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Since the creation of the National Basketball Association, accumulating championship rings has been every professional basketball player’s lifelong goal. Numerous talented basketball players in history have their names solidified amongst the best, while others failed to match up. Throughout this article, we’ll showcase a few of the best NBA players with the most championship rings, as well as the coaches who’ve helped lead their teams to victory.
This list was determined by the overall number of championship rings a singular player or coach has earned in their NBA career. While some of the greatest players in NBA history might be omitted from this list, it’s important to note that we’re only comparing a few players with the most championships, not necessarily the best players of all time.
Known as one of the best veteran Centers in basketball history, the man with 963 games played has won a total of 11 NBA Championships. The 12-time NBA all-star tops our list of accumulating the most rings in professional basketball, playing for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1969 while only failing to achieve the title in two out of his 13 regular seasons.
The five-time MVP led the NBA in rebounds for four separate seasons, proving he was a crucial part in leading the Boston Celtics through a decade of glory. When it comes to championship mentality, Russell has it, and there’s currently only one other player in NBA history who’s come close to the most NBA Championships.
Another Celtics veteran shooting guard, Samuel Jones, came very close to clearing Russell’s impressive championship record. The two teammates were neck and neck throughout their careers, and their friendly competition is partly why these two legends have so many NBA Championship rings. Joining the Boston Celtics in 1957 as a first-round draft pick, Jones would go on to win ten NBA Championships and play 871 games in his career while averaging higher points per game than Russell.
Both players in this list deserve to be recognized, as there’s a four-way tie for players with the next highest number of NBA rings. John Havlicek, Tom Sanders, K.C. Jones, and Tom Heinsohn are all honorable mentions with eight championships each.
Achieving the same number of NBA rings as Russell, Phil Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls from 1989 to 1998 and the LA Lakers from 1999-2011, winning six with the Bulls and five with the Lakers.
With the legendary Michael Jordan on his team, Jackson would help his team to two separate ‘3-peat’ instances where the Bulls won three consecutive NBA championships twice from 1991 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998. He’d then go on to help the Lakers with another ‘3-peat’ winning the title from 2000 to 2002, making him statistically one of if not the greatest coach of all time with the most NBA Championships.
Managing the Boston Celtics throughout this entire career, Auerbach is the only NBA coach to come close to Phil Jackson’s legacy. Serving the Celtics from 1957-1966, the longtime veteran boasted an overall record of 938 wins, 479 losses, and nine championship rings, just falling short of Jackson’s 11.
Auerbach created the ‘fast break’ playstyle, which became a commonly adopted tactic after seeing how successful it was with the Celtics. In 1967, he won the NBA Coach of the Year award, which is now named the ‘Red Auerbach Trophy’, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame soon after in 1969.
Both coaches in this list deserve to be recognized, as there’s a three-way tie for coaches with the next highest number of NBA rings. John Kundla, Gregg Popvich and Pat Riley are all honorable mentions with five championships each.
Dylan has had a love for sports since he was a kid. Four years ago, he decided to dive into the sports content-creating industry specializing in Fantasy Football, NFL and NBA. He has since had his work published on sites that include Fantasy Alarm, Fansided, and Fantasy Six Pack.