Over the course of NBA history, a number of teams have dominated the top tier of basketball. In recent years, the Golden State Warriors have been the franchise to beat with four of their titles coming in a seven year period from 2015 to 2022.
GSW, however, have a long way to go before they can catch the teams at the very top of the overall list.
Warriors Defend
The NBA finals series is the most anticipated event in basketball. It tells us who has been the best side in the entire campaign and it holds great significance among fans. Because those finals are played on a best of seven game format, there are few opportunities for a shock result and the best team tends to rise to the top each time.
Golden State’s most recent NBA triumph, in 2022, was their seventh overall. As the team headed into the playoff rounds of the current postseason, DraftKings put them among the outsiders for a successful defense.
Boston Celtics were the clear leaders in the outright market, followed by a chasing pack that included the Los Angeles Lakers, the Denver Nuggets and the Phoenix Suns.
Golden State could yet cause an upset but, even if they fail to get over the line, seven NBA championships remains a healthy return. It is, however, some way short of the teams at the very top of the list.
Tied at the Top
As those 2022/23 NBA playoffs began, two teams were tied at the top of the overall NBA Championship table. Both the Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers have claimed 17 titles in the history of basketball’s top division.
Boston were the early pace setters and the team held the outright lead in this race for 12 years. The Celtics claimed their very first NBA champion in 1957 and the most recent of those 17 wins came in 2008.
After Boston dominated the basketball landscape in the 1960s, their Los Angeles rivals were off the pace. The Lakers won the NBA Championship for the first time in 1949 before a series of four wins in the first decade of the new millennium. Their most recent success, in 2020, tied the Lakers on 17 titles with the Celtics, but who is the better team?
While this is always open for debate, many will side with the Celtics, due to their almost complete dominance in the 1960s. The team was led by the incomparable Center Bill Russell, but it was packed with additional superstars such as John Havlicek and Sam Jones.
They even won against the odds in 1969 when many of those legendary players were some way past their best.
Following On
Behind the Celtics and the Lakers at the top, we come back to the Golden State Warriors who are currently ranked as the third most successful team in the history of the NBA. GSW won their first title in 1947 and their most recent win, in 2022, saw them sneak ahead of the Chicago Bulls as they claimed that third place.
The Bulls were the team of the 90s’ winning all of their six championship titles across that decade. Six NBA wins puts the Bulls in fourth place in the all time list, but it’s been more than ten years since the team even won a divisional title.
Of the two sides, there is a regular argument suggesting that the Golden State team of the 2010s was one the best of all time. Driven by record breaking Point Guard Stephen Curry, the roster featured many other stars including Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson.
Looking to Stay in Touch
After the Golden State Warriors claimed their seventh NBA Championship title in 2022, only eleven teams had won the pennant on more than one occasion. That stat helps to outline that the NBA can be an open competition at times.
In fifth place are the San Antonio Spurs with five victories, while the Philadelphia 76ers, the Detroit Pistons and the Miami Heat have three wins each. Behind them, the New York Knicks, the Houston Rockets and the Milwaukee Bucks have all doubled up.
Who will Climb the Multiple Winners List?
While the Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers will take some catching at the top of the all-time list, there is time for other teams to climb the ladder. The franchise most likely to make advances in the near future is the Golden State Warriors who claimed their seventh title as recently as 2022.
Others, by comparison, are struggling to stay in touch, and there is a real chance that either the Celtics or the Lakers will continue to stretch their lead.
The NBA will always remain competitive, but the performances of these sides shows that there is room for a handful of teams to dominate the landscape.