Who has the most NBA Finals experience on the Mavericks and Celtics?

Winning a ring is the dream of every NBA player but to get a chance to win it all, you first need to actually make it to the NBA Finals. The 2024 matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics features a healthy mix of players on both sides of the coin — those making their NBA Finals debut and those who have been here before and are looking to finally break through (or win it all again).

Every player making their NBA Finals Debut in 2024

Of the players on the Mavericks' and Celtics' rosters, 19 will be making their NBA Finals debut. Of that group, the longest tenured players to finally break through are mostly on the Dallas side, including Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dwight Powell who have played a combined 1,386 games before reaching this stage.

While both teams have multiple players who have appeared in the NBA Finals before, the level of experience isn't particularly deep or varied.

Which players in the 2024 NBA Finals have been here before?

No one on either team has more NBA Finals experience than Kyrie Irving, who played in three series with the Cavaliers, winning a title in 2016. Markieff Morris is the only other player on the Mavericks with a ring, won as a member of the 2020 Lakers. Derrick Jones Jr. also has Finals experience, having played four games in the 2020 NBA Finals as a member of the Miami Heat. However, he was a very minor role player at that point, appearing in just four games for a total of 10 minutes.

For the Celtics, the NBA Finals experience on this roster comes almost exclusively from their 2022 loss to the Golden State Warriors. Jrue Holiday has six games of NBA Finals experience from the 2021 title with the Milwaukee Bucks. He is the only player on the Celtics with a ring. This list here may also be overstating the NBA Finals experience of several of the Celtics. Luke Kornet, Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard all appeared in the 2022 NBA Finals but played just 84 minutes, combined.

Although Al Horford has appeared in just six NBA Finals games he's the most veteran player on either team and the one who could truly cap a remarkable career with a ring. Horford has played in 1078 regular-season games and 181 career playoff games without winning it all. If he were to win a ring he would also become the 47th player to win an NBA championship after having won an NCAA championship — he won back-to-back NCAA championships as a member of the Florida Gators, in 2006 and 2007.