22) Vince Carter (came closest: 2010)

Unfairly or not, Carter’s career will always be linked with playoff failure, most notably in 2001 as a member of the Raptors, when he opted to attend his graduation ceremony at UNC on the morning of a second round game seven battle against the 76ers. Critics and fans would pan the decision in retrospect, after Carter missed the game-winning shot that night and Philadelphia moved on to the Conference Finals. But it’s unfair to Carter, who was terrific in that series, dueling Allen Iverson the entire time and throwing down 50 points in a game three Toronto win. He later joined three teams that were just coming off an NBA Finals appearance: the Nets in 2004, the Magic in 2010, and the Mavericks in 2011. But in all three cases, the team degraded with Carter on the roster. His only Conference Finals appearance came in 2010 with Orlando, when they lost to the Celtics.

21) David Thompson (came closest: 1978)

Thompson’s career is indelibly linked with his longtime Nuggets teammate Dan Issel, including their respective placements on this list. Both stars struggled some in the 1978 Western Conference Finals, where Denver fell just short against the SuperSonics. Thompson’s career started to slip from there, the result of substance abuse and several knee injuries. He did manage to make four NBA All-Star appearances, was 1st-Team All-NBA twice, and finished as high as third in MVP voting. In his one and only ABA season, Thompson helped the Nuggets reach the ABA Finals, where they lost to the New York Nets.

20) Marques Johnson (came closest: 1978)

As a star player at UCLA, Johnson led the Bruins to the 10th and final title of coach John Wooden’s career in 1975. He found postseason success much harder to come by at the next level, but blame can hardly be placed at the feet of Johnson himself, who regularly averaged better stats in the playoffs than he did in the regular season. His Bucks teams reached the Conference Finals in back-to-back years in 1983 and 1984, but ran into all-time great teams in the 76ers and Celtics, respectively. Their best chance probably came in his rookie year, ’77-’78, when Milwaukee still played in the West and probably could have defeated Seattle in that year’s Conference Finals but dropped a tough second round series to Denver in seven games.

19) Dan Issel (came closest: 1978)

At least he won an ABA title. That championship came in 1975 with the Kentucky Colonels, but Issel was traded that same summer to the Nuggets and spent the rest of his career in Denver. After the 1976 merger, the Nuggets reached the playoffs seven times in Issel’s nine NBA seasons, which bridged the gaps between the two great Nuggets eras. In the first epoch, Issel teamed with David Thompson to guide Denver to the 1978 Conference Finals, but struggled at times in the series as they fell in six games to the Sonics. Seven years later he was the sixth man on the ’84-’85 Nuggets that bludgeoned opponents in coach Doug Moe’s hurry-up offense. They reached the Conference Finals again, but this time were no match for the Showtime Lakers, losing in five games, including a 153-109 drubbing in the deciding contest.

18) Pete Maravich (came closest: 1980)

Things probably seemed promising at first for Maravich, who reached the playoffs with the Hawks in each of his first three seasons. Though they lost in the first round every time, that stretch did feature Maravich averaging 27.3 points per game in a tough 1972 series defeat against the Celtics. But then Maravich’s teams would fail to reach the playoffs for the next seven years, as he toiled away for the Jazz, who seemed to be perpetually rebuilding. Well past his prime in 1979, Maravich signed with the Celtics in Larry Bird’s rookie year, and finally made a second round playoff appearance that summer before retiring.

17) Connie Hawkins (came closest: 1974)

There were only so many chances for Hawkins to reach the NBA Finals after he was blacklisted by the league for years due to a college point shaving scandal (in which he didn’t actively participate). Hawkins did win an ABA championship with the Pittsburgh Pipers in 1968, the same year he won ABA MVP, but his seven-year NBA career was spent mostly on terrible teams. There were just two playoff appearances, once with the Suns in 1970, when they lost a first round series against the Lakers, and once later with the Lakers in 1974, the year after Wilt Chamberlain’s retirement, when they lost to the Bucks in the first round.

16) Blake Griffin (came closest: 2015)

When he fully recovered from a major knee injury to earn Rookie of the Year honors in ’10-’11, Griffin seemed to herald the long-awaited end of the Clippers Curse. Instead, he was ultimately a harbinger of false hope, a dunking Trojan Horse. Teaming up with Chris Paul (who is, of course, coming up later on this list), Griffin led the Clippers to six consecutive playoff appearances starting in 2012 but each ended in uniquely heartbreaking ways. The most agonizing was in 2015, when Los Angeles blew a 3-1 series lead to the Rockets in the Conference Semifinals. You can hardly blame Griffin for that one, as he averaged 28.3 points and 11.7 rebounds per game in those three losses.

