Which NBA Teams Have Won the Most Championships?
The Boston Celtics have the most NBA championships with 18, one ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers at 17. No other franchise is close: the Golden State Warriors are third with seven, and the Chicago Bulls have six. Twenty of the league's 30 teams have won at least one title.
Those two names have accounted for 35 of the 80 championships ever awarded — nearly 44 percent of them. Here is the full ledger, plus the franchises still waiting.
Every Franchise With at Least One NBA Title
Finals record is given as wins–losses in the Finals themselves. Championship years are listed by the year the title was won, not the season it started.
| Team | Titles | Finals apps | Finals record | Years won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Celtics | 18 | 23 | 18–5 | 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1986, 2008, 2024 |
| Los Angeles Lakers | 17 | 32 | 17–15 | 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2020 |
| Golden State Warriors | 7 | 12 | 7–5 | 1947, 1956, 1975, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022 |
| Chicago Bulls | 6 | 6 | 6–0 | 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998 |
| San Antonio Spurs | 5 | 7 | 5–2 | 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014 |
| Philadelphia 76ers | 3 | 9 | 3–6 | 1955, 1967, 1983 |
| New York Knicks | 3 | 9 | 3–6 | 1970, 1973, 2026 |
| Detroit Pistons | 3 | 7 | 3–4 | 1989, 1990, 2004 |
| Miami Heat | 3 | 7 | 3–4 | 2006, 2012, 2013 |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | 2 | 5 | 2–3 | 1979, 2025 |
| Houston Rockets | 2 | 4 | 2–2 | 1994, 1995 |
| Milwaukee Bucks | 2 | 3 | 2–1 | 1971, 2021 |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | 1 | 5 | 1–4 | 2016 |
| Atlanta Hawks | 1 | 4 | 1–3 | 1958 |
| Washington Wizards | 1 | 4 | 1–3 | 1978 |
| Portland Trail Blazers | 1 | 3 | 1–2 | 1977 |
| Dallas Mavericks | 1 | 3 | 1–2 | 2011 |
| Sacramento Kings | 1 | 1 | 1–0 | 1951 |
| Toronto Raptors | 1 | 1 | 1–0 | 2019 |
| Denver Nuggets | 1 | 1 | 1–0 | 2023 |
| Baltimore Bullets (defunct) | 1 | 1 | 1–0 | 1948 |
A few of those rows carry city changes. The Warriors' first two titles came in Philadelphia. The Thunder's 1979 championship belongs to the Seattle SuperSonics era. The Kings won as the Rochester Royals, the Hawks as the St. Louis Hawks, the Wizards as the Washington Bullets, and the 76ers' 1955 title as the Syracuse Nationals. The original Baltimore Bullets, who won in 1948, folded in 1954 and have no connection to the later Baltimore/Washington franchise.
The year-by-year version of all this is in List of Every NBA Champion by Year.
Celtics 18, Lakers 17: How the Race Got Here
Boston and Los Angeles have been trading the top spot for half a century, and they have met in the Finals 12 times — the most-played matchup in NBA history.
Boston built its lead early and fast. The Celtics won 11 titles in 13 seasons between 1957 and 1969, including eight in a row from 1959 through 1966, and by 1986 they sat at 16 championships to the Lakers' 14.
Then it tightened. Boston went to 17 in 2008, the Lakers answered with back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010 to reach 16, and the 2020 championship in the Orlando bubble pulled Los Angeles level at 17-17. That tie lasted four seasons. Boston's 2024 win over Dallas restored the one-title lead it holds today.
The Lakers' 17 titles are split across two cities. Five were won as the Minneapolis Lakers — 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954, with George Mikan at center — before the franchise moved west in 1960. The other 12 were won in Los Angeles, beginning in 1972 and running through 2020. That split matters when people compare "the Lakers" to "the Celtics," because Boston's 18 all came in one building's worth of history in one city.
One place the Lakers do lead outright: Finals appearances. Los Angeles has reached the Finals 32 times, nine more than Boston's 23 and more than any other franchise by a wide margin. It has also lost 15 Finals, the most of any team — the flip side of showing up so often.
Perfect in the Finals
Four franchises have never lost an NBA Finals series, and one of them did it at scale.
| Team | Finals record | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago Bulls | 6–0 | 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998 |
| Toronto Raptors | 1–0 | 2019 |
| Denver Nuggets | 1–0 | 2023 |
| Sacramento Kings | 1–0 | 1951 (as Rochester Royals) |
The Bulls are the outlier by a mile: six Finals, six titles, two three-peats, and no Game 7 in any of them. Michael Jordan's teams never trailed a Finals series after Game 2. Toronto and Denver are perfect because each has been there exactly once, and the Kings' single appearance came 75 years ago as the Rochester Royals.
The near-misses are worth noting too. The Milwaukee Bucks are 2-1, and the Houston Rockets are 2-2 after losing their first two trips in 1981 and 1986 and then winning both in 1994 and 1995 with Hakeem Olajuwon — who is one of only a handful of players to win back-to-back Finals MVPs, as catalogued in Every NBA Finals MVP Winner in History.
