15) Julius Erving, 1977

Buoyed by their acquisition of ABA All-Stars Erving and George McGinnis, the 76ers finished atop the East standings in ’76-’77, then advanced past the Celtics and Rockets to the NBA Finals, where they were the favored team over the Trail Blazers. In his first of what would eventually be four Finals appearances, Erving started off game one with a windmill dunk and never slowed down from there, averaging 30.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.7 steals per game. But his Philly teammates almost universally struggled, most notably McGinnis, who was struggling with a groin injury and Maurice Lucas’ shutdown defense, and World B. Free, who averaged just 7.2 points per game playing through a fractured rib. The Sixers won the first two games at home but dropped the next four in a row. In the closing game six, Erving finished with a career playoff high 40 points but it was McGinnis taking the final shot, missing a short jumper that would have forced overtime. When Dr. J finally did win a title with the Sixers in 1983, he averaged just 19.0 points per game in the Finals series against the Lakers.  

14) George Yardley, 1956

Already 25 years old by the time he made his NBA debut, Yardley played seven seasons, reaching the Conference Finals four times and the NBA Finals twice, but never winning a title. He came closest in 1955, when his Pistons were upset by the Nationals in a seven game series that many, including Yardley himself, believe was tainted by mob influence. Though the 1956 NBA Finals were comparatively more clean and concise, with the Pistons losing to the Warriors in five games, every Fort Wayne loss came down to the wire, thanks almost single-handedly to Yardley. The Pistons’ star small forward averaged 24.8 points and 15.2 rebounds per game, while also going toe-to-toe with his Warriors counterpart Paul Arizin, who assuredly would have earned Finals MVP honors if the award existed back then. While Yardley arguably outpaced Arizin in the series, the Warriors got additional solid performances from a balanced offensive attack, highlighted by Neil Johnston and Tom Gola. In the deciding game five, Yardley finished with 30 points and 20 rebounds but his Pistons teammates shot just 19-of-72 from the field (26.4%) in the loss. Prior to that though, “Yardbird” could only blame himself for the 107-105 game four loss, as he had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer but turned the ball over instead.

13) Stephen Curry, 2019

Before he finally came away with the trophy in 2022 in his sixth appearance, Curry was arguably up there with Jerry West and Elgin Baylor as the greatest all-time NBA Finals performers to never earn series MVP. In his first Finals trip in 2015, Curry’s Warriors emerged victorious but the Finals MVP honors went to Andre Iguodala in a controversial decision. Titles in 2017 and 2018 followed but Kevin Durant was the rightful MVP in both those series. If the Warriors had managed to pull off a third straight title in 2019, there’s no doubt Curry would be the honoree. As Durant was sidelined with a calf injury, Curry took back the reins of Golden State’s offense, averaging 30.5 points and 6.0 assists per game in the losing effort. Game three was a perfect microcosm of the series, as Curry was essentially unstoppable, finishing with 47 points while shooting 6-of-14 from three-point range and 13-of-14 on free throws, while adding eight rebounds and seven assists. But with Klay Thompson now also out due to a hamstring injury, the Warriors offense otherwise sputtered in a 123-109 loss.

12) Jerry West, 1966

Alongside his Lakers teammate Elgin Baylor, West is the patron saint of NBA Finals losses. How painful were West’s defeats? Consider that this series came down to the final seconds of game seven, a game in which West played the full 48 minutes, scored 37 points, and sparked a furious fourth quarter Lakers comeback from 16 points down only to fall short, 95-93. But this was still arguably not the most difficult NBA Finals shortcoming of West’s career. In fact, it might not even make the top three. ’65-’66 was maybe the peak of West’s career, averaging a career high 31.3 points per game and finishing second in MVP voting behind Wilt Chamberlain. That certainly carried over into this series, where West averaged 33.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game against the vaunted Celtics defense. Fittingly, his best single game performance came in a game four loss, when he dropped 45 points and 10 assists. 

11) Allen Iverson, 2001

When the Lakers won this series over the 76ers, they closed out arguably the most dominant postseason run in modern NBA history, winning 15 out of 16 games, nine of them by double digit final scores. But that one loss became the signature game of this entire postseason, nay the entire decade of NBA action. In opposition to Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers, Iverson and the Sixers had to fight hard just to reach this series, barely surviving battles against the Raptors and Bucks. It was befitting of Iverson’s warrior image and he was at the height of his powers here. The reigning MVP didn’t disappoint in his one and only Finals appearance, averaging 35.6 points per game which was, at the time, the fourth highest Finals scoring average for a player on the losing end. Game one was his masterpiece, scoring 48 points to single-handedly will the Sixers to a stunning overtime upset (no one else on the team scored more than 13). Iverson’s 178 total points in this series is the highest total ever in an NBA Finals that lasted five games, just beating out Kevin Durant’s Finals MVP earning performance in 2017.