15) Dave Bing (came closest: 1977)

Few players in NBA history were as talented as Bing and labored for as long for such bad teams. In his nine seasons with Detroit, the team finished above .500 just twice, and reached the playoffs three times, each ending in a first round loss. The most notable postseason appearance was a demoralizing seven-game loss to the Bulls in 1974, which ended with a Chet Walker series-clinching jumper followed by a Bing inbounds pass being stolen. After a trade to the Bullets in 1975, he finally experienced the second round of the playoffs albeit as a lightly used backup point guard in 1977. Washington lost in the second round that season, and when they won the title in 1978 it was without Bing, who had signed with the Celtics and was finishing his career in a familiar position: watching the playoffs on TV after his team was eliminated.

14) Bernard King (came closest: 1984)

Through 14 brilliant but injury-riddled seasons in the NBA, King never even got to participate in a Conference Finals. He seemed endlessly stuck on teams that were unable to build around his prodigious scoring talent, whether it was in New Jersey, Utah, Golden State, New York, or Washington. The closest he came was in 1984, when he averaged 42.6 points per game to carry a sallow Knicks roster to a first round upset over Detroit. He then battled valiantly in a second round series against the Celtics, arguably out-dueling Larry Bird and single-handedly dragging the series to seven games before Boston ultimately advanced.

13) Bob Lanier (came closest: 1984)

One of the premiere big men of the 1970s, Lanier was trapped (along with Dave Bing) on some terrible – and terribly unlucky – Pistons teams. After Bing left in 1975, Lanier almost single-handedly carried the Pistons to the playoffs the next two seasons, while surrounded by middling secondary talent like M.L. Carr and Curtis Rowe. After nine seasons with Detroit that included seven All-Star appearances but only one playoff series win, Lanier was traded to the Bucks and helped them reach the 1984 Conference Finals, where they lost to Boston.

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By the numbers: All-time postseason statistical leaders amongst players without an NBA Finals appearance (as of 2020)

	Points	Rebounds	Assists
1	Paul George (2,299)	Al Horford (1,005)	Steve Nash (1,061)
2	Steve Nash (2,072)	Paul Millsap (877)	Mike Conley (449)
3	Carmelo Anthony (1,914)	Paul George (813)	Paul George (444)
4	Al Horford (1,681)	Terry Cummings (742)	Al Horford (429)
5	Terry Cummings (1,664)	Zelmo Beaty (696)	Damian Lillard (380)
6	Alex English (1,661)	Antonio Davis (686)	Sidney Moncrief (317)
7	Vince Carter (1,593)	Clint Capela (669)	Baron Davis (311)
8	George Gervin (1,592)	Bob Lanier (645)	Vince Carter (295)
9	Paul Millsap (1,571)	Amar’e Stoudemire (574)	Alex English (293)
10	Damian Lillard (1,569)	Carmelo Anthony (557)	Nikola Jokic (277)

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12) Tim Hardaway (came closest: 1997)

The Run-T.M.C. Warriors of the early ’90s that featured Hardaway, Chris Mullin and Mitch Richmond are a hallowed institution of NBA history, but the team made just one playoff appearance past the first round, in 1991. Hardaway found better and more consistent playoff success after being traded to Pat Riley’s Heat, and he led the team in scoring in the 1997 playoffs as they reached the Conference Finals but lost to the Bulls. Miami was then upset by the Knicks in the next three postseasons, and just like that Hardaway’s window was slammed shut. His son, Tim, Jr., is keeping the family tradition alive with no NBA Finals appearances in six seasons and counting.

11) Amar’e Stoudemire (came closest: 2007)

It’s hard to overstate what a revelation Stoudemire was in the 2005 playoffs. Just 22 years old, the dynamic center led the Suns with 29.9 points and 10.3 rebounds per game during the postseason, as they reached the Conference Finals for the first time in 12 years. Though they lost that series to the Spurs, it was no fault of Stoudemire, who held his own against Tim Duncan and seemed primed to team up with Steve Nash to take over the league for the next few seasons. But he tore his knee that summer and was never the same player after. Stoudemire missed the entire 2006 playoffs as the Suns returned to the Conference Finals but lost again, this time to Dallas. With Stoudemire back in 2007, the Suns were the West’s #2 seed and looking unstoppable, but dropped a controversial second round series against San Antonio. They reached the Conference Finals one last time with Stoudemire in 2010, this time losing to the Lakers.

