Image via Complex Original
As much as some NBA fans and athletes try to deny it, an NBA championship holds more weight than any regular season accolades or broken records ever could. When you think about Michael Jordan, you don't think "14-time NBA All-Star," you think "six-time NBA champion." Same goes for Bill Russell. The greatest center of all time is primarily known for his unmatched 11 rings.
Then, there's the guys like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and Karl Malone, who are all among the greatest players of all time but will always be associated with being ringless. But what about the ballers on the other end of the spectrum who had medicore careers, at best, but ended up with one, two, three, or more rings due to the play of their Hall of Fame teammates? You know, draft busts like Adam Morrison, who rode the bench as the Lakers won back-to-back titles or former D-League players like Gabe Pruitt, who had no business being in the L but somehow got a ring before execs figured it out. This list is dedicated to those guys. Here are the 20 Worst NBA Players to Win an NBA Championship.
Written by James Bedell (@iamjamesbedell)
RELATED: The Worst NBA Playoff Performances by Great Players
20. Spencer Haywood
Career (Years): 11: 1970-1980, 1981-1983
Championship Year(s): 1980 (Lakers)
Career Stats: 19.2 PPG 1.8 APG 9.3 RPG
At first glance, 19.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game sounds like a player you would want on your team, right? Not if you're the coach. After passing out due to his cocaine addiction during a practice following Game 1 of the 1980 NBA Finals and only putting up two points in Game 2, coach Paul Westhead suspended him for the only championship of Spencer Haywood's career. He put a mafia hit on his coach for the move, but later pulled it. The fact that he still got to keep the ring may have softened the blow.
19. Dickey Simpkins
Career (Years): 7: 1994-2001
Championship Year(s): 1996 (Bulls), 1997 (Bulls), 1998 (Bulls)
Career Stats: 4.2 PPG 0.9 APG 3.6 RPG
By the time the 1998 NBA Playoffs rolled around, Dickey Simpkins was already the owner of two NBA Championship rings. Unfortunately for Simpkins, he was not on the active roster for either of them. He did finally get his chance in 1998, however, and contributed a valuable 1.2 points and one rebound per game for the Chicago Bulls' third title in three years.
18. Jackie Robinson
Career (Years): 3: 1978-1980, 1981-1982
Championship Year(s): 1979 (SuperSonics)
Career Stats: 3.8 PPG 0.6 APG 1.2 RPG
Probably doomed to obscurity from the start with a name like that, Jackie Robinson helped the 1979 Seattle SuperSonics reach the playoffs. It would be nice to say his 3.8 points per game contributed to the Sonics' championship, but it didn't. He didn't play.
17. Mengke Bateer
Career (Years): 3: 2001-2004
Championship Year(s): 2003 (Spurs)
Career Stats: 3.4 PPG 0.6 APG 2.5 RPG
When you think of Chinese-born basketball players, you probably jump straight to Yao Ming, then maybe Wang Zhizhi. It was Mengke Bateer, however, who managed to become the first Chinese basketball player to start a game in the NBA. On that momentous occasion, Bateer scored four points on 28 percent shooting, fouled out, and the Denver Nuggets lost by 25 points. He also became the first Chinese player to win an NBA championship, effortlessly sitting on the bench for the San Antonio Spurs in 2003.
16. Brian Cardinal
Career (Years): 12: 2000-2012
Championship Year(s): 2011 (Mavericks)
Career Stats: 4.6 PPG 1.0 APG 2.3 RPG
After playing for six different teams—one of them in Europe—Brian "The Custodian" Cardinal made an incredible 66.7 percent of his field goals in the 2011 NBA Finals, helping the Dallas Mavericks secure the title. The team brought him back the next season to build on his success, but Cardinal swept up the last of his career with a field-goal percentage of just 25 percent. So the question is: What's more embarrassing—missing 75 percent of your shots for an entire season or being traded for Darko Miličić?
15. Scot Pollard
Career (Years): 11: 1997-2008
Championship Year(s): 2008 (Celtics)
Career Stats: 4.4 PPG 0.4 APG 4.6 RPG
When Pollard tells people about his NBA career, he can say with the sole exception of his first year, that he went to the playoffs every year during his career. And he capped it off with the Boston Celtics while winning the 2008 NBA Championship. While he had showed flashes of decency in Sacramento as "Samurai Scot," he might leave out the part that he didn't actually play a minute in Boston's championship run. Either way, he may be best-known for a timeout in 2007 in which he turned to the television cameras and said, "Hey kids, do drugs."
