Ranking the Last 10 NBA Champions after the Oklahoma City Thunder's 2025 Title
Although the scrappy Indiana Pacers put up a valiant effort in the 2025 NBA Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder have secured the first championship in franchise history.
Led by MVP winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC is among the most impressive recent champions.
How does the 2024-25 title-winning team stack up to champions of the last 10 years?
The ranking is subjective but considers many factors, including regular-season and playoff performance, quality of postseason opponents, efficiency metrics and individual honors.
10. 2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers
1 of 10
The toughest team to judge is the 2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the season came to a screeching halt in mid-March 2020. Nearly five months later, the campaign resumed in the Orlando-area bubble. It was like playing two different seasons.
Nevertheless, led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers stood atop the Western Conference with a 52-19 record. They had a relatively painless run through the playoffs, winning each of the first three series 4-1 before defeating the Miami Heat 4-2 in the NBA Finals.
LeBron and Davis, who both earned first-team All-NBA honors, also averaged 27-plus points in the postseason.
Los Angeles' net rating—the second-lowest mark of these champions—and, relative to the others, more favorable playoff path have the Lakers kicking off the list.
9. 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks
2 of 10
In both 2018-19 and 2019-20, the Bucks finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. However, they didn't advance to the NBA Finals either time.
Perhaps third time was the charm.
Milwaukee paced the league with 120.1 points per game, ranking second in effective field-goal percentage and tying for the fourth-highest three-point mark. And, of course, the team revolved around Giannis Antetokounmpo, a first-team All-NBA and All-Defensive selection.
After sweeping the Miami Heat to begin the postseason, the Bucks toppled the Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns.
Milwaukee's high-level efficiency clips the Lakers but isn't enough to catch a league-leading defense.
8. 2021-22 Golden State Warriors
3 of 10
Steph Curry still did Steph Curry things. But in 2021-22, defense carried the Dubs.
Golden State closed the regular season with the league's best defensive rating and the second-lowest effective field-goal percentage. Opponents averaged the second-fewest assists per game, and the Dubs corralled the second-highest percentage of defensive rebounds.
The championship didn't come without some issues, though. Following a 41-13 start, they went 12-16 down the stretch. Golden State's offensive rating was 17th and its regular-season net rating was the lowest of the teams on this list, too.
Golden State bounced back at the perfect time, though, winning all four postseason series in convincing fashion to celebrate a fourth title in eight years.
7. 2022-23 Denver Nuggets
4 of 10
One year after Steph did Steph things, Nikola Jokic matched that feeling.
Perhaps the league's back-to-back MVP felt a surge of motivation when he finished second in voting to Joel Embiid. Maybe the four seasons of playoff disappointment sparked a fire to bring back a title to Denver.
More likely, he just wanted to get buckets—and get back to his horses.
Surrounded by a cast of knockdown guards and floor-stretching bigs, Jokic helped the Nuggets end the regular season with the NBA's best effective field-goal percentage. That perimeter prowess allowed Denver to lessen the impact of a relatively average defense in a 53-29 year.
Denver impressively rolled to the championship with a 16-4 record in the playoffs, only needing a six-game series once and extinguishing the Heat in a five-game NBA Finals.
6. 2018-19 Toronto Raptors
5 of 10
Although the 2018-19 Toronto Raptors had a superstar in Kawhi Leonard, they relied on a deep, efficient group.
Kyle Lowry provided 14.2 points and 8.7 assists per game in the regular season, while Pascal Siakam assembled a breakout year that ended with the Most Improved Player award. Serge Ibaka, Danny Green and Fred VanVleet all averaged double figures, and Marc Gasol made a key impact after a midseason trade, too.
Toronto, which posted a 58-24 record, held top-five rankings in both offensive and defensive rating.
Leonard poured in 30.5 points per game during a memorable playoff run that featured a Game 7 buzzer-beater to eliminate the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers. Though the Raptors have the most postseason defeats on this list, they managed to overcome the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks and two-time defending champ Golden State. The high level of competition boosts the Raptors over the 2021-22 Warriors.