10) Grant Hill (came closest: 2010)

Similar to Marques Johnson, Hill entered the NBA accustomed to postseason success, having played in three NCAA Tournament finals and winning two of them while at Duke. But the Pistons team that drafted him was still reeling from the end of the Bad Boys era, and was far from ready to contend. They managed to reach the playoffs four times with Hill as the best player, but lost in the first round each team. He was traded to the Magic in 2000 but injuries started to define his career at that point, and he played in just one playoff series in his six seasons with Orlando, another first round defeat. Remaking himself late in his career as a defensive specialist, Hill finally played past the first round in 2010, starting at small forward for the Suns team that reached the Conference Finals and included two other players on this list, Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire.

9) Alex English (came closest: 1985)

A teammate of Dan Issel on the ’84-’85 Nuggets, English averaged over 30 points per game in those playoffs, but couldn’t carry Denver over the Lakers in the Conference Finals. Things may have turned out differently if English had stayed healthy in that series. The Nuggets were ahead late in game four when English broke his thumb and was forced to sit out. Los Angeles came back to win the game to take a 3-1 series lead, and with English unable to suit up after undergoing surgery the Nuggets were put away in game five. English ultimately led the Nuggets to nine straight playoff appearances, with the one Conference Finals appearance, three second round losses, and five first round losses. His first playoff experience had actually come against Denver back in 1978, when English was a teammate of Marques Johnson on the Bucks who lost to Issel and David Thompson’s Nuggets in the second round.

8) Carmelo Anthony (came closest: 2009)

Long considered a playoff choker during his star years with the Nuggets and Knicks, Anthony actually has better stats in the postseason in scoring and rebounding than he does in his regular season career. But there’s no doubt Anthony-led teams struggled to advance past the first round, as it’s happened nine times in his 11 playoff appearances, most recently with Oklahoma City in 2018. The exceptions came in 2009, when he led Denver to a surprise Conference Finals appearance, where they put up a fight against the Lakers before succumbing in six games, and in 2013, when he guided the Knicks to round two.

7) Sidney Moncrief (came closest: 1984)

Setting aside a forgettable comeback with the Hawks in ’90-’91, Moncrief spent his entire 10-year career with the Bucks. They reached the postseason in every single season he was there, and as far as the Conference Finals three times, in 1983, 1984, and 1986. Unfortunately for Moncrief and Milwaukee, that period coincided with the prime of two powerhouse Eastern Conference opponents in the Celtics and 76ers. The Bucks lost to Julius Erving and the Sixers in the Conference Semifinals in 1981 and 1982, then the Conference Finals in 1983, and in the Conference Semifinals again in 1985. They lost to Larry Bird and the Celtics in the 1984 and 1986 Conference Finals, and the 1987 Conference Semifinals. By the time those two dynasties had winded down, the Bucks’ window was shut as well, and they were dispatched in meek fashion by the Hawks in 1988 and the Pistons in 1989.

6) Chris Webber (came closest: 2002)

The ’01-’02 Kings came about as close as any team has come to reaching the NBA Finals without actually following through. But while Peja Stojakovic, Hedo Turkoglu, Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, and Scot Pollard would all make NBA Finals appearances later in their careers (and Vlade Divac had been previously with the Lakers), this would prove to be the postseason peak for Webber. Disappointment at the highest level was nothing new for Webber, who famously cost Michigan the 1993 NCAA championship by calling a phantom timeout. It would take eight seasons and five playoff appearances before a Webber-led NBA team advanced past the first round. After a second round sweep at the hands of the Lakers in 2001, the Kings should have won the 2002 Conference Finals against their cross-state rivals but Webber was one of several Sacramento stars that basically vanished down the stretch of games six and seven as the Kings (with no help from the refs) flitted away the series. He got one more decent chance in 2007, but his Pistons were upset in the Conference Finals that year by LeBron James and the Cavs.

