The NBA Championship ring is an annual award given by the National Basketball Association to the team that wins the NBA Finals. [1] [2] Rings are presented to the team's players, coaches, and members of the executive front office. [3] The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics are both tied for the most rings overall with 17 per team. Phil Jackson also has the most as a coach and Bill Russell has the most as a player (11 each). [4]
NBA Championship rings have been handed out since the first NBA Finals in 1947. [5] In the modern era, the rings are handed to the defending champions during the team's first home game each season. [6] [7]
NBA Championship rings are silver or gold and include the following features:
In three NBA Finals, John Havlicek chose two wrist watches and a liqueur tray set as commemorative items. [9]
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams and is one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. It is the premier men's professional basketball league in the world.
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at American Airlines Arena, and has won three NBA championships.
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center, an arena shared with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association, and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, and have won 17 NBA championships, tied with the Boston Celtics for the most in NBA history.
Jerome Alan West is an American basketball executive and former player. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included "Mr. Clutch", for his ability to make a big play in a clutch situation, such as his famous buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks; "the Logo", in reference to his silhouette being incorporated into the NBA logo; "Mr. Outside", in reference to his perimeter play with the Los Angeles Lakers; and "Zeke from Cabin Creek", for the creek near his birthplace of Chelyan, West Virginia. West played the small forward position early in his career, and he was a standout at East Bank High School and at West Virginia University, where he led the Mountaineers to the 1959 NCAA championship game. He earned the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player honor despite the loss. He then embarked on a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was the co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team, a squad that was inducted as a unit into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Patrick James Riley is an American professional basketball executive and a former coach and player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995, and he also served as the team's head coach from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2005 to 2008. Regarded as one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time, Riley has won five NBA championships as a head coach, including four with the Los Angeles Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s and one with the Heat in 2006. Riley is a nine-time NBA champion across his tenures as a player (1972), assistant coach (1980), head coach, and executive.
Philip Douglas Jackson is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A power forward, Jackson played 12 seasons in the NBA, winning NBA championships with the New York Knicks in 1970 and 1973. Jackson was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1989 to 1998, leading them to six NBA championships. He then coached the Los Angeles Lakers from 1999 to 2004 and again from 2005 to 2011; the team won five league titles under his leadership. Jackson's 11 NBA titles as a coach surpassed the previous record of nine set by Red Auerbach. He also holds the NBA record for the most combined championships, winning a total of 13 as a player and a coach.
The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awarded the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, which replaced the Walter A. Brown Trophy in 1983.
The Celtics–Lakers rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Celtics and the Lakers are the two most storied franchises in the NBA, and the rivalry has often been called the greatest in the NBA. The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers have met a record 12 times in the NBA Finals, starting with their first Finals meeting in 1959. They would both go on to dominate the league in the 1960s and 1980s, facing each other six times in the 1960s, three times in the 1980s, and two times in 2008 and 2010.
The 2004 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2003–04 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. This season's NBA Finals was contested between the Western Conference playoff champion Los Angeles Lakers and the Eastern Conference playoff champion Detroit Pistons. The Lakers held home court advantage, and the series was played under a best-of-seven format.
The 2002 NBA Finals was the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s championship series for the 2001–02 season. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers, and the Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Nets. The Lakers swept the Nets, four games to none, to win the franchise's 14th NBA championship and third consecutive NBA championship. The 56th edition of the championship series was played between June 5 and June 12 and was broadcast on NBC — the last NBA games broadcast on the network to date.
The Lakers–Spurs rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs. The rivalry started in the late 1970s and peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since 1999, the teams have met in the NBA Playoffs 7 times, with the clubs combining to appear in seven straight NBA Finals from 1999–2005. Additionally, the teams won each NBA Title from 1999–2003. From 1999–2004, the rivalry was considered as the NBA's best, as each time the clubs faced each other in the playoffs, the winner advanced to the NBA Finals. The rivalry fell off from 2005–07, with the Lakers missing the playoffs in 2005 and losing in the first round to the Phoenix Suns in 2006 and 2007, but intensified again in 2008 when they met in the Western Conference Finals, and later on, again in the first round of the 2013 Western Conference playoffs.
The 2003–04 NBA season was the Lakers' 56th season in the National Basketball Association and 44th in the city of Los Angeles.
The 2010 NBA Finals was the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s championship series for the 2009–10 season. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers, and the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics. The Lakers defeated the Celtics, four games to three, to win the franchise's 16th NBA championship. The 64th edition of the championship series was played between June 3 and June 17, was broadcast on ABC, and was watched by an average of 18.1 million people.
Games held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) on Christmas Day, December 25, have been an annual tradition since the league's second season in 1947. Currently, five games are played on Christmas. Unlike the National Football League (NFL)'s traditional Thanksgiving Day games, the NBA's Christmas Day games have no fixed opponents; rather, they feature some of the best teams and players. Very often a rematch of the previous season's NBA Finals is showcased on Christmas Day.
The 2010–11 NBA season was the 65th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 2011 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 20, 2011, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The season concluded with the Dallas Mavericks defeating the Miami Heat in six games, 4 games to 2, to win their first NBA title, and Dirk Nowitzki was named Finals MVP. Chicago's Derrick Rose was named the 2010–11 NBA MVP.
The 2010–11 Los Angeles Lakers season was the 63rd season of the franchise, 62nd in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and 51st in Los Angeles. Coming off back-to-back championships, the Lakers attempted their third "three-peat" in franchise history (1952–54) and (2000–02), but were swept by the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Semifinals. The Lakers marked the end of an era for legendary head coach Phil Jackson, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2011. He proceeded to announce his retirement as head coach after the playoffs. The Lakers once again sold out all 41 home games for the season at Staples Center.
The 2011–12 NBA season was the 66th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA), which began with the signing of a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the owners of the 30 NBA teams and the NBA's players. The previous CBA, which was ratified in 2005, expired at 12:01 AM EDT on July 1, 2011, resulting in a lockout. With the new deal in place, the regular season was shortened from the normal 82 games per team to 66, because of nearly two months of inactivity. This was the league's first season since 1991–92 without Shaquille O'Neal, who announced his retirement on June 1, 2011 via social media. A 4-time champion, O'Neal played 19 years for the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Boston Celtics. The season began on December 25, 2011, and ended on April 26, 2012. The playoffs started on April 28 and ended on June 21 when the Miami Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of their series, 121–106, winning the Finals, 4–1 and to capture the franchise's second NBA title. LeBron James was named both the season MVP and the NBA Finals MVP. The NBA regular season would not begin again in December until the 2020–21 NBA season.
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