List of NBA champions

The NBA Finals is the championship series for the National Basketball Association (NBA) held at the conclusion of its postseason. All NBA Finals have been played in a best-of-seven format, and are contested between the winners of the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference (prior to 1971 it was played between division playoff winners), except in 1950 when the Eastern Division champion faced the winner between the Western and Central Division champions. From 1946 through 1949, when the league was known as the Basketball Association of America (BAA), the playoffs were a three-stage tournament where the two semifinal winners played each other in the finals.^[1][2][3] The winning team of the series receives the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, which has been awarded since 1977 (between 1947 and 1976 the winning team received the Walter A. Brown Trophy).^[4]

Champions

The Boston Celtics have won the most championships of any NBA team. Shown are the championship banners hanging in their home arena, TD Garden.

The most recent champions are the Oklahoma City Thunder, who won their first championship since 1979 as the Seattle SuperSonics. The Boston Celtics have won the most championships of any team in the league at 18.^[5] As of 2025^[update], the Eastern champions have a 41–38 advantage in NBA titles over the Western champions. The 1949–50 Minneapolis Lakers, who won the NBA Finals, are counted in the Eastern versus Western champions record as they played that sole season in the Central Division before returning to the Western Division.

• The first parentheses in the Western champions and Eastern champions columns indicate the teams' playoff seed. The second parentheses indicate the number of times that teams have appeared in an NBA Finals as well as each respective team's NBA Finals record to date.

Bold	Winning team of the BAA/NBA Finals
Italics	Team with home-court advantage
Italics	Finals MVP was on losing team
†	Only defunct team to win championship

