As NBA fans, we tend to get attached to certain players over the years. They don’t have to be players from our favorite teams but ones we root for, regardless of the jersey they wear. Whether we love how they play the game or respect how they have handled themselves in their NBA career, there are certain players from all over the league that we want to see succeed at the highest level. Winning an NBA championship does so much for a player’s legacy that it is only common sense that we wish our favorite players to one day hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy above their heads.
Winning an NBA championship isn’t easy though. Only one team can be crowned champion at the end of the season. Over the course of NBA history, some of the greatest players ever came up short of winning an NBA championship and those greats are recognized as titleless players for the most part by their peers and fans around the world. That is why it is so important to us for the 10 players below to win an NBA championship even if it means riding the pine to win one but of course, it would make it much sweeter if they actually played a vital role in it.
These are the 10 NBA Players who we would like to see win an NBA championship before they retire.
10. Mike Conley
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As a 16-year veteran of the NBA, it is only right that we include a player like Mike Conley on this list. Conley spent his first 12 seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, where he was as solid of a starting point guard as it gets. With sold perimeter defense and decent scoring ability, Conley became one of the more underrated players of the Grizzlies’ Grit and Grind era. With Memphis, Conley had his best opportunity to win an NBA championship as they made the Western Conference Finals but were swept by the Spurs in four games.
Conley has been the starting point guard for some really solid Utah Jazz teams as well, but they always found a way to fall apart in the NBA playoffs despite the presence of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. At this year’s trade deadline, Conley was dealt to the Minnesota Timberwolves where once again, he may not get his chance at an NBA championship. The only hope for Conley would be for him to be traded to a contender after the season has concluded considering he has $24.36 million left on his deal. Personally, I believe Milwaukee or Denver should pick up the phone and make a call for the veteran.
9. Blake Griffin
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In all seriousness, who wouldn’t want to see Blake Griffin become an NBA champion before he calls it quits? During the 2010s, Griffin gave us some of the most electric moments in the decade as a member of the Clippers and was one of the highest scorers in the 2010s as well. Timofey Mosgov and Kendrick Perkins were just two of the iconic poster slams Griffin threw down in his Clippers career as he took the world by storm with his freak athleticism. Griffin and the Clippers were dubbed Lob City for their propensity to put on a show on the court. However, the experiment ended without a single appearance in even the Conference Finals.
From there, Griffin moved on to Detroit where he became an All-Star again, but the team never had any real chance of competing for an NBA championship. In Brooklyn, Griffin spent a season surrounded by the drama show featuring Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Joe Tsai and exited almost as quickly as he got there. Now in Boston for 2022-23, this could be his best shot at an NBA title before he rides off into the sunset. Even though he is only seeing just over 14.0 minutes per game, to see him on the court as an NBA champion would be the perfect ending to a great career.
8. Jimmy Butler
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The story of Jimmy Butler has been an inspiration to NBA fans for quite some time now. Growing up homeless in Texas, Butler did the unthinkable by becoming one of the few fortunate enough to make the NBA. Butler first appeared with the Bulls in 2011 where he would become a multiple-time All-Star and leader of the team. What followed was tumultuous but worked out for all signs in the end.
Butler would have a very public feud with his teammates in Minnesota and Philadelphia where things got so tense, Butler was traded after just 69 games with the Timberwolves. After a short stay with the Sixers, Butler moved on to Miami in 2019-20 where he finally found a home. Butler would put the team on his back on both ends of the court as he physically exhausted himself trying to deliver a title to Miami in the bubble. The Finals loss was tough, but Butler remains hungry and has completely shed the villain title everyone tried to give him earlier in his career.
7. Nikola Jokic
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I know the selection of Nikola Jokic will take some by surprise here but just hear me out before things get hectic. Over the last two seasons, we have watched Nikola Jokic do things we never thought we would see in this league. From his efficiency to his incredible playmaking from the center position, Jokic was voted the MVP of the league in both 2021 and 2022 with a third award extremely likely in 2023. Now, he is being labeled a “false MVP” due to his lack of success in the NBA playoffs which couldn’t be further from the truth.
In 2021, Jokic and the Nuggets lost Jamal Murray who at that point was Denver’s second-leading scorer and best offensive option aside from Jokic. He still led the Nuggets to a playoff berth and an appearance in the second round, having to adjust to different personnel. The same was the story for 2022, with Murray still out and Michael Porter Jr. being lost for the season as well. Jokic still led them to a playoff appearance. Now, in 2022-23, Jokic has the Nuggets as the first seed in the West with a fully healthy team for the first time since 2020 when they made the Conference Finals. Averaging a triple-double, something that has only been done by two other players in history, I just need Nikola Jokic to win an NBA championship to shut the haters up.
6. James Harden
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From bad luck to questionable decisions, James Harden has been one of the unluckier players to never win an NBA championship. In the earliest stages of his career, as one of the best bench players in basketball and Sixth Man of the Year in 2012, Harden got the only taste of the NBA Finals he has ever had in his career. Of course, the Thunder went on to lose that series in five games, and Harden would never step foot on the court as a member of the Thunder again.
