Power Ranking the 25 Best Players Never to Win an NBA Championship | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Ava White
Published Mar 23, 2026
Carmelo Anthony figures to still have plenty of time to remove himself from the list of the best NBA players to never win a championship, but he's also not getting any younger. Barring a swath of injuries across the Eastern Conference over the next few years, the New York Knicks may have blown their best chance at winning a title during the 2013 playoffs.
Anthony has been one of the league's most fearsome scorers since being drafted in 2003, but that's the only truly elite part of his game. If he expanded his offensive repertoire or put forth a consistent effort on the defensive end, he'd move higher on this list.
Grant Hill (1994-2013)
Had injuries not derailed his career in the early 2000s, Grant Hill would be a lock for a top-25 spot on this list. He ranks sixth all time in terms of career triple-doubles (29), all of which occurred within his first five NBA seasons.
Unfortunately for Hill (and for NBA fans), he fractured his left foot near the end of the 1999-00 season, tried to play through the pain, and was never the same again. During his six years with the Orlando Magic in the early to mid-2000s, he appeared in a total of 200 games and often looked like a shell of his former triple-double-dishing self.
Like Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard still figures to have a number of years ahead of him to remove himself from the ranks of the ringless. After being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2012, he appeared destined for a championship in the next few seasons, but injuries derailed those plans almost immediately.
Howard's upcoming free agency should prove to be a fascinating look into what he deems most important in his career. If he's interested in money and marketing, he'll stick with the glitz and glamour in Los Angeles, but the Houston Rockets appear to present him with a better opportunity to win a championship in the next few years.
Tracy McGrady (1997-Present)
Considering that Tracy McGrady never made it past the first round of the playoffs until 2013, it's tough to rank him too highly here. He also could be weeks away from winning his first championship ring, depending on how the San Antonio Spurs fare in the 2013 NBA Finals.
With that said, he's a borderline Hall of Famer who made his name as one of the league's most feared scorers in the early 2000s. With career per-game averages of 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists, T-Mac deserves at least an honorable mention here.