5 oldest teams to win an NBA Championship
While some players have arguably carried their team to an NBA Championship on their own, most titles are won through a collective effort and by an experienced roster. Having players who have been through the trials and tribulations of the league's playoffs is essential in helping the team's younger stars, and remains one of the most important aspects in building a squad to compete for a title.
Going into the 2021-22 season, a lot has been made about the LA Lakers' signings this summer, especially the age of the roster. After their latest addition of Rajon Rondo, the Lakers will be one of the oldest team to compete in the history of the NBA, with an average age currently close to 32. Should they win the NBA Championship this year, something many are tipping them to do, they will surely be one of the oldest to do so.
In this article, we will count down the five oldest title winners using the weighted age method. That takes into consideration the minutes each player plays, rather than just taking the age of every individual, as not everyone features much in each game. Even if a team has ten players over 30, half of them might average less than ten minutes per night. On that note, here's a look at who made the cut.the five oldest teams in the NBA:
#5 San Antonio Spurs (2006-07)
Led by Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, the San Antonio Spurs won their third NBA title in five years in the 2006-07 campaign. The average weighted age of the team was 30.72 years, but Parker and Ginobili were both younger than the average age when the season began.
Many NBA players start to come into their prime as they approach their late 20s,, which the Spurs benefitted from massively that year. Tony Parker, in particular, was clinical, connecting with 57% of both field-goal and three-point efforts during their Finals sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He won the Finals MVP award that year, averaging 24.5 points per game.
The team's overall age was brought up by the likes of Bruce Bowen, Brent Barry and Michael Finley, who all played more than 74 games during the campaign and were all over 33 years old. Center Jackie Butler was the youngest on the roster, though he only played in 11 fixtures.
#4 Chicago Bulls (1996-97)
The 1996-97 Chicago Bulls team had a weighted age of 30.75 years, and had the oldest player to win an NBA championship, Robert Parish, who was 43 at the time. Seven of the side's players were over the age of 30, including starters Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Ron Harper and Sixth Man Steve Kerr.
After becoming the first side to team 70 games in a season the previous year, the Bulls came close to repeating their effort by winning 69 this time around. They then breezed past the Bullets 3-0 in the first round of the playoffs before seeing off both the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat, losing just once to each team.
In the NBA Finals, they came up against a Utah Jazz side containing league MVP Karl Malone and future Hall-of-Fame guard John Stockton.
Michael Jordan, 34 at the beginning of the NBA playoffs, was irked by Malone winning the MVP award, and made it his goal to prove to the league why he should have won his fifth title.
He was unstoppable in the Finals against the Jazz, scoring 38 points in game five on 48% shooting from the field, despite having food poisoning the night before. By the end of the six games, Jordan had averaged 32 point,s and carried the Bulls to their fifth championship ring in seven seasons.