5) Artis Gilmore (came closest: 1983)

His best years were definitively in the ABA, but Gilmore was good enough in the NBA to be named to six All-Star teams and consistently finish in the top 10 in the league in rebounds and blocks. His first five NBA seasons came with the toothless Bulls, who selected him from the Kentucky Colonels in the 1976 dispersal draft. Gilmore would then team up with George Gervin and Mike Mitchell to lead the Spurs to the 1983 Conference Finals. For the most part, the big man held his own in that series against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, especially in game two when Gilmore finished with 27 points and 20 rebounds, but the Lakers won the series in six games. Later on at age 38, Gilmore signed with the Celtics during the ’87-’88 season and played light minutes off the bench as the third center as Boston lost to Detroit in the Conference Finals. Before coming to the NBA, Gilmore played in two ABA Finals with the Colonels, including a championship win in 1975.

4) Dominique Wilkins (came closest: 1988)

It’s no coincidence that the Nuggets, Suns, and Bucks keep coming up in this list. But while those franchises have years of ineptitude sprinkled with the occasional heartbreak, nobody can match the overall bland mediocrity of the Hawks over the last half century. Upon moving from St. Louis to Atlanta in 1968, the Hawks reached the Conference Finals immediately in back-to-back seasons, but have matched the feat just once since, in 2015. Though the Hawks teams of Wilkins’ era never made it that far, they were undeniably the most talented roster in Atlanta’s basketball history but had the misfortune of playing during arguably the most competitive era of Eastern Conference history. Of the eight Hawks teams featuring Wilkins that reached the playoffs, three were eliminated by Larry Bird’s Celtics, two by the Bad Boy Pistons, and one by Michael Jordan’s Bulls. The most memorable of those appearances came in 1988, when Wilkins battled Bird in an epic seven game second round series. He just edges out Dave Bing as the greatest player in NBA history without a Conference Finals appearance.

3) George Gervin (came closest: 1979)

Gervin holds plenty of distinctions amongst players without an NBA Finals appearance: the most playoff appearances (13), the most All-Star appearances (nine, tied with Dominique Wilkins and Chris Paul), the most scoring titles (four) and the most All-NBA 1st-Team appearances (five). Unlike Dan Issel, David Thompson, and Artis Gilmore, Gervin could never even reach the ABA Finals, as his team lost in the first round in all four postseason appearances he made in the league. He carried over to the NBA with the Spurs, and in his nine years in the league with them they reached the playoffs eight times and the Conference Finals twice. As an inexplicable member of the Eastern Conference in 1979, the Spurs reached the Conference Finals against Washington due to some brilliant performances from Gervin. That included game seven against the Bullets, when Gervin scored a game-high 42 points but the Spurs lost on a Bobby Dandridge buzzer beater to close out a 3-1 series comeback for Washington. His Spurs reached the Conference Finals again in 1982 and 1983, this time in the West, but were no match for the Showtime Lakers.

2) Steve Nash (came closest: 2006)

He is the only player never to reach the NBA Finals despite a) multiple NBA MVP awards, b) 9,000+ career assists, c) 1,000+ career playoff assists, or d) 100+ career NBA playoff game starts. Congratulations? The Spurs proved to be Nash’s Sisyphean obstacle, as his teams were 0-7 in playoff series against San Antonio. That included three first round losses (1998, 2008, and 2013), two second round losses (2001 and 2007) and two heartbreaking Conference Finals losses (2003 with Dallas and 2005 with Phoenix). Nash suffered two more Conference Finals losses in his Suns career for good measure, in 2006 against his former Dallas team and in 2010 against the Lakers. He made one last go of it in ’12-’13 by signing as a free agent with the Lakers, but that star-studded team, which also featured Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Dwight Howard, turned out to be a complete disaster, and was eliminated in a first round sweep by – who else? – Nash’s old nemesis, the Spurs.

1) Chris Paul (came closest: 2018)

After his first two seasons playing in New Orleans/Oklahoma City in the turbulent aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Paul announced himself as a playoff threat in 2008, averaging 24.1 points, 11.3 assists and 2.3 steals per game, leading the Hornets to the brink of the Conference Finals, losing to the Spurs in seven games in the second round. That would prove more rueful than prophetic. He would suffer through injuries and ineffectiveness of teammates and only reach the playoffs twice more with the Hornets, losing in the first round each time, then six attempts with the Clippers that ended with three first round losses and three second round defeats. Just as Paul seemed finally on the brink of reaching the NBA Finals in 2018, he suffered a hamstring injury late in game five of the Conference Finals, and his Rockets teammates couldn’t finish off the Warriors in his absence, losing the final two games of the series. The tables seemed to turn in 2019 when Kevin Durant injured his calf in game five of a second round series against Houston but despite Paul’s best efforts, the Rockets were still finished off in six games.