5 greatest players to never win an NBA championship

2. Chris Paul

Chris Paul was the fourth overall pick of the then-New Orleans Hornets in 2005 and played six seasons each with NOLA and the LA Clippers after a controversial 2011 trade that came after a deal that would have teamed him with Kobe Bryant was nixed by commissioner David Sterm. Those tenures were followed by two years with the Houston Rockets and James Harden, a year with the Oklahoma City Thunder and three seasons with the Phoenix Suns, with whom he reached his lone NBA Finals in 2021.

CP3 was traded twice this offseason, first to the Washington Wizards and then to the Golden State Warriors. Paul is an 11-time All-NBA sel;ection and has been on nine All-Defensive teams. He climbed on this list despite his lack of MVP credentials because he has posed better playoff numbers than regular-season marks.

In his 18 seasons, Paul has averaged 17.9 points, 9.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.1 steals in 34.4 minutes per game with a 51.0 effective field goal percentage. In the postseason, those numbers are 20.0 points, 8.3 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals in 36.5 minutes with an effective field goal percentage of 53.7.

Injuries in the playoffs are as much a part of Paul's legacy, however, as his postseason play. His star-crossed pairing with Blake Griffin and the Clippers was marked by one or both on the bench in street clothes during the playoffs and his hamstring injury during the 2018 Western Conference Finals played a big factor in the Rockets' falling in seven games to the Warriors.

He is gambling that teaming up with aging Stephen Curry can result in one last chance at a ring in 2024.