10) Bob Pettit, 1957

Heading into the ’56-’57 season, Pettit had to be feeling good about his chances to win the title. He was still only 24 years old, the reigning league MVP, and his Hawks were the best team in the league on paper. Then a relatively unheralded rookie named Bill Russell came and messed that all up. In what’s still arguably the most exciting NBA Finals in history, Pettit and Russell went toe-to-toe for seven games in a match-up so even that the deciding game seven came down to the final play in double overtime. Pettit averaged 30.1 points per game for the series and 18.3 rebounds, the highest total ever in an NBA Finals by any player besides Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Pettit was the leading scorer in five of the seven games in the series, including game seven, when he finished with 39 points. But things could have gone quite differently if Pettit had finished with 41, as he was the one with the ball in his hands at the end of double overtime but the normally reliable shooter missed a short jumper, allowing the Celtics to escape with a 125-123 win. That elusive championship was won by Pettit a year later, thanks largely to Russell suffering a sprained ankle, but that was it, as his Hawks were easily defeated by the Celtics in repeat trips in 1960 and 1961.

9) Elgin Baylor, 1963

In the three NBA Finals Baylor played in before a major knee injury changed his career trajectory, he was essentially unstoppable, averaging 34.0 points, 15.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. This came in an era of inflated statistics yes, but also against the vaunted Bill Russell Celtics defense. Just like everyone else in the league, Boston had no answer for Baylor but Baylor also had not enough help to overcome the Celtics where it mattered most, in the final score. This was especially true in 1963, when Jerry West was hampered by a leg injury. After putting up especially impressive performances in game three (38 points, 23 rebounds, eight assists) and game five (43 points, 20 rebounds) wins, Baylor struggled at home in the deciding game six. It’s some small solace of course but with his game five output, Baylor did make history in this series as the first player ever to score 40+ in a Finals game three times, setting a record that West would break a few years later.

8) Charles Barkley, 1993

The only player who could really rival Elgin Baylor in Sisyphean efforts to win a championship is Barkley. But unlike Baylor, who made eight NBA Finals appearances and lost in all of them, Barkley reached the ultimate series just once, in 1993. As if it wasn’t hard enough going up against Michael Jordan in his prime with the Bulls, Barkley was further hamstrung in this series by Cedric Ceballos being sidelined with a foot injury while Kevin Johnson was playing through severe knee pain. In games two through six of the Finals, Barkley put on an all-around performance for the ages, averaging 28.6 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game against an elite defender in Horace Grant. But the legendary power forward blamed himself in retrospect for the Suns losing in six games, claiming his lack of preparedness for game one cost Phoenix the series. Barkley certainly did struggle in his NBA Finals debut, finishing with just 21 points on 9-of-25 shooting in a 100-92 Bulls win. Though Sir Charles was equally incredible in his next three playoffs with the Suns, the team couldn’t take advantage, getting eliminated in the Conference Semifinals or earlier each time. 

“It wasn’t enough to overcome the greatest dynasty in league history but it was enough for [Jerry] West to make a different kind of history as the only Finals MVP from the losing team.”

7) Rick Barry, 1967

There’s a fair argument to be made that Barry’s ’66-’67 performance in the regular season and playoffs was the greatest in NBA history to not earn an MVP, Finals MVP, or title. In just his second season in the league, the sharp shooting forward won the scoring title with 35.6 points per game, was All-Star Game MVP, was named 1st-Team All-NBA, placed fifth in MVP voting, and then followed it up with an even more impressive postseason. This was especially true in the NBA Finals, when he almost single-handedly kept the Warriors competitive in six games against a dominant 76ers squad, arguably outplaying even Wilt Chamberlain. After a near triple-double in a game one loss (37 points, eight rebounds, seven assists), Barry dropped 55 points in a game three victory (still the second highest single game total in Finals history), 43 in a game four defeat, 36 in a stunning game five Warriors upset in Philadelphia, and then 44 in the deciding game six. All told, Barry became one of just three players in NBA Finals history to average 40+ points per game in the series. Just a couple months later, Barry was startling the sports world again, this time by absconding from the Warriors to sign a contract with the Oakland Oaks of the ABA. 