Year	Western champion	Coach	Result	Eastern champion	Coach	Finals MVP[a]	Ref
1947	Chicago Stags (1) (1, 0–1)	Harold Olsen	1–4	Philadelphia Warriors (2) (1, 1–0)	Eddie Gottlieb	n/a	[6]
1948	Baltimore Bullets† (2) (1, 1–0)	Buddy Jeannette	4–2	Philadelphia Warriors (1) (2, 1–1)			[7]
1949	Minneapolis Lakers (2) (1, 1–0)	John Kundla	4–2	Washington Capitols (1) (1, 0–1)	Red Auerbach		[8]
1950	Minneapolis Lakers (1) [b] (2, 2–0)		4–2	Syracuse Nationals (1) (1, 0–1)	Al Cervi		[12][13]
1951	Rochester Royals (2) (1, 1–0)	Les Harrison	4–3	New York Knicks (3) (1, 0–1)	Joe Lapchick		[14]
1952	Minneapolis Lakers (2) (3, 3–0)	John Kundla	4–3	New York Knicks (3) (2, 0–2)			[15]
1953	Minneapolis Lakers (1) (4, 4–0)		4–1	New York Knicks (1) (3, 0–3)			[16]
1954	Minneapolis Lakers (1) (5, 5–0)		4–3	Syracuse Nationals (1) (2, 0–2)	Al Cervi		[17]
1955	Fort Wayne Pistons (1) (1, 0–1)	Charles Eckman	3–4	Syracuse Nationals (1) (3, 1–2)			[18]
1956	Fort Wayne Pistons (1) (2, 0–2)		1–4	Philadelphia Warriors (1) (3, 2–1)	George Senesky		[19]
1957	St. Louis Hawks (1) (1, 0–1)	Alex Hannum	3–4	Boston Celtics (1) (1, 1–0)	Red Auerbach		[20]
1958	St. Louis Hawks (1) (2, 1–1)		4–2	Boston Celtics (1) (2, 1–1)			[21]
1959	Minneapolis Lakers (2) (6, 5–1)	John Kundla	0–4	Boston Celtics (1) (3, 2–1)			[22]
1960	St. Louis Hawks (1) (3, 1–2)	Ed Macauley	3–4	Boston Celtics (1) (4, 3–1)			[23]
1961	St. Louis Hawks (1) (4, 1–3)	Paul Seymour	1–4	Boston Celtics (1) (5, 4–1)			[24]
1962	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (7, 5–2)	Fred Schaus	3–4	Boston Celtics (1) (6, 5–1)			[25]
1963	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (8, 5–3)		2–4	Boston Celtics (1) (7, 6–1)			[26]
1964[c]	San Francisco Warriors (1) (4, 2–2)	Alex Hannum	1–4	Boston Celtics (1) (8, 7–1)			[27]
1965	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (9, 5–4)	Fred Schaus	1–4	Boston Celtics (1) (9, 8–1)			[28]
1966	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (10, 5–5)		3–4	Boston Celtics (2) (10, 9–1)			[29]
1967	San Francisco Warriors (1) (5, 2–3)	Bill Sharman	2–4	Philadelphia 76ers (1) (4, 2–2)	Alex Hannum		[30]
1968	Los Angeles Lakers (2) (11, 5–6)	Butch van Breda Kolff	2–4	Boston Celtics (2) (11, 10–1)	Bill Russell		[31]
1969	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (12, 5–7)		3–4	Boston Celtics (4) (12, 11–1)		Jerry West	[32]
1970	Los Angeles Lakers (2) (13, 5–8)	Joe Mullaney	3–4	New York Knicks (1) (4, 1–3)	Red Holzman	Willis Reed	[33]
1971	Milwaukee Bucks (1) (1, 1–0)	Larry Costello	4–0	Baltimore Bullets (1) (1, 0–1)	Gene Shue	Lew Alcindor	[34]
1972	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (14, 6–8)	Bill Sharman	4–1	New York Knicks (2) (5, 1–4)	Red Holzman	Wilt Chamberlain	[35]
1973	Los Angeles Lakers (2) (15, 6–9)		1–4	New York Knicks (2) (6, 2–4)		Willis Reed	[36]
1974	Milwaukee Bucks (1) (2, 1–1)	Larry Costello	3–4	Boston Celtics (1) (13, 12–1)	Tom Heinsohn	John Havlicek	[37]
1975	Golden State Warriors (1) (6, 3–3)	Al Attles	4–0	Washington Bullets (2) (2, 0–2)	K.C. Jones	Rick Barry	[38]
1976	Phoenix Suns (3) (1, 0–1)	John MacLeod	2–4	Boston Celtics (1) (14, 13–1)	Tom Heinsohn	Jo Jo White	[39]
1977[d]	Portland Trail Blazers (3) (1, 1–0)	Jack Ramsay	4–2	Philadelphia 76ers (1) (5, 2–3)	Gene Shue	Bill Walton	[42]
1978	Seattle SuperSonics (4) (1, 0–1)	Lenny Wilkens	3–4	Washington Bullets (3) (3, 1–2)	Dick Motta	Wes Unseld	[43]
1979	Seattle SuperSonics (1) (2, 1–1)		4–1	Washington Bullets (1) (4, 1–3)		Dennis Johnson	[44]
1980	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (16, 7–9)	Paul Westhead	4–2	Philadelphia 76ers (3) (6, 2–4)	Billy Cunningham	Magic Johnson	[45]
1981	Houston Rockets (6) (1, 0–1)	Del Harris	2–4	Boston Celtics (1) (15, 14–1)	Bill Fitch	Cedric Maxwell	[46]
1982	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (17, 8–9)	Pat Riley	4–2	Philadelphia 76ers (3) (7, 2–5)	Billy Cunningham	Magic Johnson	[47]
1983	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (18, 8–10)		0–4	Philadelphia 76ers (1) (8, 3–5)		Moses Malone	[48]
1984[e]	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (19, 8–11)		3–4	Boston Celtics (1) (16, 15–1)	K.C. Jones	Larry Bird	[49]
1985	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (20, 9–11)		4–2	Boston Celtics (1) (17, 15–2)		Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	[50]
