Winning an NBA championship is the ultimate goal for any professional basketball player.
However, even some of the greatest players in NBA history finished their careers without the elusive championship ring.
This can be due to bad luck, untimely injuries, or simply running into all-time great teams that stood in their way.
Here is our list of the 25 best NBA players who never won a championship during their playing careers:
20. Chris Webber
Chris Webber was a super athletic big manwho could score, rebound, pass and shoot from all over the floor.
He made five straight All-Star teams with the Sacramento Kings from 2000-2005, a stretch that coincided with some of the best seasons in franchise history.
Sadly, Webber could never lead those exciting Kings squads past the Lakers juggernaut.
19. Reggie Miller
Reggie Miller defined an era of NBA basketball with his clutch shooting and legendary rivalry with the New York Knicks.
He played 18 seasons with the Indiana Pacers and retired as the all-time leader in 3-point field goals made.
Miller was selected to 5 All-Star teams and came agonizingly close to winning a title, losing to the Shaq and Kobe Lakers in the 2000 Finals.
18. Dominique Wilkins
Dominique Wilkins was one of the most prolific scorers of the 1980s and early 1990s.
He averaged 24.8 points per game over his 15-year career, primarily with the Atlanta Hawks.
‘Nique won 2 Slam Dunk contests and made 9 All-Star teams but couldn’t get past tough Eastern Conference foes like the Celtics, Pistons and Bulls to reach the Finals.
17. Steve Nash
Steve Nash was the spark plug andengine behind the “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns teams of the mid-2000s.
He won back-to-back MVPs in 2005 and 2006 while averaging a double-double of 14.4 points and 10.7 assists during his prime Phoenix years.
Injuries ultimately kept Nash‘s hyper-efficient Suns from ever reaching the Finals.
16. George Gervin
George “The Iceman” Gervin won four scoring titles with the San Antonio Spurs in the late 1970s and early 1980s thanks to his feathery jumper and finger roll.
He averaged over 25 points per game in his 12-year career and made 9 straight All-Star teams.
But despite Gervin‘s scoring prowess, the Spurs could never break through the Lakers and other Western powers.
15. Tracy McGrady
Tracy McGrady will forever be remembered as one of the most naturally gifted scorers the NBA has ever seen.
Injuries derailed his career in the late 2000s, but in his prime, he led the league in scoring twice and averaged 28 points a game for Orlando.
Unfortunately, his Magic teams around him were never good enough to escape the first round.
14. Chris Paul
Chris Paul has built a Hall of Fame-worthy career as a supremely skilled scoring point guard and assist maestro, yet he only has 2 Conference Finals appearances to show for it.
He has led the league in assists four times and steals six times, and came agonizingly close to a Finals breakthrough with the 2018 Rockets before injuries struck.
13. Carmelo Anthony
Melo‘s resume includes 10 All-Star selections, 6 All-NBA nods and a scoring title back in 2013.
His best playoff runs occurred in 2009 (WCF with Denver) and 2021 (Finals with Portland), but he has already finished his career.
12. Pete Maravich
“Pistol Pete” Maravich entered the NBA with massive hype after scoring a record 44.2 points per game during his college days at LSU.
He lived up to it by making 5 All-Star teams and averaging 24.2 points and 5.4 assists for his career.
Sadly, injuries took their toll and kept Maravich from playing for any great NBA teams.
11. Bernard King
Bernard King was an elite scorer whose journey included stops with the then-New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Washington Bullets.
Major knee injuries took away some of his quickness and athleticism in the mid 1980s after he had led the league in scoring, but King still finished with a 19.2 points per game average over his 14-year career.
10. Yao Ming
Had injuries not robbed him of many prime years, Yao Ming would likely be higher on this list.
At 7-foot-6 (2.28m), the charismatic Chinese center took the NBA by storm in the 2000s, averaging 19 points and 9.2 rebounds over eight seasons before foot injuries ended his career prematurely.
Yao dazzled fans worldwide but never escaped the first round of the playoffs.
9. Alex English
Alex English played for several teams but spent eight high-scoring seasons with the Denver Nuggets, leading the league in total points for the entire 1980s decade.
He averaged 21.5 points for his career, along with 5.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists, numbers that earned him 8 straight All-Star selections.
English led Denver to nine straight playoff berths but always came up short.
8. Vince Carter
Vinsanity. Half-man, half-amazing.
Eight-time All-Star Vince Carter wowed NBA audiences with his jaw-dropping athleticism for over two decades.
His 22.2 points per game average ranks 31st all-time and included a run of 10 straight 20-points-per-game seasons.
Incredibly, despite playing 22 years, Carter never reached the Conference Finals once, let alone the NBA Finals.
7. Amar’e Stoudemire
Amar’e Stoudemire formed a devastating pick-and-roll combination with Steve Nash on the “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns teams of the mid-2000s.
Knee injuries chipped away at his explosiveness in later years, but in his prime he averaged over 20 points and 9 rebounds a game, made 6 All-Star teams and won Rookie of the Year with Phoenix back in 2003.
Like teammate Nash though, Stoudemire experienced playoff frustration for his lack of rings.
6. John Stockton
Utah Jazz legend John Stockton can make a case as the best “pure” point guard the NBA has ever seen thanks to his mastery of passing, playmaking, steals and overall floor generalship.
He holds the all-time league records for both assists and steals by extremely wide margins despite never winning that elusive championship.
Stockton fell twice with the Jazz in the Finals to Jordan and the Bulls.
5. Charles Barkley
As one of the NBA’s most dominant rebounding big men under 6-foot-6 (1.98m), Charles Barkley definitely earned the nicknames “Sir Charles” and “The Round Mound of Rebound.”
League MVP in 1993, second all-time in defensive rebound percentage, Barkley authored 11 All-Star campaigns but infamously lost to Jordan‘s Bulls after switching to Phoenix and making the ’93 Finals.
4. Elgin Baylor
Before devastating knee injuries took away much of his unbelievable athletic gifts later on, Elgin Baylor put up some truly spectacular numbers for the Minneapolis and Los Angeles Lakers.
Rookie of the Year, 11-time All-Star, 10-time 1st Team All-NBA selection…and zero championships, losing eight times in the NBA Finals including twice to the Bill Russell Celtics juggernaut.
3. Karl Malone
Arguably the second best power forward ever behind Tim Duncan, Karl “The Mailman” Malone delivered accolades galore over 19 NBA seasons but failed repeatedly to deliver a championship.
He won 2 MVPs with Utah and made 14 All-Star Games alongside legendary pick-and-roll teammate John Stockton.
However, Malone‘s clubs lost twice to MJ and Chicago in the Finals during that era.
2. Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson played with reckless abandon every night, often singlehandedly willing the offensively challenged Sixers to unlikely victories despite his slender physique.
The lightning quick scoring point guard won MVP honors for leading Philadelphia to the Finals in 2001, only to get overwhelmed by Shaq and Kobe‘s Lakers.
Iverson dazzled crowds every night, but never got back to the sport’s biggest stage.
1. Patrick Ewing
Patrick Ewing was expected to bring a championship to New York after the Knicks selected him 1st overall in the 1985 draft.
He largely delivered, starring as the centerpiece of perennial contenders throughout the bruising 1990s Eastern Conference.
Ewing coped admirably against rivals like Jordan and Reggie Miller but was denied a ring in cruel fashion, losing a Game 7 Finals heartbreaker in 1994 before time ran out on his aging Knicks teams.
