The Oklahoma City Thunder won the 2024-25 NBA Championship. This title, the franchise’s first since 1978-79 when it was the Seattle SuperSonics, prompted me to write an article on NBA franchise championship droughts. The Thunder’s championship gave rise to another article idea. Back in November 2023, I wrote an article titled NBA MVPs and MVP Teammates. This article was prompted by former Thunder teammates Russell Westbrook and James Harden being the only two NBA MVPs to have played with each other on three different franchises, and former Thunder teammates James Harden and Kevin Durant being the only other pair of former NBA MVPs to have played in a game on the same teams for two different franchises. Following from that article, it occurred to me that it is unusual that Messrs. Durant and Westbrook both won NBA MVPs with the Thunder (Mr. Durant in 2013-14 and Mr. Westbrook in 2016-17), subsequently left the Thunder, and the Thunder then won another championship while Messrs. Durant and Westbrook were still playing in the NBA for different franchises. (Note Mr. Harden won his MVP in 2017-18 with the Houston Rockets, so that presents a different scenario.)
A young Russell Westbrook dribbling as Kevin Durant posts up in a March 31, 2010 regular season game between the Thunder and Celtics.
This idea gave rise to a new survey where I will address two questions.
Question 1: How many times did an NBA player win an MVP award with one franchise, leave that franchise, and was playing in the NBA for a different franchise when the franchise he won an MVP award with won a championship?
Question 2: Replace “MVP” in question 1 with, in order of precedence, making All NBA First Team, All NBA Second Team, or All NBA Third Team.
(Note: I am using the same definition of “franchise” and “team” that I employed in my article on championship droughts – meaning, for example, the Seattle SuperSonics and Oklahoma City Thunder count as the same franchise since the team moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season.)
MVPs
In my survey of NBA MVPs who played together on different franchises, I put together lists of NBA MVPs who played for two franchises and for three or more franchises. It should go without saying that in order to have won an MVP with one franchise, leave that franchise, and still be playing in the NBA when the franchise with which he won an MVP wins another championship, the player must have played for more than one team. Thus, we can limit our inquiry to NBA MPVs who played for more than one team. From my review, I have identified just four instances where an NBA MVP won an MVP with one franchise, left that franchise, and was still active and playing for a different franchise when the franchise he or she won an MVP playing for won an NBA Championship.
Moses Malone: The late Moses Malone won the 1978-78 and 1981-82 NBA MVPs with the Houston Rockets. He was traded by the Rockets after the 1981-82 season to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he won his third MVP in 1982-83 and led the 76ers to the NBA Championship. Mr. Malone remained a starter in the NBA through 1990-91, and he played through the 1994-95 season (19 NBA seasons and 21 between the NBA and former ABA). The Houston Rockets won the 1993-94 and 1994-95 NBA Championships while Malone was a member of the 76ers (second stint) in 93-94 and ofthe San Antonio Spurs in 94-95 (Mr. Malone’s Spurs were upset by the eventual champion Rockets in the 1995 Western Conference Finals, but Malone did not appear in any playoff games). Despite the long gap between 1981-82 and 1993-94, we see traces from the 1982 Malone trade on the Rockets’ two Championship teams. Malone had been traded by Houston to Philadelphia for Caldwell Jones and a 1983 First Round Draft Pick which Houston used on Rodney McCray. The Rockets traded Mr. McCray in 1988 to the Sacramento Kings for Otis Thorpe (a much better Otis Thorpe trade than one the Vancouver Grizzlies would make in 1997). Mr. Thorpe started for the 1993-94 Champion Rockets and was selected to the NBA All Star team that season. Mr. Thorpe was traded during the 1994-95 season for Clyde Drexler, who was the Rockets’ most efficient high volume scorer in their 1994-95 Championship run. The Rockets dealt Caldwell Jones to the Chicago Bulls in August 1984 in a deal which included a 1985 future second round draft pick. The Rockets included that draft pick in a trade two months later which brought back John Lucas. On September 27, 1990, the Rockets included John Lucas in a trade which brought back Kenny Smith, who was the starting point guard on their 1993-94 and 94-95 Championship teams before achieving even greater fame as a commentator.
