Championship Pedigree
It’s not uncommon that, regardless of the sport, athletes get critiqued by the number of titles they’ve won. This is true in both individual and team competition, something about “if no one cared who won, they wouldn’t keep score.”
It’s no different in professional basketball, where the pantheon of greats each have multiple titles next to their names. Fans damn a player with faint praise by referring to him as the “best without a title,” but don’t tell that to Karl Malone.
There’s some rarified company when discussing the NBA player with most rings in a career, as the league in its 75-plus seasons has seen many greats of the hardwood earn the hardware and/or jewelry. Names such as…
- Bill Russell (and any of those dynastic Boston Celtics)
- Michael Jordan (and those pair of the three-peat Chicago Bulls)
- Tim Duncan leading the San Antonio Spurs
- Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and two different sets of Los Angeles Lakers titlists (and don’t forget George Mikan pacing the franchise’s forefathers in Minneapolis).
Here’s a look at some of the elite ring collectors in the history of the NBA…
What Basketball Player Has the Most Rings?
The list of players with the most NBA rings starts and ends with Bill Russell. Patrolling the paint as a defensive force over 13 seasons (1956-57 through 1968-69) with the Boston Celtics, Russell was the key to 11 titles (eight consecutive) during perhaps the greatest run in pro sports. He was the player-coach of that last title.
(Phil Jackson has 11 coaching titles [Bulls-6/Lakers-5], plus two playing with the New York Knicks).
Sam Jones, one of the best pure shooters of his time, was part of all but the first of those Celtic title teams. He’s in second place on this list.
Next (eight rings) is another quartet of C’s, though not always together. Tom Heinsohn (also a title-winning coach), K.C. Jones, Satch Sanders, and John Havlicek share that distinction.
Seven is the number of rings won by Celtics Jim Loscutoff and Frank ‘Sixth Man’ Ramsey, along with Robert Horry. Horry is one of just three players to win titles with three teams (Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, and San Antonio Spurs).
A “fair” quartet with six titles is composed of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bob Cousy, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan each have five titles, while Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James, and Steph Curry are among those with four.
In what’s going to be a tough/impossible standard to shatter, the NBA player with most rings remains Bill Russell. The MVP of The Finals each season earns the trophy bearing his name.
Michael Jordan won it after each of the Bulls’ six titles, while the first recipient, Jerry West (1969) of the Los Angeles Lakers, remains the only player honored on a losing team.
Any Final Thoughts?
Trying to forecast the winner of the pro basketball title each year is a popular NBA playoff odds at BetUS proposition, though despite the best efforts of players to form their own “superteams” via free agency, dynasties aren’t returning. Perhaps past performance of NBA titles by player might serve as a guide.