As we watched Harden become an MVP with the Rockets in 2018 and go on one of the greatest offensive streaks we have ever seen, he kept running into one issue in the NBA playoffs, the Golden State Warriors. Harden gave them his best shot and fell short, but to be realistic, no one was beating those teams in the Western Conference at the time. Suppose he is able to somehow secure a championship as a current Top 10 MVP candidate who leads the NBA in assists, even if alongside one of the best centers in basketball, it will validate his career. The narrative around his selfishness and playstyle will die when and if he raises that Larry O’Brien trophy.
5. Damian Lillard
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If there were such a thing as an NBA dictionary, Damian Lillard’s face would be plastered next to the words dedication and loyalty. For the entirety of his 11-year NBA career, Damian Lillard has been a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. He has had some really successful seasons and runs in the postseason while also being on some pretty terrible teams over the course of the last 11 seasons. The closest Lillard has ever been to a Finals series is back in 2019 when Lillard and Portland were swept in four games by the Warriors in the 2019 Western Conference Finals.
Since then, Portland has struggled to put together a roster around Lillard that has been able to get back to where they were just four years ago. Calls from fans and media to leave Portland and pursue a championship have been loud and voluminous for Lillard to which he turns the other cheeks and chooses loyalty seemingly uninterested in an NBA championship. As much as he is disinterested, we fans know the grind Lillard has been through with Portland, and all we want to do is see him at least get a chance on a team capable of contending for a win in the NBA Finals as still one of the best offensive players in the game today. It looks like we will have to wait for that day for some time but when it comes, it will be celebrated universally.
4. Chris Paul
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Chris paul has to be one of the most polarizing players over the last 20 years in the NBA. Some fans love Paul and consider him to be one of the greatest point guards in NBA history. Others despise him and would like nothing more than to see him retire as a member of the ringless club. They love to give him nicknames like CP0 and give him the label of a playoff choker despite injuries playing a decent factor in his lack of playoff success. Frankly, it gets annoying just as much as it does with any other player that never won an NBA championship.
Paul had his best shot at an NBA title in 2021 when he and the Suns lost in six games to the Bucks after building a 2-0 lead in the series. After an embarrassing end to 2022, Paul and the Suns look to be on the verge of making another appearance happen with the arrival of Kevin Durant at the trade deadline to give them one of the best lineups in basketball. If Paul can secure a championship, most will penalize him for being a third or fourth option on offense. Real fans will celebrate one of the best ever, finally getting his due.
3. Carmelo Anthony
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Technically, Carmelo Anthony’s chances of winning an NBA championship right now are at zero. Anthony had not found a home for the 2022-23 season and has been working toward a comeback but has had no suitors as of right now. As one of the best scorers ever and a player who is Top 10 in total points for their career, it is time that changes, and Anthony gets a chance on a contending team, even if it means riding the bench.
Anthony can still ball, and there isn’t any doubt about that. He can still knock down outside shots and create his own but money on a veteran way past his prime is not exactly something teams are jumping at the chance to spend. Anthony deserves at least a chance at a championship, and it would be a 2000s NBA fan’s dream to see him at least compete for one. Heck, even Tracy McGrady got an opportunity at the end of his career with the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 Finals.
2. Russell Westbrook
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I do not know about you, but I have been rooting for Russell Westbrook vehemently over the last two seasons. To watch one of the best players we grew up with treated like dirt by Lakers fans and the national media was atrocious. It was almost like everything he did in his career up to the time he joined Los Angeles did not matter at all. He was no longer an NBA legend but rather a scapegoat for the gazillion things that went wrong with the Lakers in 2022 and half of 2022-23.
Much like Chris Paul, Westbrook has tasted the NBA Finals but came up short with the Thunder in 2012. A championship would solidify Westbrook as one of the true great NBA point guards of all time, considering he has a big role with his new team, the Clippers. Westbrook still has a chance to be a part of a legitimate contender if the Clippers get things figured out by the time the regular season ends. If not this year, then in 2023-24 we can only hope he finds himself on a team where he will both play and contend once again.
1. Derrick Rose
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What happened to Derrick Rose just as he was taking over the NBA early in his career is one of the most tragic stories ever known in NBA history. After becoming the youngest MVP of all time and one of the most exciting players in the NBA, we watched as Rose crumpled to the floor grimacing and clutching his knee in a playoff game against the 76ers in 2012. That moment would derail one of the most promising careers ever and rob us NBA fans of an all-time legend.
Then, as fans, we watched as Rose struggled to get back. We watched him tear another ACL in the opposite knee and have to start the rehab process all over again. We watched as he fought back from that and shed tears when the Bulls finally made the decision to trade him. We watched him grind out one of the most emotional 50-point games in NBA history in a small moment of redemption for him and his fans. We have watched as he has turned into an impactful player off the bench and played the team game at the highest level. Now, it is time that we watch all of this become worth it and Derrick Rose crowned an NBA champion.
Source: fadeawayworld