Shaquille O’Neal: Shaquille O’Neal won the 1999-00 NBA MVP with the Los Angeles Lakers in what was one of the greatest single-season campaigns in NBA history. After leading the Lakers to three consecutive championships from 1999-00 through 2001-02, the Lakers traded Mr. O’Neal to the Miami Heat after falling to the Detroit Pistons in the 2003-04 NBA Finals (more on that series later). Mr. O’Neal went on to win a fourth championship with the Miami Heat in 2005-06, but his former team, the Lakers, would win consecutive championships in 2008-09 and 2009-10 while Mr. O’Neal was a member and still-productive starting center for the Phoenix Suns (08-09) and Cleveland Cavaliers (09-10). The Lakers had received Caron Butler, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom, and two future draft picks for Mr. O’Neal in the July 14, 2004 trade with the Heat. Mr. Odom was the third or fourth best player on the Lakers’ two championship teams. Caron Bulter was traded to the Washington Wizards in the 2005 off-season for a deal which brought back Kwame Brown, who in turn was part of a deal in the 2007-08 season for All Star forward Pau Gasol (he will come up again later), who was the second best player on the 2008-09 and 2009-10 Lakers after Kobe Bryant (and who had a fair case for Finals MVP in 2010). The Lakers used one of the two draft picks they received on Jordan Farmar, who was a backup point guard on both title squads.
Kevin Durant: Kevin Durant won the 2013-14 NBA MVP with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He left the Thunder after the 2015-16 season as a free agent to join the Golden State Warriors, where he won two consecutive championships and NBA Finals MVP awards in 2016-17 and 2017-18. The Thunder received no compensation for Mr. Durant’s departure, but they rebuilt and won the 2024-25 NBA Championship while Mr. Durant was a member of the Phoenix Suns. Mr. Durant remains a top-scorer and elite player, now playing for the Houston Rockets in his 19th season (he may well meet the defending champion Thunder in this year’s playoffs).
Russell Westbrook: While losing Kevin Durant in 2015-16 removed the Thunder from the short list of championship favorites, Russell Westbrook, who remained with the franchise, won the 2016-17 NBA MVP award while becoming the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1961-62 to average a triple double for the season. The Thunder traded Mr. Westbrook after the 2018-19 season to the Houston Rockets in a deal which returned Chris Paul (more on the other side of that trade later), four first round draft picks (one of which is for this upcoming draft), and multiple pick swaps. Mr. Westbrook was a key reserve for the Denver Nuggets when they faced the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2025 Western Conference Semifinals, but the Thunder defeated the Nuggets in a hard-fought seven game series en route to winning the championship and adding both Messrs. Durant and Westbrook to our list. Mr. Westbrook is currently the starting point guard for the Sacramento Kings in his 18th season.
Not included on the list is LeBron James, who won two NBA MVP awards in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2008-09 and 2009-10 before famously (or infamously depending on your perspective) leaving the Cavaliers in the 2010 off-season to join the Miami Heat, where he went on to win two more NBA MVP awards and two NBA Championships in four seasons. The Cavaliers did win a title in 2015-16 after Mr. James’ departure and while Mr. James – who is currently playing in a record 23rd season with the Los Angeles Lakers – was still active. Of course, that Cavaliers team was led by none other than Mr. James, who had returned to Cleveland as a free agent in 2014. While Mr. James cannot make the list for Cleveland, he kept himself from being included in 2019-20, when he won NBA Finals MVP honors in leading the Los Angeles Lakers over the Miami Heat in six games in the 2020 NBA Finals.
I will also take a moment to note two very near misses.
Bob Cousy was the NBA’s second-ever MVP in 1956-57 as a member of the Boston Celtics. Mr. Cousy retired after the 1962-63 season after having spent his entire 13-year career with the Celtics. He unexpectedly returned to play seven games in 1969-70 while he was coaching the Cincinnati Royals (today’s Sacramento Kings). The Celtics had won five championships during Mr. Cousy’s first six-year retirement, but they became the first defending champion to miss the playoffs in 1969-70, so Mr. Cousy does not make our list.
