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Winning the NBA championship requires a mix of explosive young talent and veteran experience. A team with mostly young players may lack the knowledge and mentality to handle the pressure. Conversely, a team with mostly veteran players may not be able to win it all.
Here, we look at the youngest team to have won the NBA Finals. To calculate that, we multiply the age of one player and his/her minutes played. We do that for all players on the team and add the result. Then, we divide that sum by the total number of minutes played by the entire roster.
In short, we calculated the youngest team to win the NBA Finals by taking the weighted average of the players' ages and the minutes played.
Using this method, the youngest team to ever win the NBA Finals was the 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers. They have a weighted age of approximately 24.2 years. Led by center Bill Walton, the Trail Blazers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 4-2 in the series to clinch the championship. The series started 0-2 in favor of the 76ers, after which the Trail Blazers secured four straight wins to emerge champions.
The 1976-77 Trail Blazers' championship run was also the team's debut in the NBA Playoffs since entering the NBA as an expansion team in 1970. The team's appearance in the Finals was a mild surprise as the young team had the third-best record in the Western Conference. It also swept the Los Angeles Lakers, who had the best record, in the Conference Finals to advance to the final stage.
In recent history, the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors are the youngest team (using the same method) in 43 years to have clinched the championship title. The team ranks eighth overall. Led by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, with a weighted age of approximately 26.4 years, the Warriors clinched their first title in 40 years.
Which is the oldest team to win NBA Finals?
Using the same method, the oldest team to win the NBA Finals was the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls. They had a weighted age of approximately 32.1 years. Led by the NBA legend Michael Jordan, the Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 4-2 in the series to clinch the championship.
The title concluded the Jordan-led Chicago dynasty with their sixth and final title in their second three-peat in eight seasons. Jordan was 33 when he won his final championship while Scottie Pippen, his star teammate, was 32.
