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The NBA currently has 30 teams. Every season every team has a group of fans eager to see their team win an NBA championship and parade in their city. Each year, only one team emerges from the season as NBA champions. If you have been lucky enough to see your team win 2 championships in your lifetime, you should consider yourself lucky.
Which NBA team has won the most championships? Since the first official NBA championship was held in 1946-47, the two NBA teams have won 17 championships each. Those franchises are the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers (formerly the Minneapolis Lakers). The Lakers won their first NBA championship in 1949 and the most recent in 2020. The Celtics won their first championship in 1957, and their most recent NBA championship was in 2008. The Lakers and Celtics have faced each other 12 times in the NBA Finals, with the Celtics winning nine of them.
Since the Philadelphia Warriors won the inaugural NBA Championship in 1947, 76 players have been crowned NBA champions. Twenty different NBA franchises have won the NBA Championship, and here’s a look at some of the more important winners.
If you’re looking to buy NBA jerseys, check out the official NBA retailers below.
List of NBA Championships by Franchise (Current Names Listed)
NBA team | NBA championship |
los angeles lakers | 17 |
boston celtics | 17 |
golden state warriors | 7 |
chicago bulls | 6 |
san antonio spurs | 5 |
miami heat | 3 |
Philadelphia 76ers | 3 |
detroit pistons | 3 |
milwaukee bucks | 2 |
houston rockets | 2 |
new york knicks | 2 |
toronto raptors | 1 |
dallas mavericks | 1 |
cleveland cavaliers | 1 |
portland trailblazers | 1 |
Oklahoma City Thunder | 1 |
washington wizards | 1 |
atlanta hawks | 1 |
sacramento kings | 1 |
baltimore bullets | 1 |
Los Angeles Lakers NBA Championship
The Los Angeles Lakers have won the most NBA championships in history. However, they didn’t win all their games while in Los Angeles. While their East Coast rivals, the Celtics, won all 17 titles in Boston, the Lakers won their first five titles before moving to Los Angeles in 1960.
George Michan’s Minneapolis Lakers were the first NBA dynasty, winning five championships between 1949 and 1954. It wasn’t until 1972 that the Lakers brought the championship back to Los Angeles. The 1972 Lakers featured Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Pat Riley after multiple Finals losses to Bill Russell’s Celtics , a victory over the New York Knicks has been a long wait.
Magic Johnson teamed up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 80s, and the Lakers won five more championships. Kobe and Shaq and Kobe would lead the Lakers to five more titles after the turn of the century. They were level with the Boston Celtics before LeBron James and Anthony Davis arrived in town for the franchise’s 17th championship.
The Lakers have had a long-standing rivalry with the Celtics. From the Russell dynasty in the ’60s to the Magic vs. Bird in the 1980s — yet when two great teams meet in the NBA Finals, they don’t fare well. The Celtics have won nine of 12 games.
Head-to-head NBA Finals: Lakers vs. Celtics |
1959 NBA Finals: Celtics win 4-0 |
1962 NBA Finals: Celtics win 4-3 |
1963 NBA Finals: Celtics win 4-2 |
1965 NBA Finals: Celtics win 4-1 |
1966 NBA Finals: Celtics win 4-3 |
1968 NBA Finals: Celtics win 4-2 |
1969 NBA Finals: Celtics win 4-3 |
1984 NBA Finals: Celtics win 4-3 |
1985 NBA Finals: Lakers win 4-2 |
1987 NBA Finals: Lakers win 4-2 |
2008 NBA Finals: Celtics win 4–2 |
2010 NBA Finals: Lakers win 4-3 |
Boston Celtics NBA Championship
Almost mirror image of the Los Angeles-based West Coast Lakers dynasty, the East Coast Boston Celtics have fought them for titles throughout NBA history. Both teams are tied for 17 NBA Eastern Conference titles, the most in NBA history. Between them, they’ve won 44 percent of their 76 NBA titles.
The Celtics won their first NBA championship in 1957, Bill Russell’s rookie season. Russell would lead the Celtics to 11 NBA championships before retiring in 1969, 13 years later.
Tom Heinsohn led the Celtics to two championships in ’74 and ’76, including players like Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, and Jo Jo White. He added three more titles, bringing the Celtics’ total to 16, before Larry Bird arrived in the ’80s.
It was Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joining Paul Pierce as the established scorers that would inspire the Celtics to win their most recent title in 2008, beating the Lakers in the NBA Finals. It would prove to be the only time the team has won an NBA title since losing to Kobe Bryant’s Lakers in 2010.
The Celtics return to the NBA Finals in 2022 after 1,2 boxing balls from Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. The return trip in 2023 is just around the corner, and with LeBron and Davis leading a rebooted Lakers team in a waning West, we could get a 13th Lakers-Celtics game before the season ends Team NBA Championship Game.
Golden State Warriors NBA Championship
The Warriors have won the third most championships in the NBA. The Warriors won a total of seven NBA championships, including the inaugural championship in Philadelphia in 1947. The Philadelphia Warriors also won a championship in 1956 before moving to San Francisco and eventually becoming the Golden State Warriors.
Rick Barry would win his only NBA championship in 1974, and the Golden State Warriors would put the franchise in 3 total over the next 40 years.