Dave Cowens won the 1972-73 NBA MVP award, also with the Boston Celtics (curiously he was only named to the All NBA Second Team while winning MVP). Mr. Cowens spent ten seasons with the Celtics from 1970-71 through 1979-80 before retiring at age 31. In 1982-83, Mr. Cowens returned from a two year retirement, appearing in 40 games and starting 34 for the Milwaukee Bucks before retiring for the second time after the season. The Celtics won the 1980-81 Championship after Mr. Cowens’ first retirement, but were eliminated by Mr. Cowens’ Bucks in the first round of the 1982-83 playoffs (Mr. Cowens did not play in the playoffs due to injury), so he misses the list for the same reason as Mr. Cousy.
Swapping “NBA MVP” For All NBA Team Selections
The NBA (first season 1949-50) and the predecessor BAA (first season 1946-47) have selected post-season “All NBA Teams” every season. Each All NBA Team has five players. From 1946-47 through 1987-88 there were two All NBA Teams. From 1988-89 on there have been three. The position criteria for the All NBA Teams has changed over the years, but we will not be going into granular detail regarding the selection process.
Having found that only four NBA MVPs met the criteria, I was curious how many players we would find if I swapped MVP for All NBA selection. I had at first intended to only cover All NBA First Team selections, but after concluding that this project was not as labor-intensive as I feared, I decided to cover all All NBA Teams.
I will go in order of precedence. For example, the four MVPs I discussed in the previous section all made All NBA First Team in their MVP seasons. I will not include them again in the All NBA First Team section unless one meets the criteria for having made All NBA First team with a different team than the NBA MVP team that also checks our boxes. The same rule applies with respect to All NBA Teams. If a player makes the list with an All NBA First Team selection, I would only include the same player based on a Second or Third team selection if it were with a different team.
For information about the All NBA Teams, I am referring to the NBA’s List of All NBA Teams and Basketball Reference.
Making the List All NBA First Team Selections
Without further ado, I present every instance where a player made an All NBA First Team with Team A and was playing for a different team when Team A won a championship.
Ed Macauley: Ed Macauley was selected to the All NBA First Team with the Boston Celtics in three consecutive seasons, from 1951-52 to 1953-54. In the 1956 off-season, the Celtics traded Macauley to the St. Louis Hawks as part of a deal for the second overall pick in the 1956 NBA Draft, Bill Russell. The Celtics and Hawks met in the 1957 NBA Finals, with Russell’s Celtics prevailing over Macauley’s Hawks in seven games (capped by a double-overtime 125-123 Celtics win in game seven). The Hawks, still featuring Macauley, would defeat the Celtics in a rematch in the 1958 NBA Finals (the first of just two of Bill Russell’s 13 seasons with the Celtics that did not end with a championship), so Macauley was ultimately able to add an NBA Championship to his Hall of Fame resume. He earned his final NBA All Star selection in 1956-57, so he was still a standout player when his former Celtics won the Championship.
Earl Monroe: Earl “The Pearl” Monroe made his one and only All NBA First Team selection in his sophomore season with the then-Baltimore Bullets. He was traded to the New York Knicks during the 1971-72 season for Mike Riordan, Dave Stallworth, and cash. Mr. Monroe teamed up with Walt “Clyde” Frazier to form what was perhaps the most dynamic backcourt of the decade, and he would win a championship with the Knicks in 1972-73. Mr. Monroe spent the rest of his career with the Knicks, retiring after the 1979-80 season. His former team, as the Washington Bullets, won the 1977-78 NBA Championship in Mr. Monroe’s third-to-last season (both players traded for Mr. Monroe had retired before 1977-78).
