finals History: Players with the most Finals appearances EVER

LeBron James is currently playing in his 8th straight NBA Finals series. It's his 9th appearance on the biggest stage in pro basketball, and he's the only player in the 21st century to make these many appearances in the Finals.

In fact, he has more Finals appearances than all but 2 franchises in the entire NBA, which is just too mind-blowing a fact to ignore. Having said that, he's not at the top of this list, which is populated by Hall of Famers all the way up.

Dynasties have been a recurring theme in NBA basketball ever since its inception. The Minneapolis Lakers were the first to win 2 titles back-to-back. After falling out of contention in the intervening year, they then became the first to win 3 titles in 3 successive years. But none of their players feature on this really exclusive list - one that does not have GOAT Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, among others.

Here's a countdown of players with the greatest number of NBA Finals appearances:

8 appearances in the Finals -

John Havlicek, Tom Sanders, K.C. Jones, Frank Ramsey, Michael Cooper, Derek Fisher

John Havlicek (4th from left in the last row in this picture) is the most accomplished of all these players individually. He plied his trade mostly as either a 2-guard or as a small forward, but at his height of 6'5", he played as an oversized point guard in some lineups later on in his career.

Havlicek averaged 20.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.3 blocks through the course of an illustrious 16-year career. He spent the entirety of his career with the Boston Celtics and won in all 8 of his Finals appearances.

KC Jones, Frank Ramsey, and Tom Sanders are all Hall of Famers who were capable role players in the victorious Celtics teams of the late 50s and the 60s. While they were all capable players, none of them has an All-Star game appearance on their resume. Of these players, Frank Ramsey is the only one who doesn't have 8 titles in 8 appearances (he has 7).

Michael Cooper, on the other hand, was much more crucial as a role player for the Lakers in a glittering 12-year career that started as a third-round draft pick in 1978. He was named as the Defensive Player of the Year for the 1986-87 season, and he is one of the first players to typify the 3-and-D role that is so valuable in basketball today.

Derek Fisher has 8 Finals appearances through an illustrious, Hall of Fame-caliber career that lasted 18 seasons as a point guard. Other than 7 Finals appearances alongside Kobe with the Lakers, he also made the Finals in 2012 as a backup point guard for Russell Westbrook.

9 - Tom Heinsohn, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, LeBron James

Jerry West and Magic Johnson at the NBA All-Star Game 2018

Tommy Heinsohn is the only person to be involved in an official team capacity for all of the Celtics' 17 championships! He won 8 of them as a player, before coaching the Celtics in the 70s to 2 titles in 1974 and 1976. He moved on from this post as the Celtics' touchline announcer for their home games as a full-time gig in 1981, after dabbling with this post in the late '60s. He still commentates in home games at the ripe old age of 84.

Jerry West holds the unenviable record of most Finals losses, with his overall record standing at 1-8. He was unfortunate to be pitted against the Celtics dynasty for nearly the entirety of his prime, but he finally broke through to win the title in 1972. It's his silhouette that still adorns the NBA logo, and he has gone on to lead several franchises as their general manager, winning Executive of the Year awards in 1995 with the Lakers and in 2004 with the Grizzlies.

Magic Johnson was the fulcrum of the Showtime Lakers team that made 9 NBA Finals in 11 years from 1980 to 1991. He's a 5-time champion, all of which came in 8 years from 1980 to 1988. He's universally regarded as the greatest point guard to ever play the game. He's currently the Lakers' President of basketball operations, competing with West who is currently tenured with the Clippers.

LeBron James is one of the top 5 players to ever play the game. We are all witness to his sustained excellence through 15 years in the league, and it is difficult to think of a player who has played at such a high level for the length of their careers in the league.

10 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Statue Unveiling At STAPLES Center

In terms of accomplishment in the game of basketball, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is without a doubt the greatest to ever do it. He is one of the few players to dominate the country through high school, college and then as a pro basketball player.

Born in Harlem as Lew Alcindor, Kareem holds the longest winning streak in high school hoops with a 71-game streak. He went on to UCLA, foregoing the freshman year of his college career due to NCAA rules. He more than made up for it, however, with an 88-2 record for the Bruins through his next 3 years. He's the only player to ever win 3 MVP awards at the NCAA tournament, and UCLA emerged victorious in all 3 of those.

He entered the NBA in the 1969-70 season, and his excellence was there for everyone to see as he put up the most dominant scoring season ever by a rookie with 28.1 points, 14.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. He was also a dominant shot-blocker right off the bat, though that stat was not made official till his 5th season when he averaged an outrageous 3.5 blocks per game.

Kareem dominated the '70s era of NBA basketball in the same manner as LeBron is today, winning 6 MVP awards during the regular season. The center had the most graceful decline of any superstar to ever play in the league, and he retired as the league's all-time leader in points scored with 38,387. With 18 All-Star game appearances, 15 All-NBA selections and 11 All-Defensive team selections, Jabbar is the most decorated player in league history, and it isn't particularly close.

11 - Sam Jones

Boston Celtics v Philadelphia 76ers

Sam Jones is the most successful second option in the history of the NBA. After all, 10 titles in 11 Finals appearances is a record only one player has ever topped in the 71-year history of the league. Sam is one of only 2 players who were a part of all the Celtics teams that won 8 titles in a row from 1959 to 1966.

Through the course of a 12-year career in the league, Jones averaged 17.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He played the role of a 2-guard on Boston's teams throughout his career and was one of the best two-way players in the league.

Despite only debuting at the age of 25, Jones peaked later than most players in basketball history at the age of 32, averaging 25.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in the 1964-65 regular season. He averaged 28.6 points per game in the same postseason, making the All-NBA second team as a guard.

Jones' impact on the league is undeniable, and he has been immortalized with the retirement of his #24 jersey by the Celtics.

12 - Bill Russell

The great Bill Russell stands alongside his newly unveiled statue at the TD Garden

Bill Russell is synonymous with the NBA, so much so that the league named the Finals MVP trophy after him due to his sustained excellence and success with the Boston Celtics. No one in NBA history has more Finals appearances, or rings, than him. During 13 years in the NBA, Bill made 12 Finals, winning 11 of them while also winning the regular season MVP award 5 times.

He made 11 All-NBA teams, and is universally recognized as the most revolutionary defender in the history of the game. Despite playing during a time when discrimination against blacks was still rampant in the United States, Russell was looked upon as an idol by most black kids in the country due to his excellence in the game of basketball.

Russell took up the head coaching job for the Celtics after Red Auerbach decided to step away from the on-court role for one with the front office. He played his last three seasons in the league as a player-coach, while still averaging over 20 rebounds per game despite being way into his mid-30s.