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LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the LA Lakers to their 17th NBA championship in 2020 after beating the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. In the process, the franchise tied the Boston Celtics at the top of the all-time list of NBA championships.
On that note, we will review the 10 NBA teams with the most NBA championships in history.
Top 10 teams with most NBA championships
The 2020 NBA Finals were the 32nd NBA Finals appearance for the LA Lakers, which could be the tiebreaker between them and the Boston Celtics.
This article will list the Top 10 teams with the most championships since the league creation in 1946.
Without further ado, let us review the 10 teams.
#10 Houston Rockets
Championships: 2 - NBA Finals appearances: 4
The Rockets entered the league in 1967 when they were based in San Diego. They moved to Houston in 1971, and they have made the NBA Playoffs 33 times since then.
Houston found championship glory at the end of the 1993-94 season. Hakeem Olajuwon led the team to their first title in a seven-game NBA Finals against Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks.
In that same season, Olajuwon had won regular-season MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year. He went on to lead the franchise in the championship series and won NBA Finals MVP.
The following season, the Houston Rockets won the title again. They defeated the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals, which had Shaquille O'Neal on their roster. The Rockets had added Clyde Drexler to their picture.
Houston has four NBA Finals appearances. In 1981, they lost to the Boston Celtics in six games. Moses Malone was the franchise player at that time. Then, Ralph Sampson and a young Olajuwon saw the Celtics in the NBA Finals again in 1986.
However, the historical 1986 Celtics beat them in six matches.
Also Check Out: Complete NBA Champions List by year
#9 New York Knicks
Championships: 2 - NBA Finals appearances: 8
The New York Knicks are one of the most popular NBA franchises in NBA history. However, they have not enjoyed excessive success in their history.
Still, they make this Top 10 with their two championships. Moreover, the Knicks have played in eight NBA Finals, with the last one occurring in 1999.
The Knicks' first title happened in 1970. They were guided by an injured Willis Reed, Dave Debusschere, Walt 'Clyde' Frazier, and Dick Barnett. In the 1973 NBA Finals, they defeated the LA Lakers again, and Reed was the MVP of the series again.
In their two titles, the Knicks were guided by coach Red Holzman.
Their other NBA Finals appearances came in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1972, 1994, and 1999. The Knicks were the first franchise to lose three straight NBA Finals (1951-1953).
#8 Miami Heat
Championships: 3 - NBA Finals appearances: 6
The Miami Heat have not missed the NBA Playoffs four years in a row since they entered the league in 1988. Last season, Miami appeared in the NBA Finals for the sixth time in franchise history and the fifth in the last 10 seasons.
The franchise won their first NBA championship back in 2006, with Dwyane Wade leading them in the NBA Finals and Shaquille O'Neal as the big superstar. Pat Riley was the coach in 2006.
Moreover, after LeBron James' decision in 2010 to create a Big Three in Miami (with Chris Bosh joining him and Wade), the franchise made the NBA Finals again.
James delivered two championships to the Heat and four NBA Finals appearances. Eric Spoelstra was the coach during that era.
Last season, with Spoelstra still at the helm, a young team in Miami made the NBA Finals again. However, LeBron James was on the other side, and they fell to the LA Lakers in six games.
#7 Detroit Pistons
Championships: 3 - NBA Finals appearances: 7
The Detroit Pistons entered the NBA back in 1948 as the Fort Wayne Pistons.
In their early years, they made two straight NBA Finals in 1955 and 1956. They lost twice. Two years later, the Pistons were already in Detroit.
With Isiah Thomas and a nice crew of players, they started to make some noise in the mid-1980s. Then, after a heartbreaking loss to the Boston Celtics in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals, they found their glory.
Detroit made the 1988 NBA Finals but lost to the Showtime LA Lakers. In the following year, the Bad Boy Pistons swept LA with Thomas, Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, and others in the team. Chuck Daly was the coach who brought the Pistons their first title and the following season, they beat the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA Finals to repeat. Joe Dumars was the NBA Finals MVP in 1989, and Thomas won the award in 1990.
Detroit's third NBA championship came in 2004. With Larry Brown coaching, they had a great group of players. Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, and Richard Hamilton were the core of the team. They beat the LA Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals.
That same team lost the 2005 NBA Finals to Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.
#6 Philadelphia 76ers
Championships: 3 - NBA Finals appearances: 9
The Philadelphia 76ers have played the fourth-most NBA Finals in league history. However, they have won three of those.
The franchise's first NBA championship came in 1955 when the team was known as the Syracuse Nationals. They became the Philadelphia 76ers in 1963 and won the title in 1967 with Wilt Chamberlain, Billy Cunningham, and Hal Greer on the squad.
