Reggie Miller is one of the best players to never win an NBA championship. The talented sharpshooter spent his whole career with the Indiana Pacers, trying to become a champion with a small-market team, and showed his true loyalty to the organization every season
He came really close to winning the Larry O’Brien trophy, but the New York Knicks, Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, and the Shaq and Kobe-led Lakers prevented him from winning that elusive ring.
That doesn’t change the fact that Miller was terrific at his job, but sometimes luck doesn’t apply to certain players. At the end of his career, he joined a list that included legends like Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and more.
However, there was a time when the player was close to winning a ring, but he turned down an offer to join a superteam that would get him his longed-for championship to round up a terrific career. Back in 2007, reports suggested Reggie would join the Boston Celtics with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen.
Talking with Bob Kravitz of The Athletic, the shooting guard explained that he rejected the Celtics offer out of respect for the Pacers.
Q: I remember in 2007, I reached out to you about the rumors of you joining the Celtics, and you called me back and gave me the scoop, which I appreciated. Why didn’t you chase the ring, especially with a team that would go on to win the title?
RM: Look I knew they were stacked to win a championship, and they did, but it just wouldn’t have seemed right to be popping champagne in Boston when we (Indiana) grew up together, we laughed together, we cried so many tears together because we were so close for so many years. How could I be sitting and cheering and laughing because I won my championship and all I ever wanted to do was win in Indiana?
People don’t understand — and we’ve seen this when LeBron came back to Cleveland, and now Milwaukee — when small markets win like that, and Indiana is in that category, it’s like winning three or four, it is. We’re not the Lakers, Boston, Chicago. When you win in a small market, those fans live and die with you.
And Indiana is such a basketball state, winning there was all I wanted to do. I just knew how special it could be, so I could not in good faith put on another jersey when all my joy and sadness came in one jersey, with one franchise.
I think it’s the military upbringing in me, being loyal, my dad in the Air Force and being a government worker. They (the Pacers) took a chance on me.
Miller became an idol in Indiana thanks to his incredible performances. He lived excellent moments with the team, becoming a 5x NBA All-Star, 3x All-NBA Third Team, a member of the 50-40-90 club, and the NBA’s top 75 list of all time.
Even though Reggie admits he still regrets not winning a championship, he’s well aware he had a solid career and left everything on the court to take his team to the promised land.
After that summer, the Celtics faced the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals, beating them to get their 17th title. He could have won that title in 2008, but winning in Boston wouldn’t have been as sweet as beating everybody with Indiana.