1986	Houston Rockets (2) (2, 0–2)	Bill Fitch	2–4	Boston Celtics (1) (18, 16–2)		Larry Bird	[51]
1987	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (21, 10–11)	Pat Riley	4–2	Boston Celtics (1) (19, 16–3)		Magic Johnson	[52]
1988	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (22, 11–11)		4–3	Detroit Pistons (2) (3, 0–3)	Chuck Daly	James Worthy	[53]
1989	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (23, 11–12)		0–4	Detroit Pistons (1) (4, 1–3)		Joe Dumars	[54]
1990	Portland Trail Blazers (3) (2, 1–1)	Rick Adelman	1–4	Detroit Pistons (1) (5, 2–3)		Isiah Thomas	[55]
1991	Los Angeles Lakers (3) (24, 11–13)	Mike Dunleavy	1–4	Chicago Bulls (1) (1, 1–0)	Phil Jackson	Michael Jordan	[56]
1992	Portland Trail Blazers (1) (3, 1–2)	Rick Adelman	2–4	Chicago Bulls (1) (2, 2–0)			[57]
1993	Phoenix Suns (1) (2, 0–2)	Paul Westphal	2–4	Chicago Bulls (2) (3, 3–0)			[58]
1994	Houston Rockets (2) (3, 1–2)	Rudy Tomjanovich	4–3	New York Knicks (2) (7, 2–5)	Pat Riley	Hakeem Olajuwon	[59]
1995	Houston Rockets (6) (4, 2–2)		4–0	Orlando Magic (1) (1, 0–1)	Brian Hill		[60]
1996	Seattle SuperSonics (1) (3, 1–2)	George Karl	2–4	Chicago Bulls (1) (4, 4–0)	Phil Jackson	Michael Jordan	[61]
1997	Utah Jazz (1) (1, 0–1)	Jerry Sloan	2–4	Chicago Bulls (1) (5, 5–0)			[62]
1998	Utah Jazz (1) (2, 0–2)		2–4	Chicago Bulls (1) (6, 6–0)			[63]
1999[f]	San Antonio Spurs (1) (1, 1–0)	Gregg Popovich	4–1	New York Knicks (8) (8, 2–6)	Jeff Van Gundy	Tim Duncan	[65]
2000	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (25, 12–13)	Phil Jackson	4–2	Indiana Pacers (1) (1, 0–1)	Larry Bird	Shaquille O'Neal	[66]
2001	Los Angeles Lakers (2) (26, 13–13)		4–1	Philadelphia 76ers (1) (9, 3–6)	Larry Brown		[67]
2002	Los Angeles Lakers (3) (27, 14–13)		4–0	New Jersey Nets (1) (1, 0–1)	Byron Scott		[68]
2003	San Antonio Spurs (1) (2, 2–0)	Gregg Popovich	4–2	New Jersey Nets (2) (2, 0–2)		Tim Duncan	[69]
2004	Los Angeles Lakers (2) (28, 14–14)	Phil Jackson	1–4	Detroit Pistons (3) (6, 3–3)	Larry Brown	Chauncey Billups	[70]
2005	San Antonio Spurs (2) (3, 3–0)	Gregg Popovich	4–3	Detroit Pistons (2) (7, 3–4)		Tim Duncan	[71]
2006	Dallas Mavericks (4) (1, 0–1)	Avery Johnson	2–4	Miami Heat (2) (1, 1–0)	Pat Riley	Dwyane Wade	[72]
2007	San Antonio Spurs (3) (4, 4–0)	Gregg Popovich	4–0	Cleveland Cavaliers (2) (1, 0–1)	Mike Brown	Tony Parker	[73]
2008	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (29, 14–15)	Phil Jackson	2–4	Boston Celtics (1) (20, 17–3)	Doc Rivers	Paul Pierce	[74]
2009	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (30, 15–15)		4–1	Orlando Magic (3) (2, 0–2)	Stan Van Gundy	Kobe Bryant	[75]
2010	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (31, 16–15)		4–3	Boston Celtics (4) (21, 17–4)	Doc Rivers		[76]
2011	Dallas Mavericks (3) (2, 1–1)	Rick Carlisle	4–2	Miami Heat (2) (2, 1–1)	Erik Spoelstra	Dirk Nowitzki	[77]
2012[g]	Oklahoma City Thunder (2) (4, 1–3)	Scott Brooks	1–4	Miami Heat (2) (3, 2–1)		LeBron James	[80]
2013	San Antonio Spurs (2) (5, 4–1)	Gregg Popovich	3–4	Miami Heat (1) (4, 3–1)			[81]
2014	San Antonio Spurs (1) (6, 5–1)		4–1	Miami Heat (2) (5, 3–2)		Kawhi Leonard	[82]
2015	Golden State Warriors (1) (7, 4–3)	Steve Kerr	4–2	Cleveland Cavaliers (2) (2, 0–2)	David Blatt	Andre Iguodala	[83]
2016	Golden State Warriors (1) (8, 4–4)		3–4	Cleveland Cavaliers (1) (3, 1–2)	Tyronn Lue	LeBron James	[84]
2017	Golden State Warriors (1) (9, 5–4)		4–1	Cleveland Cavaliers (2) (4, 1–3)		Kevin Durant	[85]
2018	Golden State Warriors (2) (10, 6–4)		4–0	Cleveland Cavaliers (4) (5, 1–4)			[86]
2019	Golden State Warriors (1) (11, 6–5)		2–4	Toronto Raptors (2) (1, 1–0)	Nick Nurse	Kawhi Leonard	[87]
2020[h]	Los Angeles Lakers (1) (32, 17–15)	Frank Vogel	4–2	Miami Heat (5) (6, 3–3)	Erik Spoelstra	LeBron James	[89]
2021	Phoenix Suns (2) (3, 0–3)	Monty Williams	2–4	Milwaukee Bucks (3) (3, 2–1)	Mike Budenholzer	Giannis Antetokounmpo	[90]
2022	Golden State Warriors (3) (12, 7–5)	Steve Kerr	4–2	Boston Celtics (2) (22, 17–5)	Ime Udoka	Stephen Curry	[91]
2023	Denver Nuggets (1) (1, 1–0)	Michael Malone	4–1	Miami Heat (8) (7, 3–4)	Erik Spoelstra	Nikola Jokić	[92]
2024	Dallas Mavericks (5) (3, 1–2)	Jason Kidd	1–4	Boston Celtics (1) (23, 18–5)	Joe Mazzulla	Jaylen Brown	[93]
2025	Oklahoma City Thunder (1) (5, 2–3)	Mark Daigneault	4–3	Indiana Pacers (4) (2, 0–2)	Rick Carlisle	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	[94]

