The 7 Least Deserving NBA Champions of the Last 20 Years

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Following the Heat’s blowout victory over the Thunder on Thursday night, Kevin Love, one of the funniest and poignant athletes on Twitter, facetiously tweeted, “Eddy Curry finally getting that ring.”

That got me thinking, what bench-warmers and busts out there ended up getting rings without contributing much of anything to their respective teams’ championship runs?

While this is by no means an exhaustive list, here’s a look at some players in the last 20-or-so years who did pretty much nothing to help their teams win the ultimate prize.

7. Scott Pollard, Boston Celtics

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Remember him? The guy with the crazy hair and facial expressions (almost like Birdman 1.0, minus the child-porn charges) who was Vlade Divac’s backup in Sacramento in the late '90s?

Following a decent stint with the Kings back in the day, some might be surprised to find that he was actually on the Celtics' roster in 2008 when they won it all.

The only problem was that he barely played the entire season and didn’t score a single point or record a single rebound during the playoffs. 

6. Adam Morrison, Los Angeles Lakers

Perhaps known best for his incredibly sketchy, prepubescent mustache during his college days at Gonzaga and his obnoxious on-court demeanor, Morrison was drafted by the Bobcats. By 2009, Morrison had been traded to the Lakers after it was discovered he couldn't create his own shot and was mostly useless.

In two seasons as a Laker from 2008-10, he averaged 1.3 and 2.4 points per game and found himself a nice cushy chair at the end of the bench for both seasons.

But those numbers were good enough to score him two NBA title rings. That’s two more than Charles Barkley. 

5. Michael Doleac, Miami Heat

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A man whose personality has often been cited as slightly more riveting than tofu, Doleac enjoyed a nearly 10-year career as a backup center or a backup center’s backup for several teams.

Never averaging more than seven points and four rebounds per game in any of his nine seasons despite being nearly 7' tall, Doleac scored himself a shiny ring with the Heat in 2006—when they won their first ever NBA championship—while averaging a gaudy 3.2 PPG and 2.7 RPG.

4. Eddy Curry, Miami Heat

One half of the “Baby Bulls” duo, Curry is hard to qualify as anything other than an outright bust.

While Tyson Chandler has gone on to become one of the NBA’s best inside defenders, Curry has become the Garfunkel to Chandler’s Simon.

After getting traded from the Bulls, Curry decided to devour the Big Apple, ballooning to well over 300 pounds and playing with the intelligence and physique of a giant bag of marshmallows.

Though he slimmed down this season, he hardly played at all for the Heat and didn’t play a single second in the playoffs.

3. Ricky Blanton, Chicago Bulls

When people hear the name "Ricky Blanton," their first reaction is typically, “Who the hell is Ricky Blanton?”

Well, to answer this burning question, he was a forward drafted by the Suns and sent to the Bulls during their first championship run in 1992-93.

Despite playing only two games for the Bulls, the guy averaged three points per game and did some excellent coattail riding on his way to becoming an NBA champion. 

2. Tony Massenburg, San Antonio Spurs

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Sharing a dubious NBA record for most teams played for, Massenburg astonishingly played in the league for 14 seasons.

While some might say that his mere longevity means he deserved that championship ring that the 2004-05 Spurs handed him, those people would do well to look at his actual contributions to an otherwise legendary team: 3.2 PPG and 2.7 RPG and enjoying nearly zero minutes during the playoffs. Not exactly Sixth Man of the Year material.

1. Will Perdue, Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs

If one were to inform Karl Malone that Will Perdue has four more NBA championships than him, The Mailman might remorsefully look back on his stint with the Lakers and wish he had spent more time trying to win a championship with the team and less time (allegedly) hitting on Kobe Bryant’s wife.

Perdue’s two championships with the Bulls and two with the Spurs may make him the ultimate NBA lurker.

He’s like a guy who consistently shows up uninvited to a celebrity’s mansion parties, drinks all the good booze, clogs the toilets and passes out pants down on the lawn, only to wake up early enough in the morning to leave without getting arrested.