50 Greatest NBA Players Without A Championship (Updated Through 2015-16)
By Phil Watson
22. Adrian Dantley
Buffalo Braves 1976-77, Indiana Pacers 1977, Los Angeles Lakers 1977-79, Utah Jazz 1979-86, Detroit Pistons 1986-89, Dallas Mavericks 1989-90, Milwaukee Bucks 1991
The Buffalo Braves took Notre Dame standout Adrian Dantley with the sixth overall pick in the 1976 NBA Draft.
He rewarded the Braves with NBA Rookie of the Year honors in 1976-77. But Buffalo missed the playoffs and in September 1977 he was dealt to the Pacers.
His stay in Indiana was brief—23 games into the season, he was traded again in December 1977, this time to the Lakers.
Los Angeles lost a first-round Game 3 to the Seattle SuperSonics in 1978. The following year, the Lakers eliminated the Denver Nuggets in a first-round Game 3 before losing to eventual champion Seattle in five games in the second round.
In September 1979, Dantley was traded to Utah for Spencer Haywood and his career took off.
He was a two-time All-NBA performer and a six-time All-Star with the Jazz, leading the NBA in scoring in both 1980-81 and 1983-84—when he finished seventh in the MVP voting.
But Utah wasn’t a playoff team in Dantley’s first four seasons there. In 1984, however, the Jazz finally got the franchise’s first-ever postseason berth, beating Denver in a first-round Game 5 before losing in six games to the Phoenix Suns in the second round.
The following season brought a first-round Game 5 win over the Houston Rockets, but a five-game loss to Denver in the second round.
Utah went down in the first round to the Dallas Mavericks in 1986 and that August, Dantley was on the move again, dealt to the Detroit Pistons.
The Pistons swept the Washington Bullets in the first round in 1987 and took out the Atlanta Hawks in a five-game second-round series. But in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics won in Game 7.
The following season, Detroit had to survive a first-round Game 5 against the Bullets, beat the Chicago Bulls in five games in the second round and took down the Celtics in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Up 3-2 in the NBA Finals, however, the Lakers came back to win Games 6 and 7 at home.
In February 1989, Dantley was dealt with a draft pick to the Mavericks for Mark Aguirre.
Dallas missed the playoffs while Detroit went on to win the NBA title in 1989. The Mavericks were swept in the first round by the Portland Trail Blazers in 1990, but Dantley wasn’t around for it—he had been waived in early April.
In April 1991, Dantley signed with Milwaukee for the remainder of the season, but played just 19 minutes as the Philadelphia 76ers got a first-round sweep.
In retirement, Dantley spent eight years as an assistant coach with the Nuggets, filling in for head coach George Karl, who was being treated for cancer. Dantley’s career average of 24.3 points per game is 17th all-time. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.
The final tally on Dantley’s playoff career:
NBA Finals: 0-1
Conference Finals: 1-1
Conference Semifinals: 2-3
First Round: 5-3
Next: 21. Timed Out Before Reaching Finals