Results by team

Team	Win	Loss	Apps	Pct	Year(s) won	Year(s) lost
Boston Celtics	18	5	23	.783	1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1986, 2008, 2024	1958, 1985, 1987, 2010, 2022
Los Angeles Lakers[i]	17	15	32	.531	1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2020	1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1991, 2004, 2008
Golden State Warriors[ii]	7	5	12	.583	1947, 1956, 1975, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022	1948, 1964, 1967, 2016, 2019
Chicago Bulls	6	0	6	1.000	1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998	—
San Antonio Spurs	5	1	6	.833	1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014	2013
Philadelphia 76ers[iii]	3	6	9	.333	1955, 1967, 1983	1950, 1954, 1977, 1980, 1982, 2001
Detroit Pistons[iv]	3	4	7	.429	1989, 1990, 2004	1955, 1956, 1988, 2005
Miami Heat	3	4	7	.429	2006, 2012, 2013	2011, 2014, 2020, 2023
New York Knicks	2	6	8	.250	1970, 1973	1951, 1952, 1953, 1972, 1994, 1999
Oklahoma City Thunder[v]	2	3	5	.400	1979, 2025	1978, 1996, 2012
Houston Rockets	2	2	4	.500	1994, 1995	1981, 1986
Milwaukee Bucks	2	1	3	.667	1971, 2021	1974
Cleveland Cavaliers	1	4	5	.200	2016	2007, 2015, 2017, 2018
Atlanta Hawks[vi]	1	3	4	.250	1958	1957, 1960, 1961
Washington Wizards[vii]	1	3	4	.250	1978	1971, 1975, 1979
Portland Trail Blazers	1	2	3	.333	1977	1990, 1992
Dallas Mavericks	1	2	3	.333	2011	2006, 2024
Baltimore Bullets (original) (folded in 1954)[viii]	1	0	1	1.000	1948	—
Sacramento Kings[ix]	1	0	1	1.000	1951	—
Toronto Raptors	1	0	1	1.000	2019	—
Denver Nuggets	1	0	1	1.000	2023	—
Phoenix Suns	0	3	3	.000	—	1976, 1993, 2021
Utah Jazz	0	2	2	.000	—	1997, 1998
Brooklyn Nets[x]	0	2	2	.000	—	2002, 2003
Orlando Magic	0	2	2	.000	—	1995, 2009
Indiana Pacers	0	2	2	.000	—	2000, 2025
Chicago Stags (folded in 1950)	0	1	1	.000	—	1947
Washington Capitols (folded in 1951)	0	1	1	.000	—	1949
Charlotte Hornets	—	—	—	—	—	—
Los Angeles Clippers	—	—	—	—	—	—
Memphis Grizzlies	—	—	—	—	—	—
Minnesota Timberwolves	—	—	—	—	—	—
New Orleans Pelicans	—	—	—	—	—	—