14. Scott Hastings
Career (Years): 11: 1982-1993
Championship Year(s): 1990 (Pistons)
Career Stats: 2.8 PPG 0.5 APG 2.2 RPG
Players with championship rings tend to be the kinds of players who set records. Scott Hastings of the 1990 NBA champion Detroit Pistons is no exception. At 65 games, he holds the NBA record for most consecutive games without a steal. In reality, that doesn't seem like a very long time, but in Hastings' reality, those 65 games were played over the course of three years.
13. Luke Walton
Career (Years): 10: 2003-present
Championship Year(s): 2009 (Lakers), 2010 (Lakers)
Career Stats: 4.7 PPG 2.3 APG 2.8 RPG
As a key benchwarmer for the 2009 and 2010 Lakers championships, Luke Walton probably owes the existence of his career to his father, Hall of Famer Bill Walton. When they get together for family functions, they can both relay stories about winning their NBA championships. Then, Bill can talk about hoisting the Finals MVP trophy after a hard-fought battle before Luke dazzles the children with stories of courageously grabbing towels for Kobe during key timeouts.
12. Jack Haley
Career (Years): 9: 1988-1998
Championship Year(s): 1996 (Bulls)
Career Stats: 3.5 PPG 0.2 APG 2.7 RPG
During the 1995-96 NBA season, the Chicago Bulls won an NBA-record 72 games en route to a championship. Haley only played in one of those games, but his five points on 2-for-6 shooting helped them put that one away. Plus, he was often referred to as Dennis Rodman's "babysitter." Who knows what Rodman would have been up to if not for him?
11. Brian Scalabrine
Career (Years): 11: 2001-2012
Championship Year(s): 2008 (Celtics)
Career Stats: 3.1 PPG 0.8 APG 2.0 RPG
While fans of the teams for which he played usually praise the White Mamba, there's probably a good reason he didn't play a single playoff game the year he became an NBA champion. Does that matter to Scalabrine? Apparently not. When asked about his lack of playing time at the post-series press conference, he responded, "In 10 years I'll still be a champ. In 20 years I'll tell my kids I probably started, and in 30 years, I'll probably tell them I got the MVP." Brian Scalabrine: 2008 Finals MVP.
10. Jacque Vaughn
Career (Years): 12: 1997-2009
Championship Year(s): 2007 (Spurs)
Career Stats: 4.5 PPG 2.5 APG 1.3 RPG
In the midst of Orlando's Dwightmare, head coach Stan Van Gundy was fired and replaced with first-time head coach Jacque Vaughn. What was it that the Magic liked about Vaughn? His assistant coaching experience in San Antonio? His NBA Championship with the Spurs in 2007? His NBA record for most consecutive field goals missed (22) to begin a season? It's probably the last one. You can't win the NBA Draft lottery without proper coaching.
9. Eddy Curry
Career (Years): 11: 2001-2012
Championship Year(s): 2012
Career Stats: 12.9 PPG 0.5 APG 5.2 RPG
Although he was a piece of the trade that brought Carmelo Anthony to New York City, the Knicks faithful groan upon the mention that Eddy Curry won a NBA Championship in 2012 with the Heat. The former Knick was the cernterpiece to a disasterous era in New York basketball, as his poor performance and weight issues were paired with the lost draft picks traded away to acquire him, one of which was the No. 2 overall pick in 2006 (LaMarcus Aldridge).
8. Nate Bowman
Career (Years): 6: 1966-1972
Championship Year(s): 1970 (Knicks)
Career Stats: 2.9 PPG 0.7 APG 3.4 RPG
Nate Bowman, nicknamed "Nate the Snake," upped his field goal percentage to 38 percent for the playoff run ending in the 1970 NBA Championship for the New York Knicks. While his career 2.9 points per game certainly added to his value, his trademark accomplishment was tallying more personal fouls (557) than field goals (317) over his career, thus earning him his dubious nickname.
7. Darko Miličić
Career (Years): 9: 2003-2012
Championship Year(s): 2004 (Pistons)
Career Stats: 6.0 PPG 0.9 APG 4.2 RPG
Best known for being picked second overall in the 2003 NBA Draft before future stars Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade, it's often overlooked that he beat all of those players—including first-overall pick LeBron James—to his first championship ring. He doesn't have that on three of those guys now, but you can imagine he heckled Melo about it every time he played the Knicks...from the sidelines, of course.
