1) Elgin Baylor (’71-’72 Lakers)

If you’re wondering how much Baylor cared about his 1972 championship ring, consider that he sold it at auction in 2013 for $137,000 that he probably didn’t need. It was just a 14k gold trinket to Baylor, or even worse a harsh reminder of the eight NBA Finals he played in and lost, three of which came down to a deciding game seven. By ’71-’72, Baylor was struggling with numerous knee injuries and a ruptured Achilles’ and opted to retire nine games into the season. The Lakers immediately went on a 33-game win streak with Jim McMillian replacing Baylor in the starting lineup, en route to one of the most dominant seasons in NBA history, ending with a title. The ring was awarded to Baylor in recognition of his nine games played but, for all we know, was tossed into a drawer and hidden away for four decades before getting sold.

2) Fred Sheffield (’46-’47 Warriors)

While his Philadelphia Warriors teammates were celebrating winning the first title in NBA (then BAA) history, Sheffield was right down the road studying for medical school. After graduating in 1946 from the University of Utah, where he won national titles in both basketball and track and field, Sheffield had a choice between medical school or a pro basketball career. Like Bo Jackson with a stethoscope, he attempted both, signing with the Warriors and enrolling at Philly-based Temple University. He played in 22 regular season games for the Warriors but was struggling with the dual responsibilities, especially for road games. Halfway through the season, the Warriors “loaned” Sheffield to the Reading Keys of the EPBL, which only played games in East Pennsylvania. Sheffield attempted to return for the ’47-’48 Warriors title defense but was cut in the preseason.

3) Isaiah Rider (’00-’01 Lakers)

Bold, brash, and exceedingly athletic, Rider seemed like a future star in his rookie season with the Timberwolves, memorably winning the Slam Dunk Contest and earning 1st-Team All-Rookie honors. But drug suspensions, arrests, and clashes with coaches and executives followed him from Minnesota to Portland to Atlanta. The Lakers signed a supposedly recalcitrant Rider in the summer of 2000 and he had a solid regular season, leading the Lakers bench in scoring at 8.3 points per game. But Rider was hit with a suspension that March for violating the NBA substance abuse policy. In his absence, the Lakers got some strong performances from Tyronn Lue and when it soon after came time to pick the postseason roster, Lue got the nod over Rider for his defense and reliability. Rider attempted to return with the Lakers in ’01-’02, what would have been another title season but didn’t make the roster and signed with the Nuggets instead.

4) Chuck Nevitt (’91-’92 Bulls)

He played in just 171 NBA games over nine years, averaging 1.6 points and 1.5 rebounds per game. But Nevitt had a charmed career, in which he backed up (and befriended) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, and David Robinson, briefly held the record as tallest player (7’5″) in league history and soon after set the still-standing record for tallest champion. That title came with the ’84-’85 Lakers, who played Nevitt only in garbage time blowouts, leading to the creation of the nickname “Human Victory Cigar.” Nevitt later earned a second championship ring, this time without playing a single minute in the postseason. The Bulls signed and waived him twice during their ’91-’92 championship season, but decided they didn’t need an third center on the postseason roster. Nevitt got one last chance in the NBA after that in ’93-’94, but appeared in only one game for the Spurs before retiring.

5) Connie Simmons (’54-’55 Nationals)

A street baller with no previous basketball experience in college or the various nascent pro leagues, Simmons nonetheless became one of the biggest stars of the inaugural NBA season. It all started on a whim, with the Celtics signing Simmons in 1946, supposedly when he hung around training camp after dropping off his brother Johnny and impressed in informal scrimmages. Simmons went on to win a title in 1948 with the Baltimore Bullets, and make three more NBA Finals appearances with the Knicks in the early ’50s. He was obtained by the Syracuse Nationals midway through the ’54-’55 season but played only 25 games before getting shut down with a potentially career-ending dislocated disc in his back. The Nationals went on to win the 1955 NBA title without Simmons, who did manage a brief comeback, playing one more season with the Rochester Royals before retiring for good.

6) Lars Hansen (’78-’79 SuperSonics)
7) Andrew Gaze (’98-’99 Spurs)
8) Mengke Bateer (’02-’03 Spurs)
9) Neemias Queeta (’23-’24 Celtics)

Four players who made history for their respective countries, while watching the playoffs from the sidelines in street clothes. Hansen was born in Denmark, raised in Canada, and made his NBA debut with the SuperSonics in 1978. Signed to fill in backup center minutes after a Tom LeGarde knee injury, Hansen became the first Danish born player in NBA history. Even though he was left off the playoff roster, he also subsequently became the first Danish born player and first player with Canadian citizenship to win an NBA title. Two decades later, Gaze became the first Australian with no NCAA basketball experience to win a title. He did so with the ’98-’99 Spurs, appearing in 19 regular season games but no playoff matchups. At age 33, Gaze was already considered the greatest player in Australian basketball history at that point and returned to his native country to finish out his career. The Spurs again were again international history makers in 2003, when Bateer became the first Chinese born player with a championship. Acquired via trade before the season, Bateer appeared in 12 games for 46 total minutes, racking up nine points, 12 rebounds, and 14 personal fouls. He signed with the Raptors in the subsequent offseason and received his championship ring that December, when Toronto played a road game in San Antonio. Finally, there’s Queeta, the first Portuguese player in NBA history and the first Portuguese champion in just his fifth season.

