Winning an NBA Championship is a must-have goal for elite players of the game. Others tend to grind it out with the teams who selected them in the NBA draft and some might jump to another ship to have a chance at climbing the top.
Point guards play an important role during a championship run because they are responsible for running a fluid offense during gruesome battles in the playoffs. In addition, most recent championship teams have a star point guard who ran their offensive schemes perfectly for each and every game.
In this list, we will name five point guards who will win an NBA Championship before they retire and five who will retire ringless.
Will Win A Championship: Luka Doncic
Luka is too good not to win a championship in a Mavericks jersey. He’s already a 4x member of the All-NBA First Team at just the young age of 24. Doncic is one of the most talented players to ever come from Europe and he hasn’t even reached his prime yet.
The Luka-Kyrie pairing is often overlooked due to the massive upgrades that other teams made within the past year but if they click, nobody in the league could stop these two talented players. Expect Luka to deliver a championship to Dallas within the next few years.
Won't Win A Championship: Trae Young
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Trae Young is a superb young talent and has been Atlanta’s franchise player from the moment he got drafted. The team has been in a slump since their surprising run to the Eastern Conference Finals a few years ago with Young at the helm.
However, this team is nowhere near contender status. When we look at Young, it’s not hard to imagine that he’s on the same path as former Hawk great, Dominique Wilkins. Despite Wilkins’ talent, he failed numerous times to get over the hump. Sadly, Young is on the same career trajectory.
Will Win A Championship: Damian Lillard
During his time in Portland, Lillard failed to guide the team to a Finals appearance. Now with Milwaukee, Lillard never had a teammate that’s on the same tier as Giannis Antetokounmpo.
On paper, this Bucks team is too good not to win at least one championship within the next couple of years. A lineup of Lillard, Middleton and Antetokounmpo will reign terror against opponents on a nightly basis. If Lillard continues to shoot the lights out in a Bucks uniform, then everybody should watch out.
Won't Win A Championship: Chris Paul
There is a mutual understanding for a lot of fans that Chris Paul will end up ringless when he calls it quits. It’s not that Paul didn’t have the right pieces playing alongside him but on the contrary, he was a member of several contending teams in the past.
The problem is that he mostly gets hit by the injury bug in key moments from several seven-game playoff series he’s participated in. He came close to winning it all in 2021, but his team inexplicably faltered. Now at 38, the championship window is closing fast for him.
Will Win A Championship: Devin Booker
Although Booker mostly played the shooting guard position throughout his career, he gets the nod here as he’s transitioned into playing the floor general for Phoenix this season. The underrated Booker is one of the best young players in the league right now.
The Suns right now are one of the favorites to win it all next year. The only kryptonite in their team’s composition is the inevitable injuries to their stars. But if Beal, Durant and Booker can stay healthy, then Phoenix could become the last team standing at the end of the season.
Won't Win A Championship: De'Aaron Fox
It’s hard to dismiss Sacramento’s progress as a team and label them fake contenders for years to come. But the reality is that the West is too stacked up for them to bring a championship in their city. Fox is a great player but it took him a long while to understand how to play winning basketball.
The team is capable of making a surprising run in the playoffs a few years from now but that might be the ceiling for them. Fox will continue to score at will but unless he changes teams in the future, a championship in Sacramento likely won’t happen soon.
Will Win A Championship: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
OKC has one of the best young talents in the league today. Originally a draft filler for the Paul George trade years ago, Gilgeous-Alexander has slowly become one of the league’s brightest young stars.
It’s really not far-fetched to imagine that a small franchise like the Thunder has the capacity to win a championship in the near future. They have a great young core who are still years away from their primes and Shai will continue to get better for years to come.
Will Not Win A Championship: Jalen Brunson
Brunson’s ability to lead this team to the promised land is largely tied to Knicks owner James Dolan. Stars have shunned the Knicks in free agency and they haven’t landed a big fish since Carmelo Anthony nearly a decade ago.
The team will continue to be a good regular season team that will inflict some trouble in the playoffs but a championship is a little bit far to reach. Brunson will get an all-star nod once or twice down the line but that’s about it.
Will Win A Championship: Ja Morant
This might raise some eyebrows, but Morant is capable of carrying this team to a title if he stays out of trouble in the future. This team is deep and they have the right pieces to contend for a championship within the next decade.
Morant is a superstar in his own right and is relatively young at just 24. He put the Grizzlies back on the map and they are a hungry bunch, seeking for immediate success to validate their identity.
Won't Win A Championship: Russell Westbrook
The former 2017 MVP might just end up ringless by the time he hangs up his sneakers. He came close once, but the team was young then. When Kevin Durant left him to seek greener pastures, Westbrook thrived on his own but his team was nowhere near the NBA mountaintop.
With a declining game today, it feels like his dream of being called a champion will never materialize. The Clippers, despite having Leonard and George in the lineup for years now, will continue to fall short because of untimely injuries and lack of cohesion as a group.