1. Includes record as Minneapolis Lakers
2. Includes record as Philadelphia and San Francisco Warriors
3. Includes record as Syracuse Nationals
4. Includes record as Fort Wayne Pistons
5. Includes record as Seattle SuperSonics
6. Includes record as St. Louis Hawks
7. Includes record as Baltimore and Washington Bullets
8. Not affiliated with the present-day Washington Wizards, known as the Baltimore Bullets from 1963 to 1973.
9. Includes record as Rochester Royals
10. Includes record as New York and New Jersey Nets

Consecutive championships

Eight consecutive

• Boston Celtics (1959–1966)

Three consecutive

• Minneapolis Lakers (1952–1954)
• Chicago Bulls (1991–1993)
• Chicago Bulls (1996–1998)
• Los Angeles Lakers (2000–2002)

Two consecutive

• Minneapolis Lakers (1949, 1950)
• Boston Celtics (1968, 1969)
• Los Angeles Lakers (1987, 1988)
• Detroit Pistons (1989, 1990)
• Houston Rockets (1994, 1995)
• Los Angeles Lakers (2009, 2010)
• Miami Heat (2012, 2013)
• Golden State Warriors (2017, 2018)

Frequent matchups

Count	Matchup	Record	Years
12	Boston Celtics vs Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers	Celtics, 9–3	1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1984, 1985, 1987, 2008, 2010
6	Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers vs Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers	Lakers, 5–1	1950, 1954, 1980, 1982, 1983, 2001
5	Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers vs New York Knicks	Lakers, 3–2	1952, 1953, 1970, 1972, 1973
4	Boston Celtics vs St. Louis Hawks (Atlanta Hawks)	Celtics, 3–1	1957, 1958, 1960, 1961
4	Golden State Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers	Warriors, 3–1	2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
3	Detroit Pistons vs Los Angeles Lakers	Pistons, 2–1	1988, 1989, 2004
2	Seattle SuperSonics (Oklahoma City Thunder) vs Washington Bullets (Washington Wizards)	Tied, 1–1	1978, 1979
2	Boston Celtics vs Houston Rockets	Celtics, 2–0	1981, 1986
2	Chicago Bulls vs Utah Jazz	Bulls, 2–0	1997, 1998
2	Dallas Mavericks vs Miami Heat	Tied, 1–1	2006, 2011
2	Miami Heat vs San Antonio Spurs	Tied, 1–1	2013, 2014
2	Boston Celtics vs San Francisco/Golden State Warriors	Tied, 1–1	1964, 2022

See also

• Basketball portal
• Sports portal

• NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award
• List of NBA players with most championships
• List of NBA championship head coaches
• List of NBA franchise post-season droughts
• List of NBA franchise post-season streaks
• List of NBA longest winning streaks
• List of ABA champions
• List of National Basketball League (United States) champions
• List of NBA G League champions
• WNBA Finals

Notes

1. The Finals MVP Award was first awarded in 1969.
2. Minneapolis was the Central Division (now defunct, no relation to the current Central Division) playoff champion, while the Anderson Packers were the Western Division playoff champion.^[9] Due to the NBA's realignment into three divisions,^[10][11] the team with the best regular season record after the Divisional Finals advanced automatically to the NBA Finals, while the other two teams faced off in the NBA Semifinals to determine the other finalist. Eastern Division playoff champion Syracuse had the best regular season record among the division playoff champions, causing Minneapolis to face Anderson in the NBA Semifinals.^[9][12]
3. The trophy was renamed for Walter A. Brown.
4. The trophy was replaced by a new design.^[40][41]
5. The trophy was renamed for Larry O'Brien.
6. After a lockout, the season started on February 5, 1999, and all 29 teams played a shortened 50-game regular season schedule.^[64]
7. After a lockout, the season started on December 25, 2011, and all 30 teams played a shortened 66-game regular season schedule.^[78][79]
8. The 2019–20 NBA season was delayed and shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and finished in October 2020 with a bubble tournament.^[88]