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Winning the NBA championship is never an easy proposition for any superstar NBA player. As there are only five players per team on the floor at any given time, one superstar cannot always produce game-changing performances for his team, or for that matter in four games out of seven.
In this article, we will take a look at the top 10 players who have never won an NBA championship.
Top 10 players who have never won an NBA championship
For the sake of impartiality, the players in this list will be ranked in terms of their performances in the NBA Playoffs and the Finals (if they managed to reach that stage of the competition during their NBA careers).
Without further ado, let us start with this interesting list brimming with great players who fell just short of winning the ultimate reward.
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#10 Steve Nash - 120 playoff games, no NBA Finals appearances
Our list starts with two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash who was able to reach the NBA playoffs in 12 of his 18 NBA seasons.
However, despite playing 120 playoff games with the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and the LA Lakers, the floor general was not able to get past the Western Conference Finals barrier - a stage in which he endured four defeats.
During his ring-less but Hall-of-Fame-worthy career, Nash won two straight regular-season MVPs, doing so in 2004-05 and 2005-06. A prolific passer, Nash ranks third in NBA history in terms of assists made during the regular season and eighth during the playoffs.
In the playoffs, Nash averaged 17 points and almost nine assists per game on 47, 40 and 90% splits from the field, the three-point line and the FT line respectively.
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#9 John Stockton - 182 playoff games, two NBA Finals appearances
The all-time leader in regular-season assists, John Stockton also had a solid NBA Playoffs career. He played 182 games, all for the Utah Jazz, during his Hall-of-Fame career that lasted 19 years.
Winning championships or not winning them does not always indicate failure for teams and players; in some cases, it may just be a case of wrong timing. One such example was Stockon's Utah Jazz team. When they were at the peak of their powers, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls put an end to their NBA dream twice.
Though Stockton had Karl Malone at his corner, the Jazz lost both their NBA Finals (1997 and 1998) against the Bulls in two hard-fought, all-time great NBA Finals series.
Stockton averaged 15 points and 8.8 assists in the 1997 NBA Finals while his numbers in the 1998 NBA Finals were 9.7 points and 8.7 assists per game.
#8 Patrick Ewing - 139 playoff games, one NBA Finals appearance
Even though Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks reached the Eastern Conference Finals on three occasions, the player only appeared in one NBA Finals series, doing so in 1994.
That series was extremely tight as both teams featured similar constructions (the Houston Rockets were built around Hakeem Olajuwon and the Knicks around Ewing).
Eventually, the Rockets and Hakeem The Dream were able to take the NBA title after a hard-fought seven-game series. Ewing had the most difficult task during the series as he had to guard Olajuwon who was the regular-season MVP and also the Defensive Player of the Year.
Ewing averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds per game in that series and shot 36% from the field as the Knicks fell to the Rockets. In his overall NBA Playoffs career, Ewing averaged 20 points and ten rebounds per game in 139 games.
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#7 Reggie Miller - 144 playoff games, one NBA Finals appearance
Reggie Miller fabulously commanded the Indiana Pacers franchise for 18 years. Even though he could not win an NBA championship with the team, he made his name as a superstar, clutch playoff-performer and a loyal player.
Miller's career was resplendent with numerous clutch moments in the NBA playoffs. Every time his team was within striking distance, he seemed to rise up to the occasion.
The player appeared in 144 playoff games in the 15 seasons he led the Indians Pacers, averaging 21 points per game on 45% shooting from the field, 39% from the three and 89% from the FT line.
He ranks sixth in the NBA Playoffs in three-pointers made. The closest he ever got to an NBA title was in 2000 when Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant's LA Lakers thwarted the Pacers.
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#6 Russell Westbrook - 106 playoffs games, one NBA Finals appearance
Russell Westbrook, the first active player in this list, made an NBA Finals appearance during his first five years in the NBA but has not been able to do so in his last eight seasons in the competition.
The nine-time All-Star and NBA MVP winner has had a stellar NBA career, but the title has remained elusive.
Westbrook's best chances to win the NBA title were in the years when Kevin Durant played alongside him in the Oklahoma City Thunder. The pair, with James Harden as the sixth man, advanced to the NBA Finals in 2012, but the Big-three Miami Heat proved too hot to handle for the young Thunder stars.
Westbrook averages 24.8 points, seven rebounds and eight assists per game in the NBA playoffs during his career.
