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5 Best NBA players with exactly one championship ring

Dirk Nowitzki shoots over a New Orleans Pelicans defender
Dirk Nowitzki shoots over a New Orleans Pelicans defender

Winning a championship ring is the greatest achievement for NBA players. Each team plays 72 matches, 36 home and 36 road, in a regular season to even win an opportunity to appear in the NBA playoffs. Extreme competitiveness, unimaginable efforts, and undeniable skills are displayed by each team.

To be crowned the king of such fierce competition, to be the best of all, is a feeling only the NBA champions and their entourage get to experience. So, to have the honor of wearing a ring is a rare commodity.

These are the five best NBA Players to win a single ring

This list includes the greatest players to have won exactly one NBA ring. All of these players have contributed to the league and the sport. Their game and their performances are a thing of legend.

#5 Jason Kidd

Jason Kidd and Frank Vogel on the LA Lakers bench
Jason Kidd and Frank Vogel on the LA Lakers bench

Sometimes, when you are so engrossed following an exceptional NBA player, you can't help but feel their greatness run down your spine like a netherworldly chill. Jason Kidd is one of those. The Dallas Mavericks legend won his first and only ring in 2010-11 after 14 previous playoff appearances.

Playing for the New Jersey Nets, Kidd reached two NBA finals in 2002 and 2003. He put up his best ever playoff performance in 2002 where he averaged 19.6 points, 9.1 assists, and 8.2 rebounds.

Kidd was always a flashy player. He wasn't as good a scorer from beyond the three-point line but inside the paint he could score at will. His agility and creativity allowed him to move around defenders with the grace and quickness of a ballerina. His hang time, his layup package, his ball handling, and his jumping prowess were scary good.

Due to such performances over the years, Kidd is placed fifth on our list of the greatest NBA players to have exactly one ring.

#4 Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk Nowitzki is one of those few players to have played for only one team all his career. His loyalty to the Mavs Nation was unrivaled. So was his one-legged fadeaway, a shot that is widely considered one of the most unstoppable moves of all time.

All over his career, the 7' 0" german giant would confront his opponent near the paint, pivot on his leg and fall away. With the ball released above his head, it was by all means an unguardable move. He could beat much bigger, stronger defenders. Combined with the fact that he was confident enough to attempt this shot even in high stakes situations and had the accuracy to make his signature move a high scoring one made him one of the most feared players on the court.

Nowitzki, debuting in the 1998 NBA class, graduated in 2019. Over this long and illustrious career, he reached consecutive NBA playoffs from 2000-01 to 2011-12. He played in three more postseasons.

Nowitzki won his first and only ring in the 2010-11 NBA Championship. In the tournament, he averaged 27.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, and a massive 46% three-pointers made.

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