The 11 Best NBA Players Who Never Won A Championship

You’d be hard-pressed to find many NBA players who wouldn’t say they’d trade every individual award and accolade they’ve received for a championship thanks to the feeling of accomplishment that comes with winning it all. It certainly never hurts to have a title on your résumé if you’re hoping to end up in the Basketball Hall of Fame, but there are plenty of legends who’ve been enshrined who got there without one.

Basketball may be a team sport, but there aren’t many franchise that’ve managed to win an NBA title without the help of a superstar who played a pivotal role in leading them to glory.

However, there are more than a few superstars who had celebrated careers that were slightly tarnished by the fact that they never earned the right to raise the trophy.

Before we dive in, I should note I’m limiting this list to retired players as opposed to including the likes of James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Chris Paul, who still theoretically have a shot.

Charles Barkley

I’m not putting these guys in any particular order, but I’m going to kick things off with Charles Barkley, who is probably the first player to spring to mind among NBA fans and would be near the top of the list if I were ranking them.

Sir Charles spent 16 seasons in the NBA with the 76ers, Suns, and Rockets and was named to the All-Star Game 11 times while earning MVP honors in 1993.

He also got the chance to play in the postseason on 13 occasions and ultimately appeared in 123 playoff games. However, only one of those runs ended with an appearance in the NBA Finals: a loss to Michael Jordan and the Bulls in 1993.

Karl Malone

Karl Malone may have been known as “The Mailman,” but he was never able to deliver a championship during his 18 seasons with the Jazz before arriving a little too late to get one with the Lakers during his one-and-done stint in Los Angeles.

The two-time MVP and 14-time All-Star got used to hearing his name called when the NBA’s award season rolled around, and while he never missed the playoffs during a career that spanned close to two decades, he failed to get a ring.

As was the case with Barkley, Jordan and the Bulls deprived him of a title in back-to-back years beginning in 1997. He somewhat shamelessly tried to check the box by joining the Lakers for one last ride in 2003, but they were outfoxed by the Pistons in the NBA Finals.

John Stockton

You can’t really talk about Karl Malone without discussing John Stockton, who spent the entirety of his 19-year career with Utah and spent all but one of those seasons playing alongside his most famous teammate.

Stockton still holds the NBA record for the most career steals and assists, and as was the case with Malone, he never missed the playoffs.

Unfortunately, he’s one of the many players who are intimately familiar with the downsides of sharing the league with Jordan during the bulk of their career.

Reggie Miller

What’s that? Another high-profile Jordan victim? You bet.

Reggie Miller spent the entirety of his 18-year career as a member of the Pacers, and Indiana only missed the playoffs three times during that span.

Jordan deprived him of the chance to play in the NBA Finals for the first time during the “Last Dance” in 1998, which marked the third occasion Miller came up short in the Eastern Conference Finals.

He and the Pacers finally got over the hump in 2000 for what would end up being his only NBA Finals appearance, but they ran into the Lakers team that beat them to kick off what would become a threepeat.

Patrick Ewing

Patrick Ewing spent the majority of his 17-year career as a member of the Knicks, and 13 of his 14 playoff appearances came during his time in New York (the last one was during his brief stint with the Magic).

The Knicks made a few deep runs with Ewing’s help before taking advantage of Jordan’s temporary retirement en route to making it to the NBA Finals in 1994 before losing to the Rockets.

The closest he came to returning was a loss to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Final in 2000, but it’s a bit hard to imagine they would have fared much better against the Lakers even if they’d won.

Dominique Wilkins

The Human Highlight Reel may have been responsible for plenty of memorable moments during his 15 seasons in the NBA, but a clip of him hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy didn’t end up being one of them.

Wilkins was a member of 10 different playoff teams but became sadly accustomed to heading home relatively early when the postseason rolled around.

He not only never appeared in the NBA Finals but never even got a taste of a conference final; the Hawks made it to the second round three times when he was in Atlanta but were eliminated on each occasion.

Carmelo Anthony

Carmelo Anthony may have entered the league after Jordan’s reign of terror came to an end, but he simply ran into a new generation of standouts who helped deprive him of a title.

Melo can take a little bit of solace in the national championship he won at Syracuse during his standout one-and-done campaign, but he was never able to match the high during the 19 seasons he spent in the NBA.

He made it to the playoffs 13 times with four different teams, but he peaked with the Western Conference Finals appearance where the Nuggets lost to the eventual champion Lakers in 2009.

Allen Iverson

Allen Iverson spent 11 full seasons in Philadelphia before joining forces with Carmelo in Denver, but he never got a title by the time his career came to an end after 14 seasons.

Eight of those campaigns saw A.I. end up in the playoffs, and he was the primary reason the 76ers made it the the NBA Finals for the first time in close to 20 years after they vanquished the rest of the Eastern Conference in 2001.

However, he could only do so much to help Philly overcome the dynamic duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and Iverson would never make it that far again.

Vince Carter

LeBron James will presumably break the record Vince Carter set when he retired after 22 seasons when the former returns to the court for his 23rd next year, but no man has played in the league longer with nothing to show for it than the latter.

Carter tried to win a championship with eight different franchises and ended up making the playoffs with five of them a grand total of 11 times.

His best postseason run came as a member of the Magic team that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2010 after sweeping their first two opponents, but they were sent packing by the Celtics to deprive Carter of the NBA Finals experience he never got.

Tracy McGrady

As was the case with Carter, Tracy McGrady was a bit of a journeyman who ended up playing for seven different teams, and he also never got a title during his 15 NBA seasons.

Nine of those ended with McGrady playing in the postseason, and he never really came close to winning a championship aside from the time he shamelessly signed with the Spurs to chase a ring during what was technically his final NBA season in 2013.

T-Mac barely got any playing time during a run that saw San Antonio make it to the Finals, but the dream was officially dashed when they lost to the Heat in seven games.

Elgin Baylor

All of the players on this list became accustomed to coming up short during their careers, but there isn’t a single one who experienced the kind of heartbreak Elgin Baylor had to endure.

Baylor spent all 14 years of his NBA career as a member of the Lakers, and they only missed the playoffs two times during his tenure.

They also made it to the NBA Finals eight times during that span thanks to the Celtics dynasty that was responsible for seven of those losses (the Knicks were the culprit in 1970).

Baylor was technically a member of the Lakers team that finally won in 1972, but he’d retired just nine games into the start of that season due to the injuries that forced him to hang up his sneakers and didn’t get a ring.