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#5 James Harden - 128 playoff games, one NBA Finals appearance
Like Westbrook, James Harden also went deep in the NBA Playoffs early in his career. He made his only NBA Finals appearance in 2012, which was only his third season in the league.
At that time, Harden, who was the NBA Sixth Man of the Year, produced a lacklustre performance in the finals, something he has subsequently done so in many other determining series in the NBA Playoffs.
Though he is a superstar in the league and one of its most prolific scorers ever, Harden has had many mediocre playoff games that have blighted his legacy in the postseason.
Harden is a league MVP who has played in an extraordinary Houston Rockets team, but he has not been able to lead them to the NBA Finals yet.
In the playoffs, his points per game, field goals percentage and three-point shooting percentage are all below par. Still, he averages 23.5 points per game, six assists and five rebounds in the playoffs.
#4 Karl Malone - 193 playoff games, three NBA Finals appearances
Karl Malone is the second-highest point scorer in the history of the NBA regular season. His fabulous scoring streak also spilled over into the NBA Playoffs, as his average of 25 points per game in 193 playoff games clearly suggests.
As a member of the historic Utah Jazz, Malone, however, twice found himself in the losing end of the NBA Finals against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
The two-time NBA MVP winner had moments in the Finals that belied his prolific scoring record. His two free throws down the stretch in Game 1 of the 1997 Finals is one of the examples in this regard.
Nevertheless, the Mailman had a stellar NBA career even if the championship eluded him and his team. When John Stockton retired in 2003, Malone went to the Lakers to play with Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton. But the team, which had locker room issues, lost the 2004 NBA Finals to the Detroit Pistons.
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#3 Charles Barkley - 123 playoff games, one NBA Finals appearance
Charles Barkley is arguably the greatest power forward in the history of the NBA due to his skills and impact he had in the competition despite being a small player for his position.
Barkley played possibly in the most challenging era, both in terms of the physical statures of players and how spread out the overall talent was around the NBA.
He did not have a great support cast in his first few superstar years with the Philadelphia 76ers. However, that was not the case when he went to the Phoenix Suns in the 1992-93 season (via trade) as he led the team to the NBA Finals with an amazing playoff run.
Barkley won the 1992-93 NBA MVP award, and his playoff performances that season were huge. During that playoff run, Barkley averaged 27 points and 14 rebounds per game, but the Suns lost to the Jordan-led Bulls in the NBA Finals.
In the six-game deciding series in 1993, Barkley averaged 27 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. But possibly his greatest performance in the NBA Finals weren't enough for him to land the title as they were eclipsed by that of Jordan.
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#2 Allen Iverson - 77 playoff games, one NBA Finals appearance
NBA Most Valuable Player winner Allen Iverson was a beast and a tremendous scorer. Given his size, it was amazing what Iverson achieved and how he could dominate a game with the basketball in his hands.
The 2001 Philadelphia 76ers were not a great team, but they had Larry Brown as a coach, Dikembe Mutombo as an iconic rim protector and Iverson leading the show.
Nevertheless, the 76ers ran into the Kobe-Shaq 2001 Lakers, one of the greatest NBA teams in history, and unsurprisingly came up short.
The Lakers reached the 2001 NBA Finals with an unbeaten run, and even though Iverson took Game 1 from them with a 48-point haul, the Lakers were too good and won the series in five games.
Iverson averaged 30 points and seven assists per game in 77 playoff appearances.
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#1 Elgin Baylor - 134 playoff games, seven NBA Finals appearances
Having played in a whopping seven NBA Finals without winning the title, Elgin Baylor is arguably the most unlucky player in NBA history.
Baylor, who played from 1958 to 1972, ran into the Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics six times in the NBA Finals, with his LA Lakers team losing all six series. In his seventh Finals appearance, Baylor's Lakers faced the New York Knicks, but the result was the same as it was with the Celtics: a loss.
He lost four deciding games (Game 7) in the NBA Finals, which is just a crazy stat. Baylor, who averaged 26 points per game in his NBA Finals career, ranks fifth in total points scored in the Finals.
Baylor holds the record for most points scored in a single NBA Finals game; he scored 61 points in Game 5 of the 1962 Finals and also grabbed 22 rebounds in that game.
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Also read: 5 reasons why the LA Lakers' 2019-20 NBA Championship was the toughest one to win in league history.