Then in 2015, Steph Curry made a splash, transformed the franchise, won 4 NBA championships, bringing their total to 7 and the most NBA championship in history Ranked third among the teams with the most.
Chicago Bulls NBA Championship
The Chicago Bulls have won 6 NBA championships. The fourth most in NBA history. The Bulls’ championship titles haven’t spread since the NBA’s inception, but they’ve only won one within 1 decade. the 90s. After losing to eventual champion Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990, the Bulls finally reached the NBA Finals in 1991. They won the championship and repeated the feat in 1992 and 1993 until Michael Jordan retired to play baseball.
After Jordan’s full return for the 1995-96 season, they would once again resume their winning ways. Led by his forever partner Scottie Pippen, Jordan rampaged through the league, winning three more titles in 1996, 1997 and 1998 before retiring again.
The Bulls have been far from winning another NBA championship since Jordan left in 1998.
San Antonio Spurs NBA Championship
In 1976, the San Antonio Spurs merged from the ABA. Having failed to win a title in the ABA, that trend will continue in the NBA until they get a chance to draft a fourth-year center from Wake Forest. Their fortunes would change when power forward Tim Duncan was selected with the first overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. Pair him with center David Robinson in a formidable frontcourt duo and the San Antonio Spurs would win their first NBA title in 1999. What followed was 20 years of dominance. While they never managed to win back-to-back championships, the Spurs won five titles before Duncan retired in 2016. They most recently came in 2014, when they destroyed LeBron James’ Miami Heat in a repeat of the previous year’s Finals. another way.
Led by coach Gregg Popovich and backed by players like Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, the Tim Duncan Spurs have won five NBA championships, the fifth-most in history.
Renamed NBA Championship Winner
The complex system by which NBA franchises change names or locations and maintain their franchise records can often lead to some confusion. Below is a list of NBA champions who are no longer operating under the same name.
- Philadelphia Warriors 1947 & 1956
- baltimore bullets 1948
- Minneapolis Lakers 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954
- Rochester Royals 1951
- Syracuse Nationals 1955
- st louis eagles 1958
- washington bullet 1978
- Seattle SuperSonics 1979
Let’s start at the top and explain who each NBA team is right now.
this philadelphia warriors After moving to San Francisco and becoming golden state warriors. They have now won a total of seven titles.
this baltimore bullets They won their only title in 1948. Although the Washington Bullets came later, they weren’t actually the same team. The championship-winning Baltimore Bullets ceased to exist on November 27, 1954, with the Bullets becoming the last NBA team to fail.
5 championships minneapolis lakers Moved to Los Angeles in 1960 to become 17th champion los angeles lakers.
this rochester royals won their only title in 1951.The team moved to the larger Cincinnati market in 1957 and became the cincinnati royals. In 1972, they relocated again to Kansas City, Missouri and became Kansas City-Omaha Kings The home game is split between Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska.nickname changed so as not to conflict with baseball kansas city royals… After just three seasons, the team chose a home field and became the Kansas City Kings. It was short lived and by 1985 they moved to Sacramento.become current Sacramento Kings. They have yet to win a second title.
this syracuse nationals Won the NBA championship in 1955. After the Braves left Philadelphia, the Nationals moved to the Greater Market City in 1963.They changed their name to the 76ers in honor of the american declaration of independence Happened in Philadelphia in 1776.this Philadelphia 76ers Has now won 3 NBA championships.
this st louis eagles won the NBA championship in 1958, then moved to Atlanta in 1968 and became atlanta hawks. The Eagles have yet to win a title in Atlanta.
this washington bullet In 1978 won their only NBA championship. They were originally known as the Chicago Packers, but relocated from 1963 to 1973 and became the Baltimore Bullets, but not the original Baltimore Bullets (as mentioned above). In 1973, the team moved again to Washington, D.C. and changed its name to the Capital Bullets, and the following season to the Washington Bullets.They would eventually go on to win their only title under the moniker, and eventually in 1997, they would rechristen themselves washington wizards.
this seattle supersonics In 1979 won their only NBA championship. After drafting Kevin Durant in 2007, they quickly left Seattle to become the 2008-2009 Oklahoma City Thunder.they are still Oklahoma City Thunder to today.
Active NBA teams that haven’t won an NBA championship (yet)
Below is a list of active NBA teams as of 2022 that have never won an NBA championship.
team | First year in the NBA | best score in history |
indiana pacers | 1967 | NBA Finals runner-up |
brooklyn nets | 1967 | NBA Finals runner-up |
denver nuggets | 1967 | Western Conference Finals runner-up |
phoenix suns | 1968 | NBA Finals runner-up |
utah jazz | 1974 | NBA Finals runner-up |
los angeles clippers | 1984 | playoffs |
charlotte hornets | 1988 | playoffs |
Minnesota Timberwolves | 1989 | Western Conference Finals runner-up |
orlando magic | 1989 | NBA Finals runner-up |
Memphis Grizzlies | 1995 | playoffs |
new orleans pelicans | 2002* | playoffs |
*Originally the Hornets, renamed the Pelicans when the Hornets returned to Charlotte in 2013
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