With Julius Erving's arrival in 1976, the 76ers made the NBA Finals again, though Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers dominated them. The team made the NBA Finals in 1980 and 1982, but the LA Lakers defeated them both times.
Before the 1982-83 NBA season, reigning MVP Moses Malone joined the 76ers, and they eventually swept the LA Lakers in the 1983 NBA Finals. That time, former player Billy Cunningham was the coach.
The Sixers returned to the NBA Finals in 2001, with Allen Iverson leading the show. They met with their old rivals, the Lakers, and fell in five games.
#5 San Antonio Spurs
Championships: 5 - NBA Finals appearances: 6
The San Antonio Spurs entered the NBA after the ABA-NBA merger in 1976. In their first few years, the franchise was highly competitive, led by George Gervin's scoring.
The NBA Finals evaded them until Tim Duncan got drafted by San Antonio in the 1997 NBA Draft. Still, the Spurs were in the NBA Playoffs in 17 of their previous 21 NBA seasons.
With Duncan, the Spurs appeared in six NBA Finals and won five championships (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014). The team made the NBA Playoffs in each of Duncan's 19 seasons.
They lost the 2013 NBA Finals to the Miami Heat in dramatic fashion.
#4 Chicago Bulls
Championships: 6 - NBA Finals appearances: 6
The Chicago Bulls won their six NBA championships during Michael Jordan's era of glory in the NBA.
Jordan guided the Bulls to become the first team since the 1960s Boston Celtics to win at least three straight titles. They won in 1991, 1992, and 1993 with Jordan as Finals MVP each year.
Jordan left the league in 1993 and returned in 1995. The Bulls went on another stellar run and won three consecutive championships from 1996 to 1998.
Those six were the Bull's only appearances in the NBA Finals. They have been in the league since 1966.
#3 Golden State Warriors
Championships: 6 - NBA Finals appearances: 11
The Warriors have been in the league since the BAA days. Known as the Philadelphia Warriors, they won the first BAA/NBA championship in history.
Still in Philadelphia, they won again in 1956. The Warriors moved to San Francisco in 1962 and eventually became the Golden State Warriors in 1971. They lost two NBA Finals as the San Francisco Warriors in the 1960s.
Golden State won the NBA championship in 1975 with Rick Barry taking Finals MVP honors.
Then, the franchise found little success in the following three decades. A core with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green won the NBA title in 2015 and then played four more NBA Finals. The team won two more titles in 2017 and 2018 after Kevin Durant joined them in 2016.
#2 Boston Celtics
Championships: 17 - NBA Finals appearances: 21
The Boston Celtics were alone at the top of this ranking before the LA Lakers dominated the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
The Celtics built their legacy between the late 1950s and the late 1960s when they won 11 titles in 13 seasons. Bill Russell and coach Red Auerbach were the leaders of the greatest dynasty in NBA history.
Then, Boston won a couple of championships in the 1970s, and three in the iconic 1980s, with Larry Bird leading the team.
After 22 years without seeing the Larry O'Brien trophy, the Celtics returned to championship form. They won the championship in 2008, in the first year of a new 'Big Three' era with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.
The Celtics have played 21 NBA Finals in their history.
The only decades in which they did not play in the NBA Finals were the 1940s and the 1990s. The Celtics are second on this list, but they played against the team in the first place (LA Lakers) in 12 NBA Finals and beat them nine times.
#1 Los Angeles Lakers
Championships: 17 - NBA Finals appearances: 32
Their 2020 championship put the LA Lakers at the top of these standings. They are tied with the Boston Celtics in NBA championships, however the Lakers have played a record 32 NBA Finals, which puts them in the first place.
The Lakers' first five championships came when the team was known as the Minneapolis Lakers. George Mikan commanded five championships in six seasons, between 1949 and 1954. Those six seasons were the team's first in the BAA/NBA.
They then lost eight NBA Finals in a 12-year span after their first five titles and returned to championship form in 1972. Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, and Gail Goodrich were the leaders of that historic team.
Then, the Lakers drafted Magic Johnson, and their history changed completely. Johnson, alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, won five NBA titles with the LA Lakers. He even won the title and Finals MVP in his rookie season.
With Johnson, the Lakers played nine NBA Finals between 1980 and 1991.
After some years without greatness, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant arrived in LA in 1996. The duo went on to win three straight titles from 2000 to 2002, with Phil Jackson coaching them.
Then, Bryant led back-to-back championships for the Lakers in 2009 and 2010 (beating the Celtics in 2010).
A decade after their 16th NBA championship, LeBron James and Anthony Davis put the Lakers on the NBA throne again.
