The best champions to never win NBA Finals MVP

23 April 2013: Boston Celtics center Kevin Garnett (5) during game two of the first round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY The Knicks defeated the Celtics 87-71 to lead the series 2-0. (Photo by Rich Kane/Icon SMI/Corbis via Getty Images) /

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A photograph of Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes, basketball players for Baltimore Bullets, on court, April 1, 1981. (Photo by Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images) /

Elvin Hayes

The Big E was far from the most exciting player in NBA history, but he was certainly one of the most reliable. After leading the NBA in scoring his rookie year, he went on to average over twenty points a game in ten of his first twelve seasons. Pretty much every night, you knew what you were gonna get from Hayes — 20 points and 10 rebounds — but it was not until his tenth season, as a member of the Washington Bullets that Hayes won that elusive NBA championship, helping to dispatch the Seattle Supersonics in seven games. In a decision that looks extremely confusing today, Wes Unseld won Finals MVP that year despite the fact that he did not lead the Bullets in any major statistical category that series. Despite being forgotten by many NBA fans today, Hayes remains the tenth-leading scorer in NBA history with over 27,000 points.

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