6) Elgin Baylor, 1962

There’s certainly been other much more surprising upsets in NBA Finals history but if you were just reviewing box scores, 1962 is a retrospectively stunning result. For seven games across 12 days in April of 1962, Baylor performed about as well as a basketball player could conceivably play. But the result was a familiar one for the star-crossed Laker: a series loss to the hated Celtics. His individual brilliance peaked in a game five Lakers win, scoring a still standing Finals record of 61 points, along with 22 rebounds. In the deciding game seven, Baylor left it all on the floor, playing 51 minutes (the game went to overtime) and finishing with 41 points and 22 rebounds before fouling out. But teammate Frank Selvy missed a potential game winner at the end of regulation and the Celtics were subsequently victorious in overtime. Baylor’s 40.6 points per game in this series is the highest all-time in a Finals losing effort. In fact, it’s the second highest all-time period, trailing only Michael Jordan’s 41.0 per game in ’92-’93.

5) LeBron James, 2015
4) LeBron James, 2018
3) LeBron James, 2017

For four consecutive seasons, James played with the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals and he was brilliant each time. 2016 was obviously the high point, with James earning Finals MVP for leading Cleveland to its only title in franchise history. But The King was actually more impressive individually in these other three series, due in large part to Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love missing much of them. Love was out in 2015 with a dislocated shoulder while Irving exited game one with a broken kneecap, leaving James to average 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game with Timofey Mozgov and J.R. Smith as his secondary options. Even though the Warriors won the series in six games, James arguably deserved Finals MVP honors as much as any losing player since Jerry West in 1969. In 2017, now facing a seemingly unstoppable force that had added Kevin Durant to an already vaunted lineup, James became the first and only player to average a triple-double in an NBA Finals series but Cleveland came up well short, losing in five games. With Irving traded away in 2018, watching James almost single-handedly take on the Warriors was probably as close as we’ll come in modern times to witnessing John Henry battle the steam engine. This was especially true in game one at Golden State, when James finished with 51 points (fifth highest total in Finals history), eight rebounds, and eight assists, and somehow had Cleveland in position late in regulation to steal the game. But a charging call on Durant (drawn by LeBron himself) was controversially overturned, George Hill missed a crucial free throw, and Smith famously forgot what to do after a late rebound, opening the door for the Warriors to emerge victorious in overtime en route to a series sweep.

2) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1974

There was certainly no shortage of motivation for Abdul-Jabbar in this series. The Bucks center had just been named league MVP for the third time already in his career but was still smarting from his egregious second place finish in ’72-’73 behind Dave Cowens. Getting to face off directly against Cowens in the NBA Finals was a perfect venue for revenge and Abdul-Jabbar certainly got it individually. He was essentially unstoppable offensively, with 32.6 points and 5.4 assists per game, while also adding 12.1 rebounds per game, 2.1 blocks per game, and some elite defense on Cowens, Unfortunately for Milwaukee, it just wasn’t enough. The aging Oscar Robertson struggled (he retired after the series), as did Mickey Davis, who was filling in for an injured Lucius Allen (whose torn knee was arguably the difference here). The Celtics got great performances from John Havlicek (who was named Finals MVP), Jo Jo White, and Paul Silas to take the series in seven games. One year later, Abdul-Jabbar was traded to Los Angeles, where he’d win five more titles and a second Finals MVP trophy in 1985.

1) Jerry West, 1969

In 2023, the Finals MVP trophy will be awarded for the 55th time, almost assuredly to a player from the winning team. That’s been the case in each of the last 53 years but when the award was first handed out in 1969, its inaugural honoree was on the losing side. What’s even more remarkable is that West was honored as such when his team lost to the Celtics and the player the trophy is now named after, Bill Russell (due to timing, Russell won 11 titles and five league MVPs but never Finals MVP). As you would expect, this happened due to circumstances beyond West’s brilliance on the court but let’s start there. Over seven tightly contested games, West averaged 37.9 points, 7.4 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game, all while dealing with hamstring and thigh injuries. His 53 points were an all-time record in game one of an NBA Finals, as were his 42 points in game seven. In fact, West became the first and still only player to drop 40+ points four times in a single Finals series, also doing so in games two and four. By the way, he did all this against a stout Boston defense and with two all-time great scorers, Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor, as teammates. But the Lakers just couldn’t close it out, dropping a controversial game seven at home, even as West added 13 rebounds and 12 assists to his 42 points for a triple-double. It was arguably the greatest individual performance ever in an NBA playoffs game seven. It wasn’t enough to overcome the greatest dynasty in league history but it was enough for West to make a different kind of history as the only Finals MVP from the losing team.