5 active NBA players who have never been swept in NBA Playoffs
Battling it out in 82 games in the regular season to make it to the NBA Playoffs is not an easy task. Once players make it to the post-season, being swept by a team in their playoff run is an experience most NBA players would rather not have.
While many active players have suffered a sweep at least once, a few have managed to avoid being swept in the playoffs, which brings with it a title of its own. Here are five of the most prominent active players who have never been swept in the NBA Playoffs.
5 active NBA players who have never been swept in NBA Playoffs
1) Stephen Curry
Curry arguably has played many playoff series without ever being swept in his 14-year tenure in the league.
The four-time NBA champion has played 29 playoff series and has won 24 of them. Curry's success against being swept is also replicated by his teammates, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Interestingly, Curry and the Golden State Warriors have swept teams six times in the playoffs, including once in the NBA Finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018.
The two-time NBA MVP and the Warriors also pulled off a playoff season in which they swept their way to the NBA Finals to finally clinch the title against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017.
2) Russell Westbrook
Though Westbrook has suffered the gentleman's sweep (1 win, 4 losses) eight times in his playoff career, the former NBA MVP has never been swept in his 15-year tenure in the league.
Westbrook has been dealt a gentleman's sweep the last three times he has played in the playoffs, in 2020, 2021, and 2023. He swept a team once while playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder, as they won the first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks in 2012.
3) Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Greek Freak has also avoided a sweep in the playoffs, having appeared in the playoffs eight times in his 10-year tenure in the league.
Antetokounmpo and the first-seed Milwaukee Bucks narrowly avoided being swept by the Miami Heat in the 2023 Playoffs and went 1-4 to be eliminated in the first round against the eighth-seed Heat.
However, the former NBA champion has dealt two sweeps in his playoff career, one of which happened during the first round of their 2021 championship run against the Miami Heat.
4) Jayson Tatum
Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics have been a strong team ever since he was drafted and they have made their way into the playoffs ever since.
They advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals three times and once to the NBA Finals in his six-year tenure in the league. Though they have never won the championship, Tatum has managed to never suffer a sweep in the playoffs.
5) Luka Doncic
The 2023–24 season's scoring champion, Luka Doncic, is also one of the few players who have never been swept in the NBA playoffs.
However, he has not had many series battles yet, having played 5 series and winning just two of them in the same season to make it to the Western Conference Finals.