Winning a title and defending it are different jobs. Over the last 10 years, most champions failed to repeat. Since the Warriors repeated in 2018, the NBA has produced seven different champions in seven seasons. The Thunder are the current defending champions after beating the Pacers in the 2025 Finals, and as the No. 1 seed again, a repeat is definitely in the cards.
That is the point of this list. Some defending champions returned to the Finals. Some lost earlier than expected. Some were undone by injuries, roster turnover, or a harder playoff path. This is a year-by-year look at every defending champion from the last decade and where its title defense ended.
2016 NBA Champions – Cleveland Cavaliers
2016 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-3 against Warriors)
2017 NBA Playoffs: Lost NBA Finals (4-1 against Warriors)
The Cavaliers finished the 2016 postseason by completing the 3-1 comeback against the Warriors and winning the first title in franchise history. That made the 2017 run a real title defense, with the same core still in place and the same matchup still hanging over the league.
They were good enough to get back to the Finals. LeBron James was still at his peak, Kyrie Irving remained an elite shot creator, and the Cavaliers moved through the East without much resistance. There was no early exit and no major slip before the last round. The repeat bid held up until the final series.
The problem was the opponent. The Warriors were no longer the same team from 2016. They added Kevin Durant after that Finals loss, which changed the matchup completely. That gave them another top-end scorer next to Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, and it left the Cavaliers with much less room for error on both ends.
That is why the 2017 title defense ended in the Finals. The Cavaliers did not fall apart. They just ran into a stronger team. The Warriors won the series 4-1 and closed it in Game 5. So this was still a deep playoff run, but not a close repeat. The Cavaliers got back to the last stage and were stopped there.
2017 NBA Champions – Golden State Warriors
2017 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-1 against Cavaliers)
2018 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-0 against Cavaliers)
The Warriors followed the 2017 title with another elite season. They finished 58-24, second in the West, and led the league in scoring at 113.5 points per game. The core stayed the same, with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green still giving them the best top-end talent in the league.
Their playoff run was not perfect, but it was still dominant. The Warriors went 16-5 in the 2018 postseason and reached the Finals for the fourth straight year. Most defending champions slip somewhere along the way. The Warriors did not. They got back to the last round and controlled it again.
The Finals were even more one-sided than the year before. In 2017, the Warriors beat the Cavaliers in five games. In 2018, they swept them 4-0. Stephen Curry scored 37 points in the closeout game, while Durant finished with a triple-double and won Finals MVP for the second straight year.
So this title defense held because the Warriors were still better than the field in the areas that usually decide playoff series: star power, scoring volume, and margin for error. They were not just the defending champion. They were still the strongest team in the league, and the repeat confirmed it.
2018 NBA Champions – Golden State Warriors
2018 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-0 against Cavaliers)
2019 NBA Playoffs: Lost NBA Finals (4-2 against Raptors)
The Warriors entered the 2018-19 season with the same goal as the year before and the profile of a title favorite. They finished 57-25, first in the West, and still had Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green at the center of the team. In the playoffs, they went 14-8 and reached the Finals for the fifth straight year.
The Warriors got back to the last round, which already put them ahead of most defending champions. The problem was that this run did not end with the same control they had shown in 2017 and 2018. The Finals turned into a series shaped by injuries as much as by matchup.
Kevin Durant returned in Game 5 after missing time, then suffered an Achilles injury in that game. Klay Thompson later tore his ACL in Game 6 after scoring 30 points. Those losses changed the series and took away too much scoring and too much shot creation from a team that was already under pressure. The Raptors won Game 6 by a 114-110 score and closed the series 4-2.
The 2019 title defense ended in the Finals. The Warriors still reached the last stage, but they did not finish it. Unlike the 2017 champions, who repeated, this version got close and stopped there. The record, the playoff run, and the Finals appearance still showed how strong they were. The repeat failed at the final step.
2019 NBA Champions – Toronto Raptors
2019 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-2 against Warriors)
2020 NBA Playoffs: Lost Eastern Conference Semifinals (4-3 against Celtics)
A title defense without Kawhi Leonard was always going to look different. Leonard left in free agency right after the championship run, which removed the best scorer and the player who had carried the hardest offensive possessions in the 2019 playoffs.
Even with that loss, the Raptors stayed very good. They finished 53-19, second in the East, and allowed just 106.5 points per game, the best mark in the league. Nick Nurse kept the structure strong, Kyle Lowry remained the lead guard, and Pascal Siakam took on a bigger role. This was not a collapse in the regular season. It was a real contender-level follow-up year.
After sweeping the Nets in the first round, the Raptors lost to the Celtics in seven games in the East semifinals. That series was close the whole way, which matters in this context. The defense held up, the team competed, and the repeat bid stayed alive deep into the second round. But they no longer had the same late-game shot creation that defined the title run a year earlier.
2020 NBA Champions – Los Angeles Lakers
2020 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-2 against Heat)
2021 NBA Playoffs: Lost First Round (4-2 against Suns)
Injuries defined this title defense before the playoffs even settled in. The Lakers won the 2020 championship behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis, then entered the shortened 2020-21 season with another contender-level roster. But they never had the same continuity. Davis missed extended time, James also lost weeks late in the season, and the team finished 42-30 as the No. 7 seed in the West.
Unlike some defending champions that stayed near the top of the bracket, the Lakers had to go through the Play-In just to reach the field. They beat the Warriors there, but the playoff path was already harder than it had been a year earlier.
