Winning an NBA Championship is the crowning achievement for most players in their careers, as it is the moment everyone who’s played basketball dreams of. Making that dream a reality proves to be impossible for even some of the best players in NBA history, as Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes discussed on the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast.
Barnes asked Jackson for his top-five players who never won a championship, with Barnes naming various options which include the likes of Steve Nash, Karl Malone, Carmelo Anthony, and more. Nonetheless, Jackson named a pretty formidable five.
“No. 1 I’ll go AI (Allen Iverson), No. 2 I’ll go CP (Chris Paul), No. 3 I’ll go (Charles) Barkley. For No. 4, I would go Tracy McGrady, and 5 I would say… I’ll go James Harden.”
When Jackson paused to think of the fifth player on his list, he made it clear that Karl Malone might be one of the options but not a player he intends on naming for this list.
“You know Malone ain’t going on my list.”
Both Jackson and Barnes are NBA Champions, with Stephen winning it for his stint with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003. Barnes’ story of becoming a champion is bitter-sweet, as he received a ring for being on the 2015 Golden State Warriors roster, although he didn’t play a minute in the Playoffs. Nonetheless, they both can call themselves NBA Champions, unlike some of the greats they mentioned.
Karl Malone might be one of the NBA’s greats on the court, but he isn’t remembered very fondly by modern fans or players. He averaged 25.0 points and 10.1 rebounds over his career and is the third all-time leading scorer in league history, but he has a questionable personal history. There’s no outward indication of beef between them, so it could be that Jackson just doesn’t like Malone as a player either.
The names he did mention are some of the all-time greats. Allen Iverson averaged 26.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 2.2 steals for his career and won the 2001 MVP, the same year he carried the Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA Finals just to lose in five games to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Chris Paul has spent 20 years trying to get his ring, averaging 17.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 9.3 assists, and 2.0 steals over his career and currently playing for the rebuilding Spurs. Paul came the closest to a ring in 2021 with the Phoenix Suns, but they blew a 2-0 Finals lead to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Charles Barkley averaged 22.1 points and 11.7 rebounds over his career, with his best shot at a title coming when the 1993 MVP took the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals just to lose to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
Tracy McGrady averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.4 assists over his career but has a pretty bleak Playoff resume, having never won a Playoff series in his career. He did come close to a title on the 2013 Spurs but would be a barely-used rotational piece on the way to losing those Finals to the Miami Heat.
James Harden has averaged 24.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 7.1 assists in his career so far, currently playing for the Los Angeles Clippers who aren’t pegged as contenders this season. The closest the former MVP came as a player came in the 2012 Finals with the OKC Thunder against the Heat, but it was years before his prime.
These players didn’t win a ring but are still remembered as iconic due to their overall contributions to the sport and its culture.
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