9 NBA Regular-Season and Finals MVPs Who Won a Title
The ultimate feat in basketball is to pull off the perfect hat trick, when a superstar wins the NBA MVP award, NBA Finals MVP trophy and an NBA Championship ring all in the same season.
It is a feat so rare only nine players in NBA history have done it. Granted, the Finals MVP was awarded first in 1969, after Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain won their MVPs/championships, or their names would certainly join this group.
Meet the nine …
LeBron James
LeBron James was able to pull off a back-to-back trifecta for the Miami Heat in both the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons. Remember, the 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward’s double MVPs, double Finals MVPs and double championships came following the 2011 NBA Finals when Dirk Nowitzki and his aged Dallas Maverick teammates upset the Heat’s super-team. For the next 730 days, LeBron and his Heat mates put on a show-stopping display that saw Miami go 112-36 (.757) in the regular seasons and 32-14 (.696) in the postseasons, while the 27- and 28-year-old James averaged 26.9 points on .624 true shooting percentage, 8.0 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 37.7 minutes per game during the two regular seasons along with 26.7 points on .542 true shooting percentage, 10.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists in 43.4 minutes per game during the two NBA Finals series wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.
Tim Duncan
The 27-year-old version of Tim Duncan arguably displayed the greatest season in NBA history during the 2002-03 campaign when he won NBA MVP, after averaging 23.3 points on .564 true shooting percentage, 12.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.9 blocks in 39.3 minutes per game, and Finals MVP, after averaging 24.2 points on .546 true shooting percentage, 17.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 5.3 blocks in 46.0 minutes per game during the 2003 NBA Finals for his NBA champion San Antonio Spurs against the New Jersey Nets. Furthermore, the 6-11, 250-pound power forward/center’s 5.9 postseason win shares remains an NBA Playoffs record to this day two decades later.
Shaquille O’Neal
Shaquille O’Neal at age 28 was never as dominant — in both quantity and quality — than he was in the 1999-2000 season when he played a career-high 4,163 minutes (3,163 regular season; 1,000 postseason), while collecting hardware for winning NBA MVP, Finals MVP and an NBA team championship for his Los Angeles Lakers. The 7-1, 325-pound center averaged 29.7 points on .578 true shooting percentage, 13.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.0 blocks in 40.0 minutes per game during the regular season and 38.0 points on .576 true shooting percentage, 16.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in 45.7 points per game during the 2000 NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers.
Michael Jordan
If you thought LeBron James was something for pulling off back-to-back hat tricks, Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls was something else for clocking four separate seasons — as young as 28 and as old as 35 — where he won NBA MVP, NBA Finals MVP and an NBA championship ring. Jordan’s stats collectively — from those 1990-91, 1991-92, 1995-96 and 1997-98 seasons — look something like this: 30.2 points on .574 true shooting percentage, 6.2 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.2 steals in 38.1 minutes per game during those four regular seasons. The 6-6, 198-pound shooting guard’s cumulative stats from those four NBA Finals are: 32.0 points on .567 true shooting percentage, 5.1 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.0 steals in 42.4 minutes per game against the L.A. Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle Sonics and Utah Jazz.
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson won the first of his three NBA MVPs in the 1986-87 season and proceeded to clean up shop en route to his fourth of five NBA championships and third NBA Finals MVP. The 6-9, 215-pound Los Angeles Laker averaged 23.9 points on .602 true shooting percentage, 6.3 rebounds and 12.2 assists in 36.3 minutes per game during the regular season. In the 1987 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, Johnson averaged 26.2 points on .590 true shooting percentage, 8.0 rebounds, 13.0 assists and 2.3 steals in 39.3 minutes per game.
Larry Bird
The mid-’80s was Larry Bird’s domain when he won three straight MVPs and sandwiched two of those seasons with NBA hat tricks, sweeping the elite hardware in 1983-84 and 1985-86. In those two regular seasons where he won MVP, Finals MVP and an NBA championship, the 6-9, 220-pound forward averaged 25.5 points on .567 true shooting percentage, 10.1 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 38.9 minutes per game. During those two Finals MVP runs for the Boston Celtics, the 27- and 29-year-old Bird averaged 25.8 points on .587 true shooting percentage, 12.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists in 44.1 minutes per game against the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets.
Moses Malone
Moses Malone took over in the 1980s where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left off before him with a most dominating 1982-83 campaign, leading his new team, the Philadelphia 76ers, to a 1983 NBA championship in his MVP and Finals MVP run. In the regular season, the 6-10, 215-pound center averaged 24.5 points on .578 true shooting percentage, 15.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 37.5 minutes per game. In the 1983 Finals sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers, Malone averaged 25.8 points on .562 true shooting percentage with 18.0 rebounds in 39.3 minutes per game.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
When he was known as Lew Alcindor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks to glory in his MVP, Finals MVP and NBA championship run as a 24-year-old NBA sophomore. During the 1970-71 regular season, the 7-2, 225-pound center averaged 31.7 points on .606 true shooting percentage, 16.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 40.1 minutes per game. In the Finals against the San Francisco Warriors, Abdul-Jabbar averaged 27.0 points on .634 true shooting percentage with 18.5 rebounds in 42.0 minutes per game
Willis Reed
Willis Reed gave all he had in the Knicks’ historic 1969-70 season, and though he could not play much more after his heroic Game 7 tunnel walk-out, the 27-year-old Knicks center had done enough already to earn MVP, Finals MVP and ultimately an NBA team championship. During the regular season, the 6-10, 235-pounder averaged 21.7 points on .552 true shooting percentage with 13.9 rebounds in 38.1 minutes per game. In the Finals against the Lakers, Reed averaged 23.0 points on .504 true shooting percentage with 10.5 points in 37.7 minutes per game.
