3 worst players to ever win NBA Finals MVP
By Phil Watson
Since the NBA Finals MVP award was introduced in 1969, 34 players have taken home the trophy — now named the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP in a delightful bit of irony, considering the man with the most rings in NBA history never won the award. Twelve players have multiple awards, led by Michael Jordan's six and followed by LeBron James with four.
The award list reads like a "Who's Who in NBA History" collection. Of the 34 winners, 25 are in the Basketball Hall of Fame and six more players, all still active, are likely to join them.
Those are the parameters to consider when deciding which players are the worst to win the honor. The general rule is that the best player on the championship team gets the trophy. Jordan, James and most of the other players among the winners fit this standard. But there are always outliers.
This is not like Major League Baseball's World Series MVP honor, however. There are no Steve Pearce equivalents. Pierce, a career reserve who played for seven teams in 13 seasons, won the World Series MVP for the Red Sox in 2018 and was out of baseball a little more than a year later.
The NFL's Super Bowl Most Valuable Player list also has its share of legends of the game and guys who caught lighting in a bottle on one very opportune day. Players such as Dallas Cowboys cornerback Larry Brown, Green Bay Packers kick returner Desmond Howard and Seattle Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith spring to mind when looking at their overall impact during their NFL careers.
In the 55-year history of the NBA Finals MVP, only one player won the award without also capturing the Larry O'Brien Trophy (or its earlier equivalent, the Brown Trophy; the trophy was renamed for the former NBA commissioner in 1984). Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers won the 1969 NBA Finals MVP despite losing in seven games to the Russell-led Boston Celtics.
Besides Jordan and James, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan are three-time winners. Seven players raised the trophy twice, with Willis Reed the first to do so after winning the award in 1970 and 1973. The other two-time honoreed include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (14 years apart in 1971 and 1985), Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard.
The NBA Finals MVP has never been won by a random guy. But there are three players who stand out from the rest of the winners by having careers that didn't stand out quite as much.