Adam Silver got what he wanted.
With a Game 7 upset over top-seeded Oklahoma City, Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs guaranteed that an eighth different team in as many years will be crowned champion of the NBA. Such variety seemed impossible as recently as 2018, when the Golden State Warriors were at the height of their reign and decades of history suggested the NBA would always be the American sports league most characterized by dynasties.
But with a collective bargaining agreement averse to super-teams, everything changed. New luxury tax thresholds were introduced, imposing punitive roster-building restrictions on big spenders, scaring teams away from keeping their championship cores intact. The second apron became the boogeyman to front offices. Unrestricted free agency has crept toward extinction. The art of roster architecture has been replaced by the tedium of money management in many cases.
The Nuggets have been profoundly impacted by a system designed to make it harder for them to win Nikola Jokic a second ring. Other repeat dreamers have been thwarted as well. Boston essentially salary-dumped multiple Finals starters last offseason. Even the indefatigable Thunder will face uncomfortable decisions this summer (and next) as its payroll spikes into the second apron.
Titles are not to be taken for granted anymore. One is the new two.
As the Spurs and Knicks tipped off their best-of-seven series this week, we endeavored to rank all 16 teams that have reached the NBA Finals (including them) during the eight-year era of parity, dating back to 2019. Thirteen different franchises have fielded a Finals team during that time, including seven different Western Conference champs in the last seven seasons.
Which one-hit wonders have stood out most in a decade defined by the elusiveness of sustained dominance?
1. Boston Celtics, 2024
- Regular season: 64-18 (1st in East)
- Net rating: 11.7 (1st)
- Playoffs: 16-3
- Playoff net: 8.6
The only team on this list that won 60 or more regular-season games and never faced elimination in the playoffs. The Celtics are a fitting choice for the most dominant team of the parity era so far because they’re the rare case of an NBA champion without an inner circle Hall of Famer. Instead, they caught lightning in a bottle with a starting lineup featuring five All-Star-caliber two-way talents: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (the franchise cornerstones) were surrounded by Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis.
2. Oklahoma City Thunder, 2025
- Regular season: 68-14 (1st in West)
- RS net rating: 12.7 (1st)
- Playoffs: 16-7
- Playoff net: 8.6
OKC has a fair case for the No. 1 spot, but nitpicking is the only way to differentiate between this team and Boston. The 2025 champs are docked a few brownie points only because they had to survive two home Game 7s against hobbled opponents. That doesn’t make the banner any less valid, but it does leave room to distinguish between their regular-season dominance and their ability to close out a playoff series. Still, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams were brilliant throughout this run, and OKC’s depth (aided by a lopsided 2024 offseason trade for Alex Caruso) suffocated top-heavy teams like Denver.
3. Golden State Warriors, 2019
- Regular season: 57-25 (1st in West)
- RS net rating: 6.5 (2nd)
- Playoffs: 14-8
- Playoff net: 3.1
The most difficult team to place, for obvious reasons. Crushing injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson symbolically marked the end of Golden State’s dominion and the beginning of the post-dynasty NBA. But when the two-time defending champion Warriors were healthy, they were still, you know, arguably the greatest roster ever assembled. They still almost pushed Toronto to a Finals Game 7 even after Durant tore his Achilles and Thompson his ACL.
4. Denver Nuggets, 2023
- Regular season: 53-29 (1st in West)
- RS net rating: 3.3 (6th)
- Playoffs: 16-4
- Playoff net: 8.0
The Nuggets lack the eye-popping regular-season résumé of Boston or Oklahoma City, but they still controlled the No. 1 seed in their conference for the last four months of the season without dropping. More importantly, they proved their stature with the second-most dominant title run of the teams on this list, mowing through Anthony Edwards, Durant, Devin Booker, LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the West. Perhaps this will be the only year it all comes together in perfect harmony around Nikola Jokic, the most decorated player of the decade so far.
5. Los Angeles Lakers, 2020
- Regular season: 52-19 (1st in West)
- RS net rating: 5.6 (5th)
- Playoffs: 16-5
- Playoff net: 6.9
It’s hard to escape the skepticism that has greeted LeBron and the Lakers for years since they emerged from the bubble, where they won the pandemic championship in an empty gym. But make no mistake, this team was a wagon. Aside from James and Davis, Los Angeles had a stellar defensive supporting cast headlined by Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, both of whom went on to solidify their status as winning players with other champions higher on this list.
6. Toronto Raptors, 2019
- Regular season: 58-24 (2nd in East)
- Net rating: 5.8 (3rd)
- Playoffs: 16-8
- Playoff net: 5.6
One of the wildest playoff runs in league history, from Kawhi Leonard’s four-bounce buzzer beater to win Game 7, to the 2-0 series comeback in the Eastern Conference Finals, to the upset of Curry’s injury-hampered Warriors. It was Leonard’s masterpiece, but the roster around him was deeper than it’s given credit for: Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Danny Green, OG Anunoby (until he missed the playoffs due to appendicitis), Norman Powell, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka each left their marks. A delightful team.
