List of NBA champions

The NBA Finals is the annual championship series for the National Basketball Association (NBA) held at the conclusion of its postseason. All NBA Finals have been played in a best-of-seven format, and are contested between the winners of the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference (prior to 1971 it was played between division playoff winners), except in when the Eastern Division champion faced the winner between the Western and Central Division champions. From 1946 through 1949, when the league was known as the Basketball Association of America (BAA), the playoffs were a three-stage tournament where the two semifinal winners played each other in the finals. The winning team of the series receives the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, which has been awarded since 1977 (between 1947 and 1976 the winning team received the Walter A. Brown Trophy).

Champions

The most recent champions are the New York Knicks, who won their first championship since 1973. The Boston Celtics have won the most championships of any team in the league at 18. , the Eastern champions have a 42–38 advantage in NBA titles over the Western champions. The 1949–50 Minneapolis Lakers, who won the NBA Finals, are counted in the Eastern versus Western champions record as they played that sole season in the Central Division before returning to the Western Division.

The first parentheses in the Western champions and Eastern champions columns indicate the teams' playoff seed. The second parentheses indicate the number of times that teams have appeared in an NBA Finals as well as each respective team's NBA Finals record to date.

BoldWinning team of the BAA/NBA FinalsItalicsTeam with home-court advantageItalicsFinals MVP was on losing teamOnly defunct team to win championship

YearWestern championCoachResultEastern championCoachFinals MVP 1947Chicago Stags (1) (1, 0–1)Harold Olsen 1–4Philadelphia Warriors (2) (1, 1–0)Eddie Gottliebn/a 1948Baltimore Bullets (2) (1, 1–0)Buddy Jeannette 4–2Philadelphia Warriors (1) (2, 1–1) 1949Minneapolis Lakers (2) (1, 1–0)|| rowspan="2" |John Kundla||align=center| 4–2||Washington Capitols (1) (1, 0–1)||Red Auerbach||align=center| |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Minneapolis Lakers (1) (2, 2–0)|| align="center" | 4–2||Syracuse Nationals (1) (1, 0–1) ||Al Cervi | align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Rochester Royals (2) (1, 1–0)||Les Harrison||align=center| 4–3||New York Knicks (3) (1, 0–1)|| rowspan="3" |Joe Lapchick||align=center| |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Minneapolis Lakers (2) (3, 3–0) || rowspan="3" |John Kundla||align=center| 4–3||New York Knicks (3) (2, 0–2)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Minneapolis Lakers (1) (4, 4–0)|| align="center" | 4–1||New York Knicks (1) (3, 0–3)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Minneapolis Lakers (1) (5, 5–0) || align="center" | 4–3||Syracuse Nationals (1) (2, 0–2)|| rowspan="2" |Al Cervi||align=center| |- |align=center| ||Fort Wayne Pistons (1) (1, 0–1)|| rowspan="2" |Charles Eckman||align=center| 3–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Syracuse Nationals (1) (3, 1–2)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Fort Wayne Pistons (1) (2, 0–2)|| align="center" | 1–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Philadelphia Warriors (1) (3, 2–1)||George Senesky||align=center| |- |align=center| ||St. Louis Hawks (1) (1, 0–1)|| rowspan="2" |Alex Hannum||align=center| 3–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (1, 1–0)|| rowspan="10" |Red Auerbach||align=center| |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| St. Louis Hawks (1) (2, 1–1)|| align="center" | 4–2||Boston Celtics (1) (2, 1–1)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Minneapolis Lakers (2) (6, 5–1)||John Kundla||align=center| 0–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (3, 2–1)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||St. Louis Hawks (1) (3, 1–2)||Ed Macauley||align=center| 3–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (4, 3–1)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||St. Louis Hawks (1) (4, 1–3)||Paul Seymour||align=center| 1–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (5, 4–1)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (1) (7, 5–2)|| rowspan="2" |Fred Schaus||align=center| 3–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (6, 5–1)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (1) (8, 5–3)|| align="center" | 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (7, 6–1)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||San Francisco Warriors (1) (4, 2–2)||Alex Hannum||align=center| 1–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (8, 7–1)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (1) (9, 5–4) || rowspan="2" |Fred Schaus||align=center| 1–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (9, 8–1)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (1) (10, 5–5)|| align="center" | 3–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (2) (10, 9–1)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||San Francisco Warriors (1) (5, 2–3)||Bill Sharman||align=center| 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Philadelphia 76ers (1) (4, 2–2)||Alex Hannum||align=center| |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (2) (11, 5–6)|| rowspan="2" |Butch van Breda Kolff||align=center| 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (2) (11, 10–1)|| rowspan="2" |Bill Russell||align=center| |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (1) (12, 5–7)|| align="center" | 3–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (4) (12, 11–1) |style="background:#FFBBBB"|Jerry West|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (2) (13, 5–8)||Joe Mullaney||align=center| 3–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| New York Knicks (1) (4, 1–3)||Red Holzman |Willis Reed|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Milwaukee Bucks (1) (1, 1–0)||Larry Costello||align=center| 4–0||Baltimore Bullets (1) (1, 0–1)||Gene Shue |Lew Alcindor|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Los Angeles Lakers (1) (14, 6–8)|| rowspan="2" |Bill Sharman||align=center| 4–1||New York Knicks (2) (5, 1–4)|| rowspan="2" |Red Holzman |Wilt Chamberlain|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (2) (15, 6–9)|| align="center" | 1–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| New York Knicks (2) (6, 2–4) |Willis Reed|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Milwaukee Bucks (1) (2, 1–1)||Larry Costello||align=center| 3–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (13, 12–1)||Tom Heinsohn |John Havlicek|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Golden State Warriors (1) (6, 3–3)||Al Attles||align=center| 4–0||Washington Bullets (2) (2, 0–2)||K.C. Jones | Rick Barry|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Phoenix Suns (3) (1, 0–1)||John MacLeod||align=center| 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (14, 13–1)||Tom Heinsohn | Jo Jo White|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Portland Trail Blazers (3) (1, 1–0)||Jack Ramsay||align=center| 4–2||Philadelphia 76ers (1) (5, 2–3)||Gene Shue | Bill Walton|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Seattle SuperSonics (4) (1, 0–1)|| rowspan="2" |Lenny Wilkens||align=center| 3–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Washington Bullets (3) (3, 1–2)|| rowspan="2" |Dick Motta | Wes Unseld|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Seattle SuperSonics (1) (2, 1–1)|| align="center" | 4–1||Washington Bullets (1) (4, 1–3) | Dennis Johnson|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Los Angeles Lakers (1) (16, 7–9)||Paul Westhead||align=center| 4–2||Philadelphia 76ers (3) (6, 2–4)||Billy Cunningham | Magic Johnson|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Houston Rockets (6) (1, 0–1)||Del Harris||align=center| 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (15, 14–1)||Bill Fitch | Cedric Maxwell|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Los Angeles Lakers (1) (17, 8–9)|| rowspan="4" |Pat Riley||align=center| 4–2||Philadelphia 76ers (3) (7, 2–5)|| rowspan="2" |Billy Cunningham | Magic Johnson|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (1) (18, 8–10)|| align="center" | 0–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Philadelphia 76ers (1) (8, 3–5) | Moses Malone|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (1) (19, 8–11)|| align="center" | 3–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (16, 15–1)|| rowspan="4" |K.C. Jones | Larry Bird|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Los Angeles Lakers (1) (20, 9–11)|| align="center" | 4–2||Boston Celtics (1) (17, 15–2) | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Houston Rockets (2) (2, 0–2)||Bill Fitch||align=center| 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Boston Celtics (1) (18, 16–2) | Larry Bird|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Los Angeles Lakers (1) (21, 10–11)|| rowspan="3" |Pat Riley||align=center| 4–2||Boston Celtics (1) (19, 16–3) | Magic Johnson|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Los Angeles Lakers (1) (22, 11–11)|| align="center" | 4–3||Detroit Pistons (2) (3, 0–3)|| rowspan="3" |Chuck Daly | James Worthy|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (1) (23, 11–12)|| align="center" | 0–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Detroit Pistons (1) (4, 1–3) | Joe Dumars|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Portland Trail Blazers (3) (2, 1–1)||Rick Adelman||align=center| 1–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Detroit Pistons (1) (5, 2–3) | Isiah Thomas|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Los Angeles Lakers (3) (24, 11–13)||Mike Dunleavy||align=center| 1–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Chicago Bulls (1) (1, 1–0)|| rowspan="3" |Phil Jackson | rowspan="3" | Michael Jordan|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Portland Trail Blazers (1) (3, 1–2)||Rick Adelman||align=center| 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Chicago Bulls (1) (2, 2–0)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Phoenix Suns (1) (2, 0–2)||Paul Westphal||align=center| 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Chicago Bulls (2) (3, 3–0)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Houston Rockets (2) (3, 1–2)|| rowspan="2" |Rudy Tomjanovich||align=center| 4–3||New York Knicks (2) (7, 2–5)||Pat Riley | rowspan="2" | Hakeem Olajuwon|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Houston Rockets (6) (4, 2–2)|| align="center" | 4–0||Orlando Magic (1) (1, 0–1)||Brian Hill|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Seattle SuperSonics (1) (3, 1–2)||George Karl||align=center| 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Chicago Bulls (1) (4, 4–0)|| rowspan="3" |Phil Jackson | rowspan="3" | Michael Jordan|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Utah Jazz (1) (1, 0–1)|| rowspan="2" |Jerry Sloan||align=center| 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Chicago Bulls (1) (5, 5–0)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||Utah Jazz (1) (2, 0–2)|| align="center" | 2–4||style="background:#FFFF99"| Chicago Bulls (1) (6, 6–0)|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| San Antonio Spurs (1) (1, 1–0)||Gregg Popovich||align=center| 4–1||New York Knicks (8) (8, 2–6)||Jeff Van Gundy | Tim Duncan|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Los Angeles Lakers (1) (25, 12–13)|| rowspan="3" |Phil Jackson||align=center| 4–2||Indiana Pacers (1) (1, 0–1)||Larry Bird | rowspan="3" | Shaquille O'Neal|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Los Angeles Lakers (2) (26, 13–13)|| align="center" | 4–1||Philadelphia 76ers (1) (9, 3–6)||Larry Brown|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| Los Angeles Lakers (3) (27, 14–13)|| align="center" | 4–0||New Jersey Nets (1) (1, 0–1)|| rowspan="2" |Byron Scott|| align="center" | |- |align=center| ||style="background:#FFFF99"| San Antonio Spurs (1) (2, 2–0)||Gregg Popovich||align=center| 4–2||New Jersey Nets (2) (2, 0–2) | Tim Duncan|| align="center" | |-