NBA Most Playoff Wins: Naturally, there are certain players who have achieved greater success and victories than others, despite our loud pleas for everyone to recognise that basketball is a team sport. We analysed the NBA players who won the most games in the regular season by decade not too long ago. To ascertain who the players who have achieved the most success over the years have been, it is only fair that we apply the same logic to the NBA playoffs.
We’ll look at the most successful NBA players playoff wins in history from the 1950s to the present and analyse the sort of success these players brought their teams to as well as how much more successful they were than others. Individual victories are fantastic, but what good are they if the team isn’t able to celebrate its victory as the NBA champions? We’ll respond on your behalf. That response is inadequate.
NBA Players Who Have Won The Most Playoff Wins Every Decade
It’s time to identify the NBA players who have won the most playoff wins in each postseason decade ever.
1950s – Slater Martin – 63 Wins
Slater Martin dominated the 1950s with 418 victories, as you may recall from our study of the players with the most victories in the regular season per decade. With a 63-26 record in 11 postseason games with the Lakers and Hawks, Martin’s circumstances are the same.
Martin appeared in 92 games throughout his postseason career, averaging 10.0 points and 3.8 assists per contest. Martin would defeat the Boston Celtics in 1958 while playing for the St. Louis Hawks, and he would win four more NBA titles with the Minneapolis Lakers in five seasons from 1950 to 1954.
Slater Martin has five championship rings in addition to being a seven-time NBA All-Star and five-time selection to the All-NBA Team.
1960s – Sam Jones And Bill Russell – 87 Wins
Throughout 1959–60 and 1968–69, the Boston Celtics won nine NBA titles in ten seasons, dominating the rest of the NBA for the whole decade. Bill Russell and Sam Jones, two of the greatest NBA players of all time, led the way for the Celtics during this period.
For the duration of their nine NBA title campaigns in the 1960s, Jones, an NBA champion ten times, and Russell, an NBA champion eleven times, played together. Between 1960 and 1969, Jones—the more offensively significant player—averaged 20.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game on 45.0% shooting. Russell averaged 16.5 points and 24.7 rebounds per game, making him the more significant rebounder and defender.
During their careers, Jones and Russell only suffered one NBA Finals defeat—to the St. Louis Hawks in 1958. Sam Jones won three All-NBA Team choices and five All-Star selections throughout the course of his ten NBA titles. Russell, on the other hand, is regarded as one of the best players in NBA history due to his domination in the 1960s and beyond. He was the five-time MVP.
You might also be interested in reading this: The Top 10 Players Who Only Won One NBA Ring
1970s – Paul Silas – 67 Wins
Unexpectedly, the player with the most victories in the NBA playoffs during the 1970s makes our list. From 1970 through 1979, Paul Silas participated in all ten seasons of the NBA with the Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, and Seattle SuperSonics. Silas would play in seven postseason games and be a member of three championship teams during this span.
Silas was on the NBA championship teams that the Boston Celtics won in 1974 and 1976. At the time, Silas was praised for his rebounding and defence in the playoffs, averaging 12.1 rebounds and 9.3 points per game. With the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979, Silas would win a third NBA championship while averaging just 4.3 points and 5.8 rebounds in 24.6 minutes per game.
Every player on those championship teams will tell you how crucial Silas’ toughness and leadership were to their success, even though his stats don’t particularly stand out.
1980s – Michael Cooper And Magic Johnson – 111 Wins
Compared to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper and Magic Johnson each won one more game in the 1980s. Kareem won 110 games while the old Showtime Lakers colleagues finished 111-48 together in the 1980s playoffs. Only these three players have won more than 100 games in the past ten years.
Between 1980 and 1989, Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper led the Lakers to five NBA titles. Cooper spent his whole playing career with the team. Larry Bird referred to Cooper as his “toughest defender ever” because of his exceptional defensive play. Magic Johnson was the highlight of the event and the force behind the Lakers’ success because of his explosive, fast-paced style of play.
Magic was successful right away in the 1980s, winning an NBA championship and being named Finals MVP in his first campaign. He would fill his trophy cabinet with four more championships and two more Finals MVP honours over the following nine years, solidifying his status as the best point guard in NBA history. Cooper was never going to be an offensive threat, but he was a key component of the Showtime Lakers’ success because of his outstanding defensive performance.
1990s – Scottie Pippen – 111 Wins
I know the first thing people are going to ask is, “Where is Michael Jordan?” before we even begin. Jordan only had 107 victories versus Scottie Pippen’s 111, thanks to Jordan taking the 1994 and 1995 seasons off and Pippen leading the way in his absence. It is commonly known that Pippen was crucial to the six NBA titles that he and Jordan won with the Bulls in the 1990s.
From 1990 to 1999, Pippen participated in every NBA playoff season with the Bulls and, for a single season in 1999, the Houston Rockets. Pippen averaged 19.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.1 steals per game on 44.7% shooting over his nine postseason campaigns with the Bulls. Pippen would assist in guiding the Bulls to two NBA championship three-peats, from 1991–1993 and 1996–1998.
Pippen played in every NBA playoff season between 1990 and 1999 while playing for the Bulls and, for a brief season in 1999, the Houston Rockets. During his nine postseason seasons with the Bulls, Pippen averaged 19.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.1 steals per game on 44.7% shooting. Between 1991 and 1993 and 1996 and 1998, Pippen helped lead the Bulls to two NBA championship three-peats.
2000s – Robert Horry – 102 Wins
Many NBA fans will recall the pivotal moments that Robert Horry delivered for the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs in the 2000s, helping both clubs win NBA titles. Horry averaged 7.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in the NBA playoffs while playing with the Lakers from 2000 to 2003. From 2000 to 2002, Horry would lead the Lakers to win three NBA titles in a row with clutch performances and several game-winning baskets.
In 2003–04, Horry brought his clutch prowess and success with him to San Antonio. He averaged 5.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game in the team’s five postseason trips through 2008, but he again delivered in the big moments. With Horry on the squad, San Antonio would win two NBA titles in 2005 and 2007, which contributed to his 102 victories and 47 defeats in the 2000s playoffs.
2010s – LeBron James – 120 Wins
We had never seen a guy dominate the NBA playoffs like LeBron James did in the 2010s, not since Bill Russell and later Michael Jordan. Following a setback in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals, LeBron James would start a postseason expedition that could be unparalleled in the annals of sports history.
It began with the Miami Heat’s four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals between 2011 and 2014. After Miami defeated the Thunder in 2012 and the Spurs in 2013, James would lead the team to two NBA titles. In both victories, he would also get the Finals MVP award. James returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015, and from then until 2018, he guided them to four consecutive NBA Finals berths.
The Cavaliers would finish 1-3 in those four Finals appearances, but that one victory was particularly memorable. James ignited the biggest comeback in NBA history despite trailing 3-1 in the series against a Warriors squad that only won 73 games during the regular season. In order to capture their first NBA title in team history, the Cavaliers would go on to win three straight games. James was leading the charge, and it was the biggest upset the sport had ever seen. James has a 120-59 postseason record and a 67.0% playoff winning percentage.
2020s – P.J. Tucker – 39 Wins