7. Milwaukee Bucks, 2021
- Regular season: 46-26 (3rd in East)
- Net rating: 5.8 (4th)
- Playoffs: 16-7
- Playoff net: 5.3
Sure, if Kevin Durant’s foot was behind the 3-point line, Milwaukee’s season would’ve technically ended in Game 7 of the second round. But every champion needs a little bit of luck. The Bucks just got slightly more than most. They also got an absolute tour de force of a playoff run from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 40 in that Game 7 against Brooklyn, then 50 in a Game 6 win over Phoenix to close out the best Finals of the decade so far. If the Giannis era is indeed about to end in Milwaukee, at least they’ll always have 2021, when the stars aligned for Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday.
8. San Antonio Spurs, 2026*
- Regular season: 62-20 (2nd in West)
- Net rating: 8.4 (3rd)
- Playoffs: 12-7*
- Playoff net: 11.0*
They’re a few wins away from making eighth place look criminally low. For now, consider this one last gesture of trepidation toward a radically young team. By prevailing over Minnesota and OKC in back-to-back slugfests, the Spurs have shattered every precedent that experience is a non-negotiable playoff virtue. Victor Wembanyama is wise beyond his years, and Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper don’t seem to care that their combined age equals one LeBron.
9. New York Knicks, 2026*
- Regular season: 53-29 (3rd in East)
- Net rating: 6.4 (5th)
- Playoffs: 12-2*
- Playoff net: 19.8*
An 11-game win streak to bulldoze through the East playoffs forced NBA analysts to reconsider how good this Knicks team might actually be. If they can end Madison Square Garden’s title drought without needing a Game 7, they’ll join Denver and Boston as the only champions of the era to go 16-4 or better. Like the 2024 Celtics, they don’t depend on a bona fide all-time great (though Jalen Brunson will certainly achieve New York immortality if they finish this thing off). It’s the four-man core of Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges that has fueled this run, plus an unexpectedly free-wheeling use of the bench by first-year coach Mike Brown.
10. Golden State Warriors, 2022
- Regular season: 53-29 (3rd in West)
- Net rating: 5.5 (4th)
- Playoffs: 16-6
- Playoff net: 4.9
Of all the teams to raise a banner during this era, the Warriors probably had the flimsiest roster — the last remnants of their dynasty and some new friends they met along the way. That’s ultimately a credit to Curry, who averaged an efficient 31, six and five to knock off Boston. This championship is his greatest achievement. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green’s glory days were in the rearview mirror, Andrew Wiggins was the team’s second option, and Otto Porter Jr. started the last three games of the Finals.
11. Indiana Pacers, 2025
- Regular season: 50-32 (4th in East)
- Net rating: 2.1 (13th)
- Playoffs: 15-8
- Playoff net: 2.1
Basketball fans around the globe will never stop lamenting the timing of Tyrese Haliburton’s torn Achilles tendon, moments after an awe-inspiring barrage of deep 3s early in Game 7 of the Finals. Thanks in large part to their four ridiculous last-minute comebacks — one in each playoff round — the Pacers will go down in history as one of the most exciting teams that didn’t win the title.
12. Phoenix Suns, 2021
- Regular season: 51-21 (2nd in West)
- Net rating: 5.9 (3rd)
- Playoffs: 14-8
- Playoff net: 4.2
Up 2-0 on Milwaukee, then later down one point with the ball on the last possession of Game 5, Phoenix was as close to a ring as any Finals loser this century. Chris Paul and Devin Booker formed one of the best backcourts on this list. But 18 months later, the team was sold, and young role players Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson were shipped off to Brooklyn in the fateful Durant trade.
13. Boston Celtics, 2022
- Regular season: 51-31 (2nd in East)
- Net rating: 7.4 (2nd)
- Playoffs: 14-10
- Playoff net: 3.9
Playing in their fourth Eastern Conference Finals together, Tatum and Brown finally broke through. Also buoyed by Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, the Celtics survived Game 7s against Milwaukee and Miami to gain a 2-1 series edge over Golden State. Then they got fried by Curry.
14. Dallas Mavericks, 2024
- Regular season: 50-32 (5th in West)
- RS net rating: 2.1 (15th)
- Playoffs: 13-9
- Playoff net: 2.6
These regular-season numbers disguise a team that was altered at the trade deadline and dominated down the stretch. PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford were savvy acquisitions to assist Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on an impressive playoff run, highlighted by a six-game upset of the top-seeded Thunder. Little did Doncic know it would be his last chance in Dallas.
15. Miami Heat, 2020
- Regular season: 44-29 (5th in East)
- Net rating: 2.7 (7th)
- Playoffs: 14-7
- Playoff net: 1.9
Playoff risers in the bubble. An unimpeachable Jimmy Butler performance made the Finals look closer than they were, forcing Game 6 and delaying LeBron’s fourth title.
16. Miami Heat, 2023
- Regular season: 44-38 (7th in East)
- Net rating: -0.5 (21st)
- Playoffs: 13-10
- Playoff net: 1.9
Props to the Heat for milking everything it possibly could out of the Butler era. This is the only Play-In Tournament team to ever reach the Finals. Butler, Bam Adebayo and Erik Spoelstra outdid themselves, needing only five games to upset the top-seeded Bucks in the first round.