Spencer Haywood: Spencer Haywood earned First Team All NBA honors in 1971-72 and 1972-73 with the Seattle SuperSonics (today’s Oklahoma City Thunder). He was also selected to Second Team All NBA in the following two seasons. In 1975, the Sonics traded Mr. Haywood to the Knicks for Gene Short and a 1979 First Round Draft Pick. Before the Sonics could make use of that 1979 draft pick, they defeated the Washington Bullets in five games in the 1979 Finals, securing the franchise’s first championship and the last until the Oklahoma City Thunder emerged victorious in the 2025 NBA Finals. Mr. Haywood had been traded by the Knicks to the New Orleans Jazz in 1979, which was his last season as a full-time starter. He would go on to play until 1982-83, winning a championship of his own with the 1979-80 Los Angeles Lakers.
Grant Hill: Grant Hill was selected to the All NBA First Team with the Detroit Pistons in 1996-97 (he made second team in 1995-96, 97-98, 98-99, and 99-00). He was traded by the Pistons to the Orlando Magic on August 3, 2000, for Chucky Atkins and Ben Wallace. Mr. Hill went on to miss the better part of the next four seasons with serious injuries, including all of the 2003-04 season. In the fourth of those seasons, his former Pistons squad won the 2003-04 NBA Championship, which I discussed in an earlier article. Despite the fact that Mr. Hill did not appear in any games in 2003-04, I include him in the survey without hesitation (I would not have done so for my “MVP Teammate survey”) because he was not retired (contrast with Messrs. Cousy and Cowens, discussed at the end of the MVP section) and he went on to play in 9 mostly-healthy seasons from 2004-05 through 2012-13, notably being a major contributor to some strong Phoenix Suns teams in the latter part of the decade. The Hill trade was essential to the Pistons’ 2003-04 Championship squad in that it returned Ben Wallace, who was named to five consecutive All Defense First Teams from 2001-02 through 2005-06 and won Defensive Player of the Year in every one of those seasons except 2003-04. The 2003-04 Pistons had a historically great defense in the playoffs, achieving feats such as holding opponents in the final three rounds below 70 points six times in 18 games (and notably in three out of six games in the Eastern Conference Finals), due in no small part to Ben Wallace’s dominant presence in the middle.
Kevin Durant: Kevin Durant is the only player to make our list twice. After winning the 2013-14 NBA MVP with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Mr. Durant made the All NBA First Team in 2017-18 as a member of the Golden State Warriors (he made Second Team with the Warriors in 2016-17 and 2018-19). After winning two NBA Championships and corresponding NBA Finals MVP awards in 2016-17 and 2017-18 with the Warriors, Mr. Durant left as a Free Agent in 2020 in a sign-and-trade with the Brooklyn Nets. The Warriors bounced back quickly from losing the Finals MVP from their 2016-17 and 2017-18 Championship Teams, winning the 2021-22 NBA Championship while Mr. Durant was a member of the Nets. The Warriors had received D’Angelo Russell from the Nets as part of the Durant sign-and-trade. The Warriors flipped Russell that same season in a deal which returned Andrew Wiggins, who started for the 2021-22 Championship squad, and a draft pick which became Jonathan Kuminga, who played in a notable reserve role.
Paul George: Paul George was selected to his one and only All NBA First Team with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2018-19. That same off-season, the Thunder traded Mr. George to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of very large deal. In return for Mr. George, the Thunder received five first round draft picks, two swaps, and two players in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Galinari (not Mr. Galinari’s first time being involved in a blockbuster trade). Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander was not only a member of the 2024-25 NBA Champion Thunder, but also that season’s scoring champion, NBA MVP, and NBA Finals MVP. One of the draft picks the Thunder received, Jalen Williams, started for the 2024-25 championship squad and was named to the All NBA Third Team that season. Mr. George played with the Clippers through 2023-24 (making one All NBA Third Team in that stretch) and was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers when his former Thunder squad won the title (he is a starting forward for the 76ers as of the date of publication of this article).
