Hoops Habit
Fansided

50 greatest NBA players to never win a championship

By Maxwell Ogden

PHILADELPHIA - NOVEMBER 01: Allen Iverson #3 of the Philadelphia 76ers expresses emotion after making a basket during their game against the Milwaukee Bucks on November 1, 2005 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Bucks won 117-108 in overtime. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA - NOVEMBER 01: Allen Iverson #3 of the Philadelphia 76ers expresses emotion after making a basket during their game against the Milwaukee Bucks on November 1, 2005 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Bucks won 117-108 in overtime. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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Indiana Pacers, Reggie Miller
Reggie Miller (Photo by MATT CAMPBELL / AFP) /

14. Reggie Miller

  • Years Active: 1987 to 2005
  • Teams Played For: Indiana Pacers
  • NBA Finals Appearances: 1

The Indiana Pacers are one of the most respected organizations in all of professional basketball. One of the primary reasons for this truth is their dominant success in the ABA, but the driving force behind modern fans’ admiration for the Pacers is what the team accomplished between 1990 and 2006: 16 postseason appearances in 17 seasons.

The leader of the teams that experienced that resounding successwas one of the most polarizing players in NBA history: An all-time great shooter and an even greater trash-talking menace known as Reggie Miller.

Miller played 18 years in the NBA, retiring mere months before his 40th birthday—an accolade unto itself. At the time of his retirement, he was the NBA’s all-time leader in three-point field goals made and one of just four players in the 50-40-90 club.

Only Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Malcolm Brogdon have since joined that group of male players. Elena Delle Donne became the first WNBA player to achieve the feat in 2019.

For as impressive as the numbers are, including Miller’s 25,279 career points, they fail to tell the story of what made him great. What it boiled down to for his teammates and opponents was one fundamental truth: In the biggest of moments, you’d either love or fear the idea of Miller having the ball in his hands.

That nearly incomparable ability in the clutch enabled Miller to lead the Pacers to the only NBA Finals appearance in franchise history, as well as six Eastern Conference Finals appearances.

I repeat: Six Conference Finals for a small-market franchise. Even the Celtics and Lakers would be happy with a run like that while building around one star player.

Miller also helped Indiana become one of just two teams to push the Michael Jordan Bulls to a seven-game series during their six-season reign of terror between 1990-91 and 1997-98.

Miller played up to the level of his opponents. Not many players can say that.