Now that the NBA season is over with the Oklahoma City Thunder as the Champions of the 2024-25 NBA season, an interesting topic that many fans and analysts think about is the team’s path to an NBA championship. Was it easy, was it mediocre, or was it some of the hardest championships that a team won in the finals? While the constant evaluation of a team’s championship may not be ideal, it is worthy to be talked about because different championships hold different weights in the NBA. For context, LeBron James’ Miami Heat titles weigh much less emotionally for the fans and LeBron, compared to his Cleveland 2016 championship, which in our opinion, is still the best finals that we’ve witnessed thus far.
So today we are here to discuss the NBA Champions in the last seven years and look at their talent levels, difficult of the road to a championship, and who is the greatest NBA champion among the champions. Let’s get right into it.
Yes we know that Kevin Durant suffered an Achilles injury in Game 5 and Klay Thompson was out with an ACL tear, but that doesn’t take away from what the Raptors did that season. Nobody looked at the Raptors and thought that they would win the NBA championship in the 2018-19 season. The Bucks, the Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers with Embiid, Butler, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, were arguably the much more stacked teams, based on talent, but the Raptors found a way to pull off multiple upsets on their way to their first ever championship.
The Raptors beat the Orlando Magic in the first round, beat the 76ers in the second round with Kawhi Leonard hitting one of the most iconic buzzer beaters ever in the NBA, and beat the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals, stopping MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks from advancing to the NBA Finals. The Raptors finished off their run by beating the Warriors in 6 games, and that capped the Raptors’ Cinderella run in the postseason. Another reason why we picked the Raptors is because it was Leonard’s first season with the Raptors after getting traded from the San Antonio Spurs. The Raptors, with Leonard, defied the narrative of teams needing chemistry and multiple seasons played together, to win a championship. And right after the season ended, Kawhi took his talents to the Los Angeles Clippers, marking an end to his tenure with the Raptors.
After years and years of failing to capture an NBA championship, the Milwaukee Bucks, in our opinion, had one of the most difficult paths to an NBA championship in the recent years. Even bigger than that is what winning the Larry O’Brien meant for Antetokounmpo and Bucks, as the franchise had not won an NBA championship since 1971. After an incredible 50-piece from Antetokounmpo in Game 6 of the Finals, you could visibly see Giannis in tears, soaking it all in as he realized he’s an NBA champion.
Coming back from multiple 0-2 deficits, and facing a juggernaut of a team in the Brooklyn Nets with Kyrie Irving (though injured in Game 4), Kevin Durant in the peak of his prime and arguably the best player in the world at that time, and James Harden (who was also hurt with a hamstring injury bothering him for the majority of the playoffs), and the Phoenix Suns with Chris Paul, DeAndre Ayton, and Devin Booker, the Bucks sits at two in our list.
The Thunder had one of the most dominant seasons in NBA history, securing 68-14 record, breezing past teams in the regular season. However, the Thunder had a tough road to their NBA championship, notably beating the Denver Nuggets in 7 games in the second round. While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may be the MVP and the Finals MVP this season, we believe that Nikola Jokic is arguably still the best player in the world, and beating him and his team is not an easy task. However, the Thunder knocked them out of the playoffs and went on beat the Indiana Pacers in 7 games to win the NBA championship.
While we do wonder what would have happened if Tyrese Haliburton remained healthy in game 7, the Thunder had one of the most complete seasons in recent history, taking care of business in the regular season and the postseason, which puts them third in our list.
The Boston Celtics were desperate to win an NBA championship, and even after having two superstar level players, winning and dominating in the regular seasons, they had still not won an NBA championship. The Celtics came close to winning an NBA championship in 2022, but the Golden State Warriors dismantled them, as Boston clearly lacked experience in the big stage. However, the Celtics, after adding Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, were a juggernaut of a team and were clearly the far superior team last season, beating the Dallas Mavericks in 5 games in the NBA finals, and taking home the Larry O-Brien trophy.
Talent wise, the 2024 Celtics team, were arguably the most talented roster amongst any of the championship teams in this list, and there was nobody that could have taken them down last season.
The Golden State Warriors beat the Boston Celtics in 2022 in 6 games, marking an end to an incredible season, where we saw Stephen Curry win his first Finals MVP. Klay Thompson also came back from his gruesome injuries that he had suffered in the NBA Finals in 2019 with an ACL tear and an Achilles tear which is suffered during a workout in November of 2020. The Warriors’ win in the finals marked their fourth championship ring in 8 seasons, showing that they were still a dynasty that they once were from 2015-2018.
Curry already had 3 rings at the time, but the fourth one meant the most to him, as he got his first Finals MVP trophy, which was the only accomplishment that he had not conquered at that time.
The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat in the NBA Bubble in 2020, to win their 17th championship. While many try to dismiss the championship by counting it as a “bubble ring,” where no fans were allowed due to COVID-19, we believe that it was still an extremely difficult accomplishment for LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the rest of the group. On their way to an NBA championship, the Lakers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers in 5 games, beat the James Harden and Russell Westbrook led Houston Rockets team in the second round, and knocked off an amazing team led by Nikola Jokic in the Western Conference Finals in 5 games.
The Denver Nuggets, led by Nikola Jokic, had a successful campaign in 2023, winning their first ever championship by defeating the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. Nikola Jokic had already won two regular season MVP trophies, but fans and media heavily criticized him for not winning an NBA championship despite being the best player in the NBA. The Nuggets beat the Timberwolves in the first round knocking off a young Anthony Edwards led team, defeated the Phoenix Suns in 6 games, and swept the LeBron led Lakers in 4 games, dominating the Western Conference on their way to a championship.
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