Before continuing to the Second Team, I will note that we had one “LeBron James Rule” exclusion from the First Team list. Alonzo Mourning was named to the All NBA First Team with the Miami Heat in 1998-99. After missing the 2002-03 season with kidney disease, Mr. Mourning left the Heat and signed with the then-New Jersey Nets. The Miami Heat won the 2005-06 NBA Championship while Mr. Mourning was still an active player, but their backup center was none other than Mr. Mourning, who had re-signed with the Heat during the 2004-05 season and remained with the squad until he retired after the 2007-08 campaign.
Making the List All NBA Second Team Selections
Andy Phillip: Andy Phillip, who led the NBA in assists for three consecutive seasons from 1949-50 through 1951-52, was selected to the All NBA Second team in both 1951-52 and 1952-53. He spent the entire 1951-52 season with the Philadelphia Warriors (today’s Golden State Warriors), but was sold to the Fort Wayne Pistons (today’s Detroit Pistons) in the middle of his 1952-53 All NBA Second Team campaign. Mr. Phillip was still a member of the Pistons when they met his former Philadelphia Warriors in the 1956 NBA Finals. The Warriors prevailed in five games (Phillip appears to have been a reserve that season), making Phillip the first of just three players to lose to his former “All NBA” team in the Finals (Ed Macauley, previously covered, was the second, and we will cover the third soon). Phillip’s Pistons had also been defeated in the 1955 Finals by the Syracuse Nationals (today’s Philadelphia 76ers), but he would go on to earn his first and only title in his penultimate season as a member of the 1956-57 Boston Celtics.
Richie Guerin: Richie Guerin made three Second Team All NBA selections with the New York Knicks in 1958-59, 1959-60, and 1961-62. In 1963, the Knicks traded Mr. Guerin to the St. Louis Hawks, where he played until 1966-67 before retiring. After a one year retirement, Mr. Guerin returned to play for the Hawks – now based in Atlanta – in 1968-69 and 1969-70. Mr. Guerin played in just 8 games in 1969-70, but because the Knicks won their first championship that season, he makes our list by borderline technicality. But we need not append any caveats to the assertion that the Guerin trade made a significant indirect contribution to the 1969-70 Knicks. Mr. Guerin was traded for a 1964 Second Round Draft Pick which turned into Howard Kornives. Kornives turned out to be a productive player. In 1968, the Knicks traded Kornives along with Walt Bellamy to the Detroit Pistons for future Hall of Famer Dave DeBusschere, who was one of the best players on their 1969-70 and 1972-73 championship squads.
Jo Jo White: Jo Jo White was selected to the All NBA Second Team in 1974-75 and 1976-77 with the Boston Celtics, his team from 1969-70 through the middle of the 1978-79 season. White started for two Celtics championship teams in 1973-74 and 1975-76. In 1979, the Celtics traded White to the Golden State Warriors for a First Round Draft Pick, Larry Demic, who was traded by the Celtics as part of a deal which brought Bob McAdoo to the Celtics. White went on to play two additional seasons, retiring after 13 games with the Kansas City Kings (now Sacramento Kings) in 1980-81. The Celtics won the 1980-81 NBA Championship, resulting in White making this list in a manner similar to Mr. Guerin above. It is worth noting that the White trade did have a sort of cascading effect on Celtics history. I noted that the pick the Celtics received for White was part of the McAdoo trade. Bob McAdoo ended up playing just 20 forgettable games for the Celtics before the Celtics traded him to the Detroit Pistons for First Round Draft picks in 1980 and 1981. The Celtics did not use either of those picks, instead trading both to the Golden State Warriors for Robert Parish and a 1980 First Round Pick which they used on Kevin McHale, both of whom played leading roles on the three Celtics Championship squads in the 1980s.
Vince Carter: Vince Carter had the second longest career (in terms of number of seasons) at 22, only trailing the still-active LeBron James (23rd season). Mr. Carter was named to the All NBA Second Team in his third season in 2000-01 as a member of the Toronto Raptors. Mr. Carter forced a trade from the Raptors in the 2003-04 season to the then-New Jersey Nets. Mr. Carter would play through the 2019-20 season, spending time with the Nets, Magic, Suns, Mavericks, Grizzlies, and Hawks. His first team, the Toronto Raptors, won the Championship in what was Carter’s age-42 22nd season in 2018-19 as a reserve forward for the Atlanta Hawks. Unsurprisingly, I was unable to trace any first, second, or third-order effect from the 2004 Carter trade to the 2018-19 Champion Raptors.
