So could the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, who have 35 combined NBA championships
Karl Malone, John Stockton, Chris Paul and some of the best players in NBA history have never won an NBA championship.
Some of the best basketball players in the world right now are trying to win their first rings.
And some big men spent decades dominating the hardwood, adding trophy after trophy to their case.
Since 1949, team after team has attempted to win a trophy and surpass the competition.
But some squads truly stand out and created history while winning it all.
Here is talkSPORT’s look at the 10 greatest teams in NBA history.
There are several ways to read this Cavs team making the list.
They weren’t all-time great in the regular season, with David Blatt being fired as head coach after 41 games and Ty Lue taking over.
It’s also interesting that LeBron James rivals Jordan as The GOAT, but this is the only of James’ teams to make the list.
But the most important fact comes down to a few numbers.
Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson rallied around The King to turn a 3-1 Finals deficit into a 4-3 world championship.
The 2015-16 Cavs had the heart of a champ, and poetically dismantled the 73-win Golden State Warriors.
The best team during the most dominant run in NBA history.
The 1964-65 Celtics were by guided Bill Russell, who led the NBA with a stunning 24.1 average rebounds per game.
Russell won MVP, teammate Sam Jones finished fourth in MVP voting, and the Celtics had three All-Stars.
Boston won eight consecutive NBA Finals, and this was the strongest squad during an unprecedented run.
Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving and Moses Malone were highly respected veterans.
They also both finished in the top five in MVP voting, while earning All-NBA first-team selections.
Throw in Maurice Cheeks earning third-place in Defensive Player of the Year voting and Bobby Jones being named Sixth Man of the Year, and the 76ers answered a 65-win regular season with a 12-1 run through the playoffs.
Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar couldn’t handle Malone and Dr. J in the Finals, as Philly blanked the Los Angeles Lakers with a 4-0 sweep.
The 1999-2000 Lakers won 67 games with Phil Jackson in purple and gold, then held off Sacramento, Portland and Indiana on the way to a world championship at the dawn of a new millennium.
The only downer was that O’Neal and Bryant could have been even more historic if their egos hadn’t gotten in the way.
The Showtime Lakers were one of the coolest teams of all time.
Seven players averaged at least 10 points, while Magic averaged a nightly double-double and won the NBA MVP.
With Pat Riley running the show and Jerry West at the top, the Lakers were filled with current stars and future coaches.
Denver, Golden State and Seattle were easily overcome on the way to a 4-2 Finals win against the Boston Celtics that helped define the NBA in the 1980s.
The flashy Lakers built a dynasty and created a legacy that became the foundation for a TV show.
The toughest team in NBA history was also one of the greatest.
The 1988-89 Pistons would have been canceled in 2025 for being too intense.
But when Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn were running the show, Detroit was a nightly force playing by its own rules.
Michael Jordan’s Bulls couldn’t get past the Pistons.
Neither could Magic Johnson’s Lakers, as defense-first Detroit fought its way to the top.
There was also a lot of hardwood art in the Pistons’ full-court intensity.
The peak of the Larry Bird-era Celtics is still impressive 40 years later.
Bird won NBA MVP, while Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson finished in the top 20 for voting.
Bill Walton won Sixth Man of the Year, Robert Parish was an All-Star, and a future NBA coach (Rick Carlisle) was a light-scoring role player.
This was an old-school Celtics team built for the new NBA, and Boston roared through the playoffs.
The Celts ranked third in average scoring defense and offensive rating, and were loaded with star power.
The first of Jordan’s three-peats went 67-15 in the regular season, then faced several tough playoff tests.
But nothing was getting in the way of Air Jordan and a third world title, as the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers were pushed aside.
This era featured Horace Grant, John Paxson, Bill Cartwright and B.J. Armstrong.
Jordan and Pippen both finished in the top three in NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting.
With the star duo averaging more than 50 combined points a night, nothing was getting in Chic
The 2015-16 Warriors were the better team — until they blew a 3-1 NBA Finals lead against LeBron James’ Cavaliers.
But this 67-win team won it all with a four-headed monster.
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green were unstoppable, while Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, David West and more led the Warriors to a sparkling 16-1 record in the playoffs.
What would happen if the best Finals-winning Warriors team played the best of Jordan’s Bulls dynasty
Jordan, Pippen and Jackson.
Dennis Rodman, Toni Kukoc and Steve Kerr.
The NBA has been going on for more than 75 years.
No team has ever been better than the 1995-96 Bulls, who dominated on both ends of the court and went a combined 87-13.
In 100 games, Jordan’s greatest Chicago squad cemented a legacy and became the GOAT of NBA teams.