Lots of Finals, Not Many Trophies
Several franchises have been to the Finals repeatedly and come away mostly empty.
- Philadelphia 76ers: 3–6. Nine trips, three wins, and the last title was 1983. Six of the losses came in 1950, 1954, 1977, 1980, 1982 and 2001.
- New York Knicks: 3–6. Same shape until June 2026 changed it. New York lost three straight Finals to the Lakers and Royals in the early 1950s, then lost in 1972, 1994 and 1999 before winning again.
- Cleveland Cavaliers: 1–4. Four of the five appearances came in a row from 2015 to 2018, and only the 2016 comeback from 3-1 down against Golden State produced a title.
- Los Angeles Lakers: 17–15. The most Finals losses in league history, simply because no one else has been there 32 times. Nine of those defeats came against Boston, which leads the head-to-head Finals series 9-3.
Among franchises that have won at least one title, Cleveland has the worst Finals winning percentage at .200, with the 76ers and Knicks next at .333.
The Ten Franchises With No Championship
Ten of the NBA's 30 teams have never won a title. Five of them have at least reached the Finals; five have never played in one at all.
| Team | Finals appearances | Years reached |
|---|---|---|
| Phoenix Suns | 3 | 1976, 1993, 2021 |
| Brooklyn Nets | 2 | 2002, 2003 |
| Indiana Pacers | 2 | 2000, 2025 |
| Orlando Magic | 2 | 1995, 2009 |
| Utah Jazz | 2 | 1997, 1998 |
| Charlotte Hornets | 0 | — |
| LA Clippers | 0 | — |
| Memphis Grizzlies | 0 | — |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | 0 | — |
| New Orleans Pelicans | 0 | — |
Two footnotes that come up constantly. First, the Nets and Pacers both won ABA championships — Indiana in 1970, 1972 and 1973, New York in 1974 and 1976 — but the NBA absorbed the four surviving ABA clubs in 1976 as an expansion and has never recognized ABA titles. They stay on this list.
Second, the Clippers have the longest wait of anyone. The franchise entered the league in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves, became the San Diego Clippers in 1978 and moved to Los Angeles in 1984, and has never reached a Finals in any of those identities. The Suns are the closest thing to a hard-luck case with three Finals losses spread across 45 years.
The Hornets and Pelicans have a history-splitting quirk worth knowing: when Charlotte's franchise reclaimed the Hornets name in 2014, the NBA assigned the 1988–2002 Charlotte records back to it, leaving New Orleans with a history that starts in 2002. Neither version has a championship. For how the current 30 are organized, see How Many NBA Teams Are There - Every Team by Conference and Division.
How the NBA Compares to the NFL
The concentration at the top is the NBA's distinguishing feature. Two NBA franchises own 35 of 80 titles. In the NFL, the leaders — New England and Pittsburgh — have six Super Bowls each out of 60, and no franchise has more than that; the details are in Which NFL Teams Have Won the Most Super Bowls.
Basketball's math explains most of it. A five-man rotation means one transcendent player moves a team further than any single football player can, a best-of-seven series suppresses upsets that a one-game NFL playoff invites, and the NBA had eight or nine teams during Boston's dynasty years. Football's parity tools — a hard salary cap, a much larger roster, and a draft order built to help the worst teams first — spread titles around. For the NBA's version of that last mechanism, see How Does the NBA Draft Lottery Work - Odds and Percentages, and for the football side of long waits, Every NFL Team's Championship Drought, Ranked.
When This Page Updates
The table changes once a year at most, in June. The 2026 edit moved the Knicks from two titles to three; the next revision comes after the 2027 Finals.
FAQ
Which NBA team has the most championships? The Boston Celtics, with 18. They passed the Lakers for good in 2024 after the two franchises were tied at 17 apiece from 2020 to 2023.
How many championships do the Lakers have? Seventeen — five as the Minneapolis Lakers (1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954) and 12 as the Los Angeles Lakers (1972 through 2020).
Which team has the most NBA Finals appearances? The Los Angeles Lakers, with 32. Boston is second with 23, and no other franchise has been more than 12 times.
Has any team won the Finals every time it got there? Four have. The Chicago Bulls are 6-0, and the Toronto Raptors, Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings are each 1-0. The Bulls' perfect record across six trips is by far the most impressive.
Which NBA teams have never won a championship? Ten: the Nets, Hornets, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Pelicans, Magic, Suns and Jazz. The Clippers, Grizzlies, Hornets, Pelicans and Timberwolves have never even reached the Finals.
Do the Pacers' and Nets' ABA titles count? No. The NBA structured the 1976 arrival of the Nets, Nuggets, Pacers and Spurs as an expansion rather than a merger and does not recognize ABA championships or records.
How many NBA franchises have won a title? Twenty of the 30 current teams, plus the defunct original Baltimore Bullets, who won in 1948 and folded in 1954.
Which team has lost the most NBA Finals? The Los Angeles Lakers, with 15 Finals defeats — nine of them to the Celtics. It is a byproduct of the record 32 appearances; the Lakers still have the second-most titles in league history.
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