5. 2017-18 Golden State Warriors
6 of 10
Tough to follow a legendary team, you know? More on the 2016-17 Warriors later, though.
Golden State set an extremely high bar in the first season of the brief Kevin Durant era, yet the 2017-18 squad still had a stellar year. The offense led the NBA in two-point, three-point, free-throw, true shooting and effective field-goal percentage, along with points per game.
On the defensive end, the Dubs swatted the most shots in the league and allowed the NBA's third-lowest field-goal percentage.
Not bad!
Golden State dealt with more injuries than usual, which contributed to a 58-24 regular season. Additionally, the Warriors fought off two elimination games against the Rockets in the Western Conference Finals. But when the lights shined brightest, the quartet of Curry, Durant, Thompson and Green helped the Warriors run through the playoffs at 16-5 with a sweep of Cleveland in the Finals.
4. 2023-24 Boston Celtics
7 of 10
After falling in the NBA Finals two years earlier, the Boston Celtics found their redemption in 2024.
Truly an all-around team, the C's leaned on All-Star wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for their scoring as the roster also boasted All-Defensive Team honorees Jrue Holiday and Derrick White. Boston ended the regular season at a powerful 64-18 with top-three ratings on both ends of the court.
Nobody could handle that balance in the playoffs, either. Boston went 16-3 overall, never dropping more than one game in series victories over the Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, Pacers and Dallas Mavericks.
Boston secured its first NBA title in 16 years and 18th overall in franchise history.
3. 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers
8 of 10
In the moment, it seemed the 73-win Warriors could have a claim to vaulting past the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls as the best team in NBA history.
But the Cavaliers prevented that discussion from happening.
Kyrie Irving's last-minute three in Game 7 of the Finals punctuated Cleveland's epic 3-1 comeback on a fantastic Golden State team. LeBron James followed 41-point outings in Games 5 and 6 with a 27-point triple-double in the decisive clash, too.
That narrative provides a deserved boost to this roster over its champion competition. During a 57-25 regular season, Cleveland didn't lead the NBA in any major statistical categories but otherwise held a plethora of top-10 rankings, including the league's third-best offensive rating.
Plus, the Cavs swept the Detroit Pistons and Hawks prior to eliminating the Raptors in six and shocking the Warriors.
2. 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder
9 of 10
Considering how well OKC played on its way to a 68-win regular season, only a championship would be a proper end to that overpowering campaign.
The youngest team in the league shattered norms, trotting out a rotation that included only two players—Alex Caruso and Kenrich Williams—above 27 years old. Otherwise, the Thunder relied on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and (when healthy) Chet Holmgren in their pursuit of a first-ever crown in OKC.
The team's ridiculous length propelled it to leading the NBA in steals, turnovers forced and defensive rating. Oh, and the Thunder had a top-three finish in offensive rating, too.
In the postseason, OKC swept the Memphis Grizzlies before surviving a seven-game battle with the Nuggets. Following a five-game series win over the Wolves, the Thunder dispatched the pesky Pacers in seven games to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
1. 2016-17 Golden State Warriors
10 of 10
Golden State responded to its 2016 Finals collapse against Cleveland by signing Kevin Durant.
Long story short, that worked out OK.
During a 67-15 regular season, the Warriors stood atop the league in offensive rating, effective field-goal and true shooting percentage, assists, blocks and steals. Their defensive rating only trailed the 61-win Spurs, too.
Most impressively, Golden State waltzed to sweeps of Portland and Utah before Kawhi Leonard's injury left no doubt in the San Antonio sweep. Cleveland managed a win in Game 4 of the Finals, so the Warriors missed a perfect postseason by just one contest.
Durant, Curry and Green—also an All-Defensive pick—each received All-NBA honors on this juggernaut.
All stats from Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.