The first-round series against the Suns started well enough. The Lakers split the first two games and took a 2-1 series lead after Davis scored 34 points in Game 2. At that point, the repeat still looked possible. Then the series turned. Davis hurt his groin in Game 4, missed Game 5, and returned at less than full strength in Game 6. Once that happened, the offense dropped off, and the margin for error disappeared.
The Lakers lost the series 4-2. So this title defense did not end in the Finals or even in a later round. It ended in the first round, mainly because the roster was never fully healthy enough to hold up over a full season and a playoff series against a strong opponent.
2021 NBA Champions – Milwaukee Bucks
2021 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-2 against Suns)
2022 NBA Playoffs: Lost Eastern Conference Semifinals (4-3 against Celtics)
For the Bucks, the repeat bid lasted deep into May. They followed the 2021 title with a 51-31 record in 2021-22, finished third in the East, and still looked like a real contender behind Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, and Khris Middleton.
Their playoff path stayed on track at first. The Bucks beat the Bulls in the first round and then took the Celtics to seven games in the East semifinals. Most defending champions that fail do not get this close. The Bucks were one win from returning to the conference finals.
The main issue was Middleton’s absence. He missed the entire Celtics series with a knee injury, which removed an important scorer and late-game shot creator from the lineup. Giannis still carried a huge load, but the offense became harder to sustain over a long series against an elite defense. In Game 7, the Bucks shot 4-for-33 from three and lost 109-81. That ended the title defense.
2022 NBA Champions – Golden State Warriors
2022 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-2 against Celtics)
2023 NBA Playoffs: Lost Western Conference Semifinals (4-2 against Lakers)
By the time the Warriors tried to defend the 2022 title, the regular season already showed the difference. They finished 44-38, sixth in the West, after a year in which the offense still produced at a high level at 118.9 points per game, second in the league, but the defense slipped to 117.1 points allowed per game, 21st in the NBA. That made them more vulnerable than the 2022 champion version.
The biggest warning sign was consistency. The Warriors were strong enough to stay in the playoff field, but not strong enough to get on top of it. They still survived the first round. Stephen Curry scored 50 points in Game 7 against the Kings, the most ever in a Game 7, and pushed the Warriors into the second round.
The run ended against the Lakers in six games. The Warriors lost the West semifinals 4-2, and that was the end of the repeat attempt. So this title defense failed because the team was weaker than a year earlier: lower seed, worse defense, less stability, and too many regular-season flaws that carried into May.
2023 NBA Champions – Denver Nuggets
2023 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-1 against Heat)
2024 NBA Playoffs: Lost Western Conference Semifinals (4-3 against Timberwolves)
Unlike some defending champions, the Nuggets still looked like a real title threat the next year. They finished 57-25, tied for the best record in the West, and had a top-six defense by points allowed per game. Nikola Jokic also won his third MVP in four seasons during that run, which shows the core stayed at a championship level.
The playoff run started the right way. The Nuggets beat the Lakers 4-1 in the first round and reached the second round with the title defense still fully alive. The real problem came in the next series. The Nuggets fell behind 2-0 against the Timberwolves, then recovered and took control long enough to force Game 7 at home. They had a chance to save the repeat. Instead, the series ended with a 98-90 loss in Game 7 after blowing a 20-point second-half lead, the biggest Game 7 comeback in playoff history.
So the 2024 title defense ended in the Western Conference Semifinals. The Nuggets were still good enough to contend, and that is what makes the loss stand out more. This was not about a weak follow-up season. It was a strong team that got pushed into a long series and did not finish it.
2024 NBA Champions – Boston Celtics
2024 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-1 against Mavericks)
2025 NBA Playoffs: Lost Eastern Conference Semifinals (4-2 against Knicks)
A 61-21 record said the Celtics were still operating at a title level. They finished second in the East, scored 116.3 points per game, allowed 107.2, and entered the playoffs with one of the strongest rosters in the league again. This was not a defending champion that slipped in the regular season.
The first round did not change that view. The Celtics beat the Magic 4-1 and moved on without much trouble. At that point, the repeat path still looked normal. The bigger test came in the second round, where the Knicks pushed the series into a different kind of game.
The Celtics lost the East semifinals 4-2 against a great defensive team. The series turned early. In Game 1, they blew a 20-point lead and lost in overtime. In Game 2, they gave away another 20-point lead and fell behind 2-0. Jayson Tatum’s Achilles tear during Game 4 became the final straw in a series that went sideways on every possible angle.
2025 NBA Champions – Thunder
2025 NBA Playoffs: Won NBA Finals (4-3 against Pacers)
2026 NBA Playoffs: TBD
The Thunder are the current defending champions, so this entry is still open. They won the 2025 title by beating the Pacers in seven games, then followed that with a 64-18 record in 2025-26, the best mark in the league. They entered this postseason in a much stronger position than many recent defending champions because they kept the core intact and finished first in the West again.
So far, the start has been strong. The Thunder opened the first round with a 119-84 win over the Suns in Game 1. That result matched the style they built during the regular season. They were not just a defending champion living off last year. They came into these playoffs as the No. 1 seed and one of the most balanced teams in the field. Game 2 is set for Wednesday night.
That leaves this chapter open, still in the opening stages of the postseason. The Thunder are still in the bracket, still leading their first-round series 1-0, and still in position to make another long run. The final answer for this team will depend on how far they go from here.
