NBA Finals

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The NBA Finals is the NBA’s yearly championship series. The champions of the Eastern and Western Conferences face off in a best-of-seven series to decide the league champion. The winner receives the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. The Finals have had several name changes over the years and, since 2018, are officially known as the NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV for sponsorship reasons.

The series used to be played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, then switched to 2-3-2 in 1985 to cut down cross-country travel, and was changed back to 2-2-1-1-1 in 2014. The team with the better regular-season record hosts the first two games, the other team hosts the next two, and if needed, the remaining games alternate between arenas starting with the team with the better record.

Twenty-one different franchises have won the Finals. The most recent champion listed here is the Oklahoma City Thunder, who earned their second title and their first since moving to Oklahoma City.

A quick look at the history:
- Early era: The Minneapolis Lakers and Philadelphia Warriors were among the first champions after the BAA formed in 1946. The BAA merged with the NBL in 1949 to form the NBA.
- 1950s–1960s: The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers became the era’s dominant teams, with the Celtics winning many Finals titles behind star players like Bill Russell.
- 1970s: The Finals featured memorable upsets and new champions, including the rise of teams like the Golden State Warriors and the Portland Trail Blazers.
- 1980s: The Celtics–Lakers rivalry defined the decade, with a string of Finals matchups and famous moments, including Magic Johnson’s breakout as a rookie.
- 1990s: The Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, won six titles in eight Finals appearances. The Houston Rockets also claimed two titles in the mid-1990s.
- 2000s: The San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers chased championships, with the Pistons winning in 2004 and the Celtics in 2008.
- 2010s: The rise of the Golden State Warriors dominated the middle of the decade, followed by memorable Finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, including a Cavaliers comeback from a 3–1 deficit in 2016.
- 2020s: The Warriors returned to win in 2022, the Denver Nuggets won in 2023, the Boston Celtics took the title in 2024, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won in 2025.

Note: The Finals record tracks series wins and losses, not individual game results.