Isaiah Thomas: Isaiah Thomas (not to be confused with Isiah Thomas) was selected to the All NBA Second Team in 2016-17 as a member of the Boston Celtics after averaging 28.9 points per game despite standing just 5’9″. Unfortunately, his sixth season in the NBA would mark his only All NBA selection. Mr. Thomas was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers that off-season as part of a deal which brought Kyrie Irving to the Celtics. Mr. Thomas spent the rest of his career as a reserve after suffering a hip injury in his career-best 2017-18 campaign. Like Richie Guerin and Jo Jo White, he makes our list by way of borderline technicality. After going un-signed in 2022-23, Mr. Thomas signed with the Phoenix Suns late in the 2023-24 season, appearing in six regular season games and one playoff game and playing a total of 23 minutes. The Celtics would win the 2023-24 NBA Championship, adding Mr. Thomas to our list.
DeMar DeRozan: DeMar DeRozan made his one and only All NBA Second Team in 2017-18, his 10th season and 10th with the team that had drafted him, the Toronto Raptors (Mr. DeRozan made All NBA Third Team the previous season). That off-season, the Raptors traded Mr. DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs in a deal which brought back Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard and guard Danny Green. As we know from the Carter paragraph above, the Raptors won the 2018-19 Championship, making DeRozan just the second player to make this list by way of his former team winning the title the season after he left (Ed Macauley, previously covered, was the first). The line from the DeRozan trade was direct – Mr. Leonard was the best player on the Raptors and won the NBA Finals MVP and Danny Green started for the Raptors at shooting guard. While the Raptors had the better of the deal, Mr. DeRozan helped lead the Spurs to the second round of the playoffs and remains a productive starter today with the Sacramento Kings at age 36 (Mr. DeRozan also added a second All NBA Second Team to his resume in 2021-22 with the Chicago Bulls). Mr. Leonard would leave the Raptors after one Championship season for the Los Angeles Clippers under circumstances that have not worked out quite as well for the Clippers as they had for the Raptors (see my related Paul George discussion in the First Team section).
Kyrie Irving: I noted two players above that Kyrie Irving was traded to the Celtics by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a deal which involved 2016-17 All NBA Second Team point guard Isaiah Thomas. Mr. Irving made the 2018-19 All NBA Second Team as a member of the Celtics. In the 2020 off-season, he left the Celtics as a free agent to join forces with Kevin Durant (discussed in my First Team section) on the Brooklyn Nets. Mr. Irving had a somewhat rocky tenure with the Nets before being traded to the Dallas Mavericks during the 2022-23 season, where he plays today (he is currently recovering from a torn ACL). Mr. Irving was the starting point guard for the 2023-24 Western Conference Champion Dallas Mavericks. In the Finals, the Mavericks met Mr. Irving’s second of four teams, the Boston Celtics, and lost in five games, adding Mr. Irving to our list for his All NBA appearance with the Celtics in 2018-19. In so doing, Mr. Irving joined Andy Phillip and Ed Macauley as the only players to make this list by way of losing to their former teams in the NBA Finals.
Chris Paul: Chris Paul most likely played in what may have been the final games of his 21-year career earlier this season. In our MVP section, I noted that the 2018 off-season, the Houston Rockets traded Mr. Paul, along with many draft picks, to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Russell Westbrook. Like Mr. Westbrook, Mr. Paul played just one season with his new team, but he made it count – making All NBA Second Team and unexpectedly leading the Thunder to the playoffs. Due to his age (34) and his being a bit too good for what the Thunder were trying to accomplish at that time, the Thunder traded Mr. Paul to the Suns in the off-season in a deal which brought back four players and a First Round Draft Pick. The trade was in line with the Thunder’s extreme asset accumulation strategy which resulted in a dominant 2024-25 title run while Mr. Paul was starting at point guard for the San Antonio Spurs.
