5 best Boston Celtics to never win a ring

1. Antoine Walker

After a good career at Kentucky, Walker was drafted sixth overall in 1996 by the Celtics. He went on to average at least 20 points per game in five of the next seven seasons (four under Rick Pitino, his coach at Kentucky). In the final three of those seasons, his 3-point shooting volume spiked in such a way that he would fit right in with the modern NBA as a combo forward who can stretch the floor.

1999-2000 season: 3.5 3-point attempts per game
2000-01 season: 7.4 attempts per game
2001-02 season: 8.0 attempts per game
2002-03 season: 7.5 attempts per game

Walker was never afraid to shoot, as he led the league in 3-point attempts three times. In one of those seasons, 2001-02, he led the league in makes and attempts from beyond the arc and overall field goal misses. And defense was generally more of an idea than any effort to put into practice, but that was part of Walker’s charm as a player.

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In Celtics’ history, Walker sits highly in a lot of field goal shooting-related statistics, good or bad as expected, and he’s also (not surprisingly) sixth in team history in total offensive rebounds and fifth in total turnovers. He’s sixth in franchise history in minutes per game (39.2) and third in usage rate (27.8).

In a broad sense, Walker is very underrated since the meaningful chunk of his career was spent in the long title-less drought for the Celtics. But that also makes him the best Celtic to never win a ring.

Honorable Mentions: John Bagley, Dana Barros, Dino Radja