Ranking the Best NBA Championship Teams of the Past Decade

Some Milwaukee fans may take this personal after being ranked at the bottom of this list but when there are players on the roster that didn't even believe in the team and admitted the run would have ended in the second round to the Brooklyn Nets, you have to be realistic. The Bucks were down 2-0 to the Nets after being down 49 points in Game 2 and down by 19 points in Game 1. This all happened after James Harden left the Game 1 in the opening minutes with a hamstring injury. While injuries are a part of the game and the healthiest team tends to have the best chance at the Larry O'Brien, the Bucks were outmatched by Brooklyn and Kyrie's eventual injury swung the pendulum. 

At the same time Bucks fans, you are NBA champions and no one can take that away but for the sake of this list, 'you are the weakest link.' But let's not harp on the negative, you still have recognize the greatness of Giannis Antetokounmpo and his historic NBA Finals performance capped off with a 50-piece in the clinching game. 

This is the first of many Golden State Warrior teams on the list. While this Warriors team was not as dominant as the past championship teams, it might've been the most impressive run of the four. The Warriors entered the postseason as a defensive-first squad with the offense being carried by Steph Curry. There was no Kevin Durant, no prime Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala but behind the greatest shooter to ever play, the Warriors got the job done. Many had the Warriors' dynasty over following KD's departure to Brooklyn and for a moment, it did seem like that was accurate but Warriors reminded everyone that as long as their core is intact, they'll be a threat to make a run. 

Kawhi Leonard really went to 'The 6' for a year, won the Raptors their first championship ever, and dipped. Similar to the Bucks, the Raptors' NBA title will always come with the narrative of 'what if the Warriors were healthy?' The Warriors were the heavy favorites all year to secure their third straight championship but injuries to Kevin Durant and eventually Klay Thompson derailed their hopes of a 3-peat. 

Kawhi's playoff run will go down as one of the greatest performances in postseason history. He averaged 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 24 games en route to his second NBA Finals MVP. His run was highlighted by the iconic buzzer-beating game-winner against the Sixers in Game 7 to win the series. They eliminated a Sixers team led by Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid, arguably the best Sixers team we've seen in this era. From the rise of Pascal Siakam to Kyle Lowry exorcising his playoff demons, the Toronto Raptors had their share of luck but certainly earned their championship. 

You can look at the Nuggets path their first title and try to discredit their run by focusing on their matchups of a No. 8 seed, No. 4 seed, No. 7 seed, and another No. 8 seed but that would be looking at it without context. With perspective, they went through Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Jimmy Butler-led teams including a sweep of the Lakers. 

Quite frankly, it really doesn't matter who the Nuggets played as there wasn't a team that really tested them all year. They dominated the Western Conference in the regular season to earn the No. 1 seed and during the postseason only one team took them to six games. In that Game 6 against the Phoenix Suns, the Nuggets were up 81-51 at halftime so it's fair to say there wasn't a team that could contend with Denver this year. Nikola Jokic proved that you can still win when your best player a is a big man. 

While some NBA fans will clown the Lakers for winning a title in the bubble with no fans and others will claim that it was the most difficult championship to win, many forget that the Lakers were probably the favorites before the COVID-19 pause. They were by far the hottest team in the NBA, beating the Bucks and Clippers in their final games before the pause, and had a significant lead as the top seed in the West with a record of 49-14. LeBron James was leading the league in assists while Anthony Davis was ninth in scoring and second in blocks. 

We can talk about the circumstances of the bubble and all that but we can't lie about the dominance of the Lakers. They were the best team entering the pandemic and they finished the season as the best team. While most fans wanted to see a matchup with the Clippers, you can't blame the Lakers for their rivals choking in the postseason. The Lakers weren't really challenged in their title run, winning every series in the West 4-1 and eventually taking the Miami Heat down in six games. 

It all started here. The beginning of another dynasty in the sport of basketball. Similar to the Raptors and Bucks situations, the Warriors might've benefitted from luck in the Finals as the Cavs were without Kyrie and Kevin Love but in this case, the Warriors were actually the best team all season. They won 67 games that season, ranking seventh all time before their 73-win season the following year. 

This Warriors team arguably changed the era of basketball and the value of the three-point shot. The narrative, famously stated by Charles Barkley, that jump shooting can't win NBA titles was debunked. The Warriors not only won a championship by launching threes, they started a dynasty by it and eventually teams started to build their rosters based off the Warriors' standard. 

Many fans forget the 2014 Spurs could've easily been first round exits. Monta Ellis and the Mavericks had the Spurs against the ropes, forcing them to a Game 7 but the Spurs regathered themselves to blow out the Mavs out and advance to the second round. Ironically from there, the road actually got easier. The Spurs ran through the rest of the West and discarded of the defending champion Miami Heat in five games to win their fifth championship since 2002. Led by the core of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Coach Pop, the Spurs avenged their Finals loss from the previous season. Oh and how can we forget? The world was introduced to a future superstar in Kawhi Leonard as he was named Finals MVP. 

This Warriors team wasn't as deep as the 2017 roster but the core was still Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. There's not much you can do about stopping that core even though the Rockets were pretty close accomplishing the impossible. The Warriors were hampered by injuries during the regular season, limiting them to 58 wins as crazy as that sounds. After sneaking the Rockets, they made quick of the Cavs to repeat as champions. 

"CLEVELAND, THIS IS FOR YOU" 

At the time this was indisputably, and still may be, the greatest championship of the past 30 years. No matter how you slice it, coming back from a 3-1 deficit against the winningest team in NBA history to win the first title for a franchise is a storyline you only see in the movies. LeBron and the Cavs got another crack at the Warriors with a healthy roster and proved they were well-capable of beating them in a series. There will always be the 'if Draymond Green didn't get suspended' narratives but the reality is the Warriors still had the opportunity to close it out in Game 6 and 7. They didn't and LeBron solidified his legacy and accomplished the task he was aiming for since 2003 in bringing the city of Cleveland a championship. 

The 2017 Warriors are the only team in recent history that could enter the conversation with the '96 Chicago Bulls and '01 Los Angeles Lakers as the best team ever. The question wasn't if you could beat these Warriors in a series, it was could you make it to game 5? Only the Cavs were able to push the Warriors to a game 5 as Golden State cruised to a championship going 16-1 during the postseason. There was no formula to a stop a team that just went 73-9 then proceeded to add the best scorer in the world in Kevin Durant. The NBA was lucky the Warriors couldn't stay healthy or we could've seen a three-peat.