10) Scot Pollard (’07-’08 Celtics)

Of the 11 members of the ’01-’02 Kings who played in the heartbreaking and controversial 2002 Conference Finals loss to the Lakers, only two would go on to win titles later in their career. One was Peja Stojakovic in 2011 with the Mavericks and the other was Pollard with the Celtics in 2008. But that latter example comes with an asterisk, as Pollard was sidelined for the 2008 postseason following ankle surgery. A career role player who mostly came off the bench, Pollard was nonetheless a memorable fan favorite for his high energy, quirky personality, and unique hair styles. He logged minor minutes for the Cavaliers in their 2007 Finals loss, then signed with the Celtics that summer, serving as an emergency center. Pollard was on hand for the season opener in ’08-’09 to receive his championship ring and attempted numerous subsequent comebacks, but never played in another NBA game.

11) Jamaal Wilkes (’84-’85 Lakers)

A steady presence as the starting small forward for the Lakers in the first half of the “Showtime” dynasty, Wilkes started to lose his grip on the position late in the ’83-’84 season. A mysterious gastrointestinal virus caused Wilkes to struggle in the 1984 playoffs, leading to rising star James Worthy replacing him in the starting lineup. The Lakers attempted playing both Wilkes and Worthy as the starting forwards in ’84-’85, but quickly shifted Wilkes back to the bench. He was just starting to thrive in that sixth man role when an on-court collision that January left Wilkes with torn ligaments in his knee. He watched the Lakers’ 1985 title run from the sideline, was waived by the team in the subsequent offseason, and then suited up briefly for the Clippers before retiring. It was a third championship for Wilkes with the Lakers, adding to his 1975 NBA championship with the Warriors.

12) Chris Boucher (’17-’18 Warriors)

Boucher’s final stat line in his rookie season with the Warriors: one rebound, one missed field goal, and one championship. An un-drafted free agent, Boucher spent the entire season with the D-League Santa Cruz affiliate, save for one game that March in which four Warriors starters were sidelined due to injury or scheduled rest. Boucher got the call up and play just one minute total in a win over the Lakers. After watching the Warriors NBA Finals win at home, Boucher signed with the Raptors that summer and made his postseason debut during their 2019 title run. Already the first Saint Lucian born player to win an NBA championship, Boucher also became the first Canadian citizen to win a title with a Canadian team (he was raised in Montreal after moving there at age five), and just the fifth player ever to win back-to-back titles with two different teams.

13) Ed Nealy (’92-’93 Bulls)

The Zen Master himself, Phil Jackson, once called Nealy his “favorite player” on the Bulls. High praise indeed, but it didn’t translate into postseason playing time. Nealy signed with the Bulls for ’88-’89 as a free agent, was traded after 13 games to the Suns (for Craig Hodges), was traded back to the Bulls in October 1989 for a second round pick, left as a free agent after ’89-’90, then returned to Chicago via trade one more time at the ’92-’93 deadline. He played in 11 games down the stretch but didn’t make the postseason roster and quietly retired after the Bulls won the title. It ended a career that lasted 10 seasons despite averaging just 2.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. Though Jackson often remarked on how he was essentially an additional coach on the bench, Nealy surprisingly didn’t transition into coaching, instead becoming a car salesman.

“A funny thing happened though, as the man who called himself ‘Chocolate Thunder’ and always seemed nonchalant about basketball developed into a team leader in Detroit, despite hardly ever playing”

14) Phil Chenier (’77-’78 Bullets)

A smooth long range shooter and elite defender, Chenier was a centerpiece of the ’70s Bullets and their leading scorer in the 1975 NBA Finals loss. Over a four year stretch starting in ’73-’74, he averaged 21.0 points per game, made three All-Star teams, and finished as high as eighth in MVP voting. But a recurring back issue intensified early in the ’77-’78 season, initially reducing Chenier’s effectiveness and eventually sidelining him indefinitely. Similar to Elgin Baylor with the ’71-’72 Lakers, the ’77-’78 Bullets put it all together once Chenier was set aside, with Kevin Grevey, Bob Dandridge, and Charles Johnson thriving in a simplified wing rotation. They ended the season with the first and only championship in franchise history, while Chenier watched from the sidelines. He made a comeback late in ’78-’79 but was never the same and played in just 79 more games before retiring.

15) Lou Tsioropoulos (’56-’57 Celtics and ’58-’59 Celtics)

Only two seasons in Bill Russell’s career ended without a title and Tsioropoulos had the misfortunate of his breakout campaign being one of them. That was ’57-’58, when Tsioropoulos averaged 7.7 points and 6.2 rebounds as the starting small forward but the Celtics lost in the NBA Finals to the Hawks. He was already 27 years old by then, having played four years at the University of Kentucky and then serving a long tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force. In his rookie year, ’56-’57, the Celtics won the title but Tsioropoulos was “farmed out” mid-season and not part of the postseason roster. In ’58-’59, another title season, Tsioropoulos suffered a major back injury, leaving him unavailable for those playoffs and forced to retire. Some solace for Tisoropoulos was technically joining the relatively short list of players with NBA and NCAA titles, winning the latter with Kentucky in 1951.

16) Adam Morrison (’08-’09 Lakers)

Just three years after he was the #3 overall pick in the NBA Draft, Morrison was making the wrong kind of history. In 2009 and 2010, he became the first player of the post-merger era to win back-to-back titles without taking the floor during either NBA Finals. Morrison did get some brief postseason play in the 2010 playoffs, but it was confined to a first round series against the Thunder. That’s after being left off the 2009 postseason roster altogether. Things had started well enough in the NBA for Morrison with a 2nd-Team All-Rookie designation but there were immediate questions about his toughness and his defensive skills, which were compounded when he suffered a torn ACL in 2007. While Morrison became a punchline for his bench warming during the Lakers’ title runs, his biggest defender was Kobe Bryant, who regularly called Morrison a great and unselfish teammate.

17) Sly Williams (’85-’86 Celtics)

The ’85-’86 Celtics playoff roster was a well-oiled 12-man machine and a seemingly unstoppable force, ultimately going down as one of the greatest teams in NBA history. But the unlucky 13th player on that team was the polar opposite — unpredictable, erratic, and in the midst of a career flameout. A first round pick of the Knicks in 1979, Williams showed some early promise but also proved unreliable, showing up late to practice, skipping team meals, and miss flights. Red Auerbach brought in Williams as a free agent in 1985 as a potential reclamation project but at that point, his personal life was spiraling. Williams’ brother had recently committed suicide, his marriage was falling apart, and his depression was being self-treated with drugs. The Celtics released Williams in early December after just six appearances, citing “personal reasons,” and he never played in the NBA again.

18) Anderson Varejao (’16-’17 Warriors)

The only player to play for both NBA Finals teams over the course of one season, Varejao was traded from the Cavaliers to the Trail Blazers in 2016, waived, then signed with the Warriors. The Cavaliers franchise legend and fan favorite played in game four of the 2016 NBA Finals, a Golden State win to take a 3-1 series lead. And then, well, you likely know what happened next. Cleveland won the next three games, winning the title with one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history. The Cavaliers reportedly offered Varejao a championship ring that fall but he declined. In ’16-’17, he appeared in just 17 games for Golden State before getting waived that February. When the Warriors subsequently won the 2017 title without him, Varejao was again offered a ring and this time wisely accepted.

19) Tom Riker (’72-’73 Knicks)

The Knicks drafted “Long Tom” in the first round in 1972, hoping they just landed a successor to the aging Willis Reed. But Riker showed up to training camp overweight and unprepared, and failed to gain any playing time early in his rookie season. The Knicks “farmed” him to the Allentown Jets of the Eastern Basketball League in mid December and Riker did not return to the New York roster that season. Even more embarrassing, the Knicks called up un-drafted rookie Harthorne Wingo mid-season from Allentown, leaving Riker watching at home on television as they defeated the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Riker got a second chance in ’73-’74, called up from Allentown when Reed suffered a knee sprain, but didn’t make much of it, averaging 2.2 points per game in 17 appearances. One year later, Riker was out of the league, clinching his status as one of the biggest draft busts in franchise history.

20) Caron Butler (’10-’11 Mavericks)

The ’10-’11 Mavericks featured numerous NBA veterans with sentimental success stories. Beyond Dirk Nowitzki, there was also Jason Kidd, Tyson Chandler, Peja Stojakovic, Shawn Marion, Brendan Haywood, and Jason Terry winning their first, and ultimately only career title. You can place Butler on that list as well, but he was unfortunately watching the Finals from the bench, wearing street clothes. In a January 2011 game against the Bucks, Butler suffered a nasty tendon rupture in his right knee, leaving him sidelined indefinitely. It’s a testament to Butler’s toughness and resilience that he actually came close to returning during the 2011 NBA Finals but ultimately wasn’t cleared by doctors. He did come back in ’11-’12 but was never quite the same, struggling to stay effective in short stints with the Clippers, Bucks, Thunder, Pistons, and Kings before retiring in 2016.

21) Jack Haley (’95-’96 Bulls)
22) Dickey Simpkins (’95-’96 Bulls and ’96-’97 Bulls)

Being a teammate of Michael Jordan during the ’90s came with a near guarantee of a championship ring, even for guys at the end of the bench. Of course, to get that cushy, you had to provide some kind of auxiliary value. For Haley, that was his close friendship with Dennis Rodman, gaining him a reputation as a “worm whisperer.” That’s likely why the Bulls signed a creaky center with knee tendonitis for the ’95-’96 season. Haley got on the court just once, during the final, historical 72nd win. He was unnecessary on the court in the playoffs as a fourth string center but was still crucial as a practice foil and as a calming presence for Rodman. Simpkins’ situation was vastly different. He was a regular part of the rotation in the ’95-’96 regular season but shockingly left off the playoffs roster in favor of ancient relic James Edwards. When Simpkins showed no signs of improvement in ’96-’97, he was left aside in the playoff title run again and traded that summer. Simpkins did return to the Bulls and in 1998 finally saw postseason action, as the Bulls won their third straight title.

23) Eddy Curry (’11-’12 Heat)

A poster boy for the pitfalls of the prep-to-pro era, Curry was already considered washed up at age 29 when he joined the Heat. The Bulls had drafted Curry fourth overall in 2002, then gave up on him four years later after a tense disagreement over his heart condition. The young center spiraled from there, struggling for the rest of his career with weight issues and off-court distractions. Unable to stock their bench in ’11-’12 with traditional role players due to the contract dollars tied up in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, the Heat took a flier on Curry, who was nearly three years removed from his last NBA appearance. He played in 14 regular season games, including one as a starter, but was stuck to the bench all playoffs, even when Chris Bosh missed three weeks with an abdominal strain. That was enough for a championship ring though, at basically the end of Curry’s NBA career.

24) Mitch Kupchak (’81-’82 Lakers)

Just 26 games into his debut season with the Lakers, Kupchak suffered a brutal injury that left him with a torn ACL and broken leg. Initially projected to miss 8-10 weeks, Kupchak instead found himself sidelined for nearly two years. Recruited personally to Los Angeles by Magic Johnson, Kupchak was hyped as a missing piece when he signed as a free agent in 1981. During his lengthy injury rehab, the Lakers won a championship and found a new long term option at starting power forward in Kurt Rambis. When Kupchak returned in ’83-’84, he was not nearly the same anymore and found only scarce playing time off the bench. He eventually did play some minutes with the Lakers in an NBA Finals victory, logging them in the 1985 Finals win over Boston. After retiring as a player in 1986, he immediately joined the team’s front office and eventually earned seven more championship rings in that role.

25) DeMarcus Cousins (’19-’20 Lakers)

An exceedingly talented but seemingly snake bit superstar, Cousins made four All-Star teams during the ’10s and was named 2nd-Team All-NBA twice. He was also combative, sullen, injury prone, and reportedly a major headache for coaches. This wasn’t conducive to team success and Cousins found himself without a single playoff appearance eight seasons into his career. Just as he ascended to the top of the list of greatest NBA players to never reach the postseason, Cousins signed as a free agent in 2018 with the defending champion Warriors. He finally took part in not just the playoffs but also the NBA Finals, but Golden State was upset by the Raptors. Signing with the Lakers for ’19-’20, Cousins could have added NBA champ to his resume but tore an ACL before the season started, leaving him sidelined indefinitely. The Lakers did present Cousins with a championship ring.

26) Darryl Dawkins (’88-’89 Pistons)

On a Pistons roster stacked with colorful characters, “Chocolate Thunder” was a natural fit. Traded from the Jazz to Detroit in 1987, Dawkins was in the midst of his 13th NBA season but was still only 30 years old, as he had entered the league straight from high school. He was also nursing a bad back and dealing with his estranged wife’s recent death by overdose. A funny thing happened though, as the man who called himself “Chocolate Thunder” and always seemed nonchalant about basketball developed into a team leader in Detroit, despite playing in only 16 games over two seasons. He was waived in February of 1989 to make room for John Long, and the Pistons went on to win their first championship a few months later. Dawkins flirted with continuing his NBA career elsewhere but instead relocated to Italy, becoming a superstar in the Lega Serie A.

---