The NBA’s Record-Winning Teams

A look at the NBA’s all-time winningest teams, both regular season and playoffs.

The Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are an American professional basketball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Eastern Conference Atlantic Division Founded in 1946 as one of the league’s original eight teams, the team play their home games at TD Garden, which they share with the National Hockey League (NHL)’s Boston Bruins The Celtics are one of the most successful teams in NBA history the franchise has won the most championships in the NBA with 17, accounting for 24.6 percent of all NBA championships since the league’s founding.

The Los Angeles Lakers

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 andAgain, the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.

One of the most successful teams in NBA history the Lakers have won 16 NBA Championships the second-most behind the Boston Celtics The franchise began with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League (NBL). The new team began playing in Minneapolis, calling themselves the Minneapolis Lakers Initially a member of the NBL, the Lakers won the 1948 NBL championship before joiningthe rival Basketball Association of America (BAA), where they would win five of their next six championships.

Led by Hall of Famers George Mikan Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Los Angeles made eight straight NBA Finals appearances from 1982 to 1989. After losing in six Finals Appearances from 1980 to 1988, including heartbreaking losses in playoff runs to eventual championsMagic Johnson’s 1980–1981 and Larry Bird’s 1984–1985 Boston Celtics squads that each posted 63 regular season wins,[17][18] they finally defeated Johnson’s “Showtime”-era]) 1990 squad for their first championship since 1972 by winning 4 games to 2. This marked Showtime Lakers’ last appearance in an NBA Finals series prior to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal leading them back into prominence starting from 1999 onwards.

The Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors are a professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are members of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and they have won three NBA championships The Warriors have also won five conference championships and they have made it to the playoffs in nineteen of their twenty-seven seasons in the NBA.

The Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are an American professional Basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Eastern Conference Central Division The team was founded on January 16, 1966, and played its first game during the 1966–67 NBA season The Bulls play their home games at the United Center an arena shared with fellow NBA team the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL).

The Bulls saw their greatest success during the 1990s when they won six NBA championships led by then-star players Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen All six championship teams were coached by Phil Jackson The duo of Jordan and Pippen are one of only two pairs of teammates to have won multiple NBA Championships with multiple teams (the other being Magic Johnson & Kareem Abdul Jabbar). The Bulls are sharers of the record for December 11, 1991 when three players – Pippen, B. J. Armstrong and Horace Grant – each scored 30 or more points in a 154-97 win against Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics

The San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio Texas. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Southwest Division The team plays its home games at the AT&T Center in San Antonio

The Spurs are one of four former American Basketball Association (ABA) teams to remain intact in the NBA after the 1976 ABA–NBA merger and are the only former ABA team to have won an NBA Championship The franchise has captured five NBA Championships which is tied for fourth-most in NBA history behind only the Boston Celtics (17), Los Angeles Lakers (16), and Chicago Bulls (6). As of 2020, the Spurs have won 22 division titles since joining the NBA in 1976.}

The Miami Heat

The Miami Heat is an American professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida. The Heat competes in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Eastern Conference Southeast Division The Heat plays their Home Games at American Airlines Arena and has won three NBA championships

The franchise began play in 1988 as an expansion team. After a lackluster inaugural season, the Heat posted a winning record in their second season, only to be eliminated from the playoffs in the first round. In 2002, the Heat won a franchise-record 62 games, and embarked on a historic playoff run. The franchise went on to win their first ever NBA Championship that same year.

The Heat would go on to win two more championships in 2006 and 2012. Between 2006 and 2020, the Heat made the NBA Finals six times, winning three times.

The Oklahoma City Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City Oklahoma. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Western Conference Northwest Division The team plays its home games at Chesapeake Energy Arena

The Thunder were previously known as the Seattle SuperSonics an American professional basketball team that played in the NBA from 1967 until 2008. In 2008, the SuperSonics relocated from Seattle to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder.

The Houston Rockets

In the 1995-96 NBA season the Houston Rockets had the best record in the league, winning 58 games. The team was led by All-Stars Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler who were both in their thirties. The Rockets also had key contributions from young players like Sam Mack and Robert Horry. The team’s Head Coach Rudy Tomjanovich, was named Coach of the Year.

The Detroit Pistons

The Pistons have won 3 NBA Championships (1989, 1990, 2004), making them the most successful NBA franchise in history. They are also the only team to have won back-to-back championships since the creation of the NBA in 1946.

The Pistons were founded in 1941 as a member of the National Basketball League (NBL). They joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1948, and when the two leagues merged to form the NBA in 1949, the Pistons became a charter member. The team has been based in Detroit since 1957, when they moved from Fort Wayne Indiana.

The Pistons made their first appearance in the NBA Finals in 1956, but they were swept by the Philadelphia Warriors They reached the Finals again in 1988 and 1989, and won their first championship by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in a four-game sweep. Led by MVP Isiah Thomas the “Bad Boys” Pistons repeated as champions in 1990 with a five-game victory over the Portland Trail Blazers

In 2004, led by Finals MVP Chauncey Billups and head coach Larry Brown the Pistons won their third championship with a six-game victory over the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers The Pistons became only the fourth team in NBA history to win a championship after being down three games to one in the Finals.

The New York Knicks

The New York Knicks are one of the most successful teams in the NBA, with a record number of wins. The team has won two NBA championships in 1970 and 1973, and has been to the Finals eight times. The Knicks have also won six conference championships and five division titles.