6. Adam Morrison
Career (Years): 4: 2006-2010
Championship Year(s): 2009 (Lakers), 2010 (Lakers)
Career Stats: 7.5 PPG 1.4 APG 2.1 RPG
Part of the infamous class of 2006, Adam Morrison was chosen third overall as Michael Jordan's first pick for the Charlotte Bobcats. After posting a 37 percent field-goal percentage his first year, Morrison eventually won two NBA championships with the Lakers. If not for the eight points on 4-for-9 shooting during the two games in which he played, who knows how his team would have fared? Maybe his March Madness crying incident wasn't for being eliminated, but for the future of his "career."
5. D.J. Mbenga
Career (Years): 7: 2004-2011
Championship Year(s): 2009 (Lakers), 2010 (Lakers)
Career Stats: 1.8 PPG 0.2 APG 1.5 RPG
Born and raised in then-Zaire, at one point D.J. Mbenga was scheduled to be executed because of his father's ties to a past regime. Negotiations enabled him to overcome this hardship and eventually play in the NBA. Despite playing for the Mavericks in 2006, Mbenga had to watch the Finals from home after being suspended for entering the stands during a game. Knowing the team could have won with him on the sideline, he kept his behavior in check and contributed his 0.3 and 1.7 points per game in each of the Lakers' 2009 and 2010 championships.
4. Mark Madsen
Career (Years): 9: 2000-2009
Championship Year(s): 2001 (Lakers), 2002 (Lakers)
Career Stats: 2.2 PPG 0.4 APG 2.6 RPG
Most players in the NBA bring out their best performances during the Finals. That wasn't the case for Mark Madsen, who brought out his best after the Lakers' championship crown had already been won. He may not have contributed much on the court, but his dancing during the victory parade was unforgettable. Sidebar: Yes, that's Kobe Bryant in the background wearing his own throwback jersey to the championship parade. #onlymamba
3. Chris Jent
Career (Years): 2: 1993-1994, 1996-1997
Championship Year(s): 1994 (Rockets)
Career Stats: 6.2 PPG 1.3 APG 2.7 RPG
It took LeBron James nine seasons to win an NBA championship. It took Kobe Bryant four. Both of them, however, could have taken a lesson from Chris Jent to get there sooner. Jent earned (and we use the word "earned" loosely here) his championship ring after playing only 14 games in the NBA, winning with the Rockets in 1994. Of course, he only played 17 games total, but that speaks more to his efficiency, right?
2. Gabe Pruitt
Career (Years): 2: 2007-2009
Championship Year(s): 2008 (Celtics)
Career Stats: 2.0 PPG 0.8 APG 0.8 RPG
Many players try to get into the NBA and fail in their attempt. Many who do make it don't end up staying long. It's the latter for Smilin' Gabe Pruitt, who only played two seasons for the Celtics before relocating to the D-League. Being a fourth-string point guard isn't so much fun, but a 2008 NBA Championship ring isn't so bad a consolation prize, is it? Given that he got his nickname due to the frequency of his smiling, we doubt he's losing any sleep over it.
1. Sun Yue
Career (Years): 1: 2008-09 (played in a total of 10 games)
Championship Year(s): 2009 (Lakers)
Career Stats: 2.8 MPG 0.2 APG 1.3 SPG 1.3 BPG
For one season, Sun Yue lived the life every Kobe stan dreams of. He got to spend the year with the Black Mamba and say he "helped" the Lake Show win a ring in the process. After playing for the CBA's Beijing Olympians for a few seasons, Yue was drafted in the second round (40th overall) in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Lakers. Yue stayed with the Olympians for another season before joining the Lakers in August 2008.
He made his debut in December in a win over Milwaukee in which he played for five minutes, scored four points, picked up four fouls, and committed two turnovers. That game would be the highlight of his career as he only scored two more points in the NBA after that. He rode the bench while somehow avoiding being waived as Kobe and the Lake Show won the franchise's 15th title that year. After the season, Yue was waived by the Lakers, picked up by the Knicks, and later waived again before the start of the next season. Even still, Yue is the first player of ethnic Han Chinese descent to win an NBA championship. What a legacy!