Winning an NBA championship is generally a hard task. Only one team wins out of the 30 NBA franchises every year, and every single year many hopes are dashed. Even with a superteam, nothing is guaranteed: it is possible for stars to get injured, and for upsets to happen. Regardless of this though, plenty of people debate on which superstar/superstars have had the toughest road to winning an NBA title.
Sacramento Kings center Richaun Holmes recently weighed in on the debate. Holmes stated that Dirk Nowitzki’s 2011 NBA title was the most difficult championship to win, and asked fans about their thoughts on the matter.
In my opinion Dirk won the toughest ring out of all superstars in 2011…wat y’all think?
— Richaun Holmes (@Rich_Holmes22) August 8, 2021
The variety of answers on this post reinforces the point that it is extremely hard to win a championship as the leading superstar, as many of the answers could be viewed as correct. Dirk Nowitzki’s 2011 run was legendary: he beat Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James on his way to the title. But there are many other difficult runs as well. Fans brought out Hakeem Olajuwon’s 6 seed run in 1995, where he beat legends such as David Robinson and Shaquille O’Neal. Another prominent answer was LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, where they came back from 3-1 down against the 73-9 Warriors led by Stephen Curry.
Richaun Holmes took some time to respond to some of the answers with iconic teams. He revealed that LeBron James’ 2016 run was a very close second for him, and stated that the 2004 Pistons are a good option as an answer for his original question.
This a close and i mean CLOSE second for me…but dirk path to the finals then had to beat the Miami big 3? That’s tooooough https://t.co/XVSlq6UBcE
— Richaun Holmes (@Rich_Holmes22) August 8, 2021
Good one fasho! https://t.co/6f9UGZAcgi
— Richaun Holmes (@Rich_Holmes22) August 8, 2021
No championship is won easily. While some may be easier than others due to roster construction/talent on the winning team, superteams also present challenges of their own. However, superstars that win tough championships are often viewed highly by NBA fans, simply due to their ability to accomplish the task with the odds stacked against them. There are definitely a few superstars who have had extremely difficult runs by most standards, and perhaps more will be added to the list in the future.