Before proceeding to the Third Team, I will note one near miss for the Second Team.
Pau Gasol was selected to the All NBA Second Team with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010-11 after having made Third Team in 2008-09 and 2009-10. He played his final games in 2018-19 as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. Mr. Gasol was on the Bucks’ roster in 2019-20 when the Lakers won the NBA Championship, but he did not appear in any games. While I included Grant Hill in our survey despite the fact that he did not appear in any games in the season his former team won the Championship, I will omit Mr. Gasol on account of the fact that he appeared in his final game before the Lakers won their post-Gasol Championship.
Making the List All NBA Third Team Selections
Perhaps due in part to the fact that NBA has only selected All NBA Third Teams since 1988-89 and also because most of the players who would have made the list based on Third Team selections made the list based on First and Second Team selections, we have just two players who only qualify based on Third Team selections.
Steve Nash: Steve Nash is best-remembered for his second stint with the Phoenix Suns, where he played from 2004-05 through 2011-12 and won consecutive MVP awards in 2004-05 and 2005-06. But he makes our list not for his Suns tenure since the Suns have yet to win an NBA Championship, but instead based on his two All NBA Third Team selections in 2001-02 and 2002-03 as a member of the Dallas Mavericks. Mr. Nash left the Mavericks as a free agent in 2004 after the Mavericks opted to use their cap space to sign Erick Dampier instead of retaining their star point guard. The Mavericks came close to putting Mr. Nash on this list after they defeated Mr. Nash’s Suns in the 2006 Western Conference Finals, but they were upset by the Miami Heat in six games in the Finals. The Mavericks faced the Heat again in the 2011 Finals while Mr. Nash was completing his final season with the Suns before finishing his career with the Lakers. The Mavericks reversed the result of the 2011 Finals, defeating the Heat for the franchise’s first and only Championship and adding Mr. Nash to our list. It is worth noting that Mr. Nash led the NBA in assists for the fifth time in 2010-11, evincing he was still one of the NBA’s best offensive point guards at age 36.
David Lee: David Lee was named to the 2012-13 All NBA Third Team as a member of the Golden State Warriors. He was relegated to a reserve role two seasons later on the 2014-15 Champion Warriors after losing his starting job to Draymond Green. The Warriors traded Mr. Lee during the 2015-16 season to the Boston Celtics in a deal that had no effect on the fortunes of either squad. Mr. Lee would play one more season in 2016-17 for the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs met the Warriors in the 2017 Western Conference Finals, but the Warriors swept the Spurs after Spurs star forward Kawhi Leonard was injured in game one of the series and added Mr. Lee to the list by defeating the Cavaliers in five games in the 2017 NBA Finals.
Conclusion
Between the list of MVPs and All NBA Teams, I found just 20 instances (with two being Kevin Durant for different franchises) where a player won an NBA MVP or made an All NBA Team for one franchise, left that franchise, and was still playing in the NBA for a different franchise when the franchise he or she won MVP or earned All NBA honors with won a championship.
We see many different scenarios with the players who made the list. Former Celtics Ed Macauley and Kyrie Irving appear after losing to the Celtics in the NBA Finals. Vince Carter makes the list thanks to having the second longest career in NBA history. We were able to draw some unexpected connections between the 1982 trade of Moses Malone from the Rockets to the 76ers and the Rockets’ two NBA Championships in 1993-94 and 94-95 in Malone’s last two seasons. Richie Guerin made our list due to a well-timed (or ill-timed) return from retirement while Bob Cousy and Dave Cowens missed the list for the same reason. But perhaps the strongest take-away is that the 2024-25 Thunder’s championship accounts for 20% of our list, having won the championship within 10 seasons of shedding two MVPs and two additional players who made First and Second Team All NBA selections with the team, with Paul George returning in a trade the Thunder’s 2024-25 regular season and Finals MVP winner. In this sense, the 2024-25 Champion Thunder represent a team-building job for the ages.
