Unveiling the NBA’s all-loyalty teams

Loyalty in professional sports can often be hard to come by. That is particularly true in the NBA, where it’s become increasingly common for even the best players to play for several teams. It’s a more recent phenomenon and is the result of shorter contracts, increased cap space, and some star players’ forcing trades.

That all contributed to the sharp increase in player movement and a sharp drop in supposed loyalty. To be clear, loyalty is a two-way street, and there has also been a drastic increase in teams moving on from players just to shed salaries or to stockpile picks. That leads to questions about who the most loyal players in the NBA are at the moment.

In order to qualify, players must have played at least seven consecutive seasons with one team and have never asked to be traded from that team. Also, leaving in free agency doesn’t count against that player.

We’ll also prioritize star players instead of role players because they’re more valuable and therefore have far more options, making the decision to stay with a team all the more impressive. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here are the NBA’s all-loyalty teams.