There have now been 25 titles won since Michael Jordan’s iconic game winner gave the Bulls their sixth championship in an eight-year span during their last run together before Jordan (temporarily) retired and Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Luc Longley, Ron Harper and Steve Kerr scattered throughout the rest of the NBA.
Although no team has matched Chicago’s six title runs over that much longer span, the past quarter century has given us a handful of memorable runs, from the Spurs winning five times across more than a decade with Tim Duncan to Jackson’s Lakers winning three consecutive championships 2000-02 to LeBron James titles with three different teams to the Warriors reaching six Finals and winning four times under Kerr, now on the sideline.
Using the formula I created to weight regular-season performance (as measured by point differential) and playoff dominance (point differential, adjusted for opposition faced during the run) in my rankings of the greatest NBA teams of all time a few years ago, let’s run through the past 25 champions — soon to be joined by either the Boston Celtics or the Dallas Mavericks — since Jordan and the Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz.
1. 2016-17 Golden State Warriors (+14.3)
RS point differential: +11.6
Adjusted PO differential: +17.0
What happens when you take the core that won an NBA-record 73 games but not a championship (making the 2015-16 Warriors ineligible for this list) and add former MVP Kevin Durant? Predictably, the result was arguably the greatest team in league history and more clearly the best of the past quarter century.
Despite integrating Durant and then losing him to an MCL sprain for all of March, Golden State still won 67 games, tied for the seventh-best winning percentage in NBA history. The Warriors then swept their way through the Western Conference playoffs, aided by Kawhi Leonard’s ankle sprain in Game 1 of the conference finals, and took the first three games of the NBA Finals before suffering their only playoff defeat in Game 4 at Cleveland.
Golden State’s 16-1 playoff record is the best of all time.
2. 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers (+10.8)
RS point differential: +3.4
Adjusted PO differential: +18.3
Since the NBA playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 1984, no team has improved more from the regular season to the playoffs than the 2000-01 “light switch” Lakers. As defending champions, the Lakers won 11 fewer games than the previous regular season. But like the 2016-17 Warriors, they swept through the West playoffs unbeaten and finished with just one playoff loss (Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers, in overtime).
In fact, the Lakers had superior regular-season performances against their playoff opponents. They beat three other teams that won at least 55 games and faced a Portland Trail Blazers team in the first round that won 50 games and had been in the conference finals a year earlier. So, really, the 2001 Lakers’ playoff run rates even better than Golden State’s in 2017.
3. 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs (+10.7)
RS point differential: +7.7
Adjusted PO differential: +13.6
Although other teams were more consistently dominant, it’s possible no team in the past 25 years reached the heights the Spurs did in beating the two-time defending champion Miami Heat to finish their redemption tour after losing to Miami in heartbreaking fashion the previous year.
Buoyed by beautiful ball movement and stifling defense, San Antonio won the last three games against the Heat by a combined 57 points, making it one of the most lopsided Finals on record, even though Miami had, arguably, superior talent led by James.
4. 2014-15 Golden State Warriors (+10.5)
RS point differential: +10.1
Adjusted PO differential: +11.0
Given the 73-win team that followed, and the Durant era that followed that, it’s easy to overlook the first Golden State title team that merely had Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Finals MVP Andre Iguodala. Along with the 2016-17 Warriors, the 2014-15 team was the only other one since 1998 to outscore teams by double figures during the regular season and have a double-digit playoff differential after adjusting for opposition.
5. 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers (+10.1)
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RS point differential: +6.0
Adjusted PO differential: +14.3
With Kyrie Irving limited to 53 games coming back from a patella fracture and a midseason coaching change from David Blatt to Tyronn Lue, the Cavaliers eased through the regular season. Come playoff time, they turned it up, sweeping the Atlanta Hawks in the second round. Then, after famously falling behind 3-1, Cleveland unleashed an incredible three-game win streak to defeat the 73-win Warriors in Game 7 on the road.
Cleveland’s adjusted playoff rating is third-best in the past quarter century, trailing only the 2001 Lakers and 2017 Warriors.
6. 2017-18 Golden State Warriors (+10.0)
RS point differential: +6.0
Adjusted PO differential: +14.0
By Durant’s second year with the team, the regular season had become a slog for the Warriors, who won nine fewer games than in any of their previous three Finals runs. Golden State was then pushed to the brink by the Houston Rockets in the conference finals, needing to win the last two games (including Game 7 in Houston) to get back to the Finals. After overcoming a 51-point performance from James in Game 1 against the Cavaliers to win in overtime, the Warriors completed their only Finals sweep.
The 2008-09 Los Angeles Lakers championship was Kobe Bryant’s first title without Shaquille O’Neal. Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images
7. 2008-09 Los Angeles Lakers (+9.5)
RS point differential: +7.7
Adjusted PO differential: +11.4
Seven years after their previous title run, the Lakers returned to the summit with a revamped roster around three key holdovers — Jackson as coach, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher (in his second stint in L.A.).
The Lakers went the distance in the second round against a feisty Rockets team led by Yao Ming but needed just five games to dispatch the Orlando Magic in the Finals.
8. 2007-08 Boston Celtics (+9.1)
RS point differential: +10.3
Adjusted PO differential: +8.0
After adding Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to a team that had gone 24-58 the previous season, the Celtics put together a masterful 66-16 regular season that ranks third among champions on this list in point differential. The playoffs were shakier; Boston needed seven games in each of the first two rounds before dispatching a Lakers team similar to the one higher on this list in the Finals.
9. 1998-99 San Antonio Spurs (+8.9)
RS point differential: +8.1
Adjusted PO differential: +9.8
No asterisk necessary. Playing a shortened, 50-game schedule after the lockout pushed the start of play into 1999. The Spurs were both the NBA’s best team during the regular season (winning at a 61-win clip over a full 82 games) and in the playoffs. They swept the Lakers and the Blazers in the West playoffs and needed just five games in the Finals to defeat the eighth-seeded New York Knicks.
10. 2012-13 Miami Heat (+8.6)
RS point differential: +7.9
Adjusted PO differential: +9.4
No champion in NBA history came closer to losing than the 2012-13 Heat, who needed Allen’s memorable 3-pointer to force overtime in Game 6 of the Finals against San Antonio and avoid elimination. With that lifeline, Miami won the series and a second straight championship — this time with a much more impressive regular season. The Heat won 27 games in a row in February and March — the longest streak in a single season in the past five decades.