Who is the youngest NBA player ever to win a championship?

The 2020-21 NBA season saw the crowning of an unlikely champion in the Milwaukee Bucks. Several crucial injuries that multiple top stars sustained during the Playoffs were a major reason for this. Apart from LeBron James’ LA Lakers, the Brooklyn Nets also bowed out after injuries disrupted their campaigns. Nevertheless, credit must go to the Bucks for eventually securing the title.

While the Milwaukee Bucks won their first championship in 51 years, the losing finalists Phoenix Suns were looking for what would have been their first ever NBA championship. Regardless, over the years, there have been even more unlikely NBA champions and the league has even seen one NBA player win the ring before their 20th birthday. In this article, we look at the youngest NBA champion in the history of the league.

Darko Milicic is BY FAR the youngest champion in NBA history; he was 18 years old (the only teenager to win a ring). That postseason, he contributed 1 point, 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 3 turnovers in 14 minutes.Here's a full list of the youngest champions in NBA history: pic.twitter.com/2TUYvHKVAI

— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) November 8, 2018

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The youngest NBA champion of all time: Darko Milicic

Till date, two 20-year olds have won the NBA championship in the form of legend Magic Johnson and Miami Heat’s Dorell Wright, who won the league during the 2005-06 season as a 20-year-old. Wright did not appear in the NBA Playoffs for a single game and started a grand total of two NBA matches during the regular season. He featured in 48 matches overall and was part of a star-studded roster alongside Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal.

We all know the Darko Miličić conversations and how it goes. His career did not go as predicted. But was that his fault or ours? https://t.co/9GYwamGFzO pic.twitter.com/H5qYpx13JL

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) July 30, 2021

Regardless, it is former Detroit Pistons center Darko Milicic who holds the unlikely record of being the youngest player to win the NBA championship at the age of 18 years and 361 days. The Serbian international was the second overall pick of the 2003 NBA draft and was tipped to have a big future in the NBA.

As luck would have it, Milicic eventually laid his hands on the Larry O’Brien trophy despite only featuring in 34 games in his rookie season and starting none. The Pistons had in Ben Wallace and Richard Hamilton, two All-Star caliber scorers who were excellent against a stacked LA Lakers team. Milicic featured in a handful of playoff games for less than 2-3 minutes per game and finished the season with a stat line of 1.4 points and 1.3 rebounds.

Detroit Pistons v Atlanta Hawks

In a career spanning a decade, Milicic always found himself in rotation at the center and never averaged in double digits despite entering the league as a potentially elite rookie. Regardless, his best ever career-moment came in the first season itself, as Milicic made history by becoming the youngest player in history to win the championship despite playing a minimalistic role for the team.

After spending three seasons with the Pistons, where he suffered multiple injuries, the Serb was shipped to the Orlando Magic. Milicic also played for the New York Knicks, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics before calling it quits on an overall disappointing career.

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