NBA Finals Champions Table
Seventy-nine championships have been awarded since 1947, and the table's shape is a two-team story wearing a league's clothes: Boston and the Lakers franchise have won 35 of them (18 and 17), and they met in the finals 12 times - more than any other pairing. The list starts as the BAA (1947-1949) before the NBA name arrives, and the early champions carry names the league no longer has: the Rochester Royals, Syracuse Nationals and the one-and-done Baltimore Bullets.
The Celtics' 1957-1969 run is the tallest structure in American team sport: 11 titles in 13 seasons, including eight in a row (1959-1966) - a streak with no parallel in the NFL, MLB or NHL. The Lakers answered across three eras (Minneapolis's early machine, the Showtime 1980s, the Kobe-Shaq and later duos), and the modern ledger splits into the Spurs' 19-year five-title run, the Warriors' five in nine seasons (2015-2022), and first-time winners Toronto (2019), Denver (2023) and Oklahoma City (2025).
The series-score column records how dominance actually looked: 19 sweeps, 15 five-game closings, and only 21 seven-game finals - but the ones that went the distance are the sport's canon (1969's Game 7 on the road, 1984's heat-soaked Boston garden series, 2013's Ray Allen corner three, 2016's 3-1 comeback, 2025's Game 7). Cleveland's 2016 title remains the only one ever won from 3-1 down in finals history.
How to use
- Find any final by year: champion, runner-up and games count sit in one row, and franchise names are era-true (Minneapolis Lakers through 1959, San Francisco Warriors from 1962, Seattle SuperSonics for the 1979 title).
- Count dynasties from the champion column: Boston's 18, the Lakers' 17, Golden State's 7, Chicago's 6, San Antonio's 5 - then the single-title clubs (Hawks, Bullets, SuperSonics, Blazers, Mavericks, Raptors, Nuggets, Thunder) that prove how hard the top shelf is to reach.
- Read the result column as a dominance gauge: a 4-0 sweep appears 19 times, the Celtics own eight of them, and every 7-game final since 2010 has been won by the team with home court.
Frequently asked questions
Which team has won the most NBA championships?
The Boston Celtics, with 18 - their 2024 title broke the 17-17 tie with the Lakers franchise. Golden State is third with 7, followed by Chicago and San Antonio at 6 and 5.
What were the BAA years in the table?
The first three seasons (1947-1949) were played under the Basketball Association of America, which merged with the NBL in 1949 to form the NBA. The champion list is continuous - the 1947 Warriors and 1949 Lakers count in franchise totals.
Has any team won four or more championships in a row?
Yes: the Boston Celtics won eight straight from 1959 to 1966 - the longest championship streak in major American team sports. The Minneapolis Lakers' three-peat (1952-1954) and Chicago's two three-peats (1991-1993, 1996-1998) are the next tier.
Why does the Baltimore Bullets title look orphaned?
The 1948 champion Baltimore Bullets folded in 1954 mid-season, and the franchise has no surviving descendant - the Washington Wizards' franchise lineage is separate. It remains the only NBA champion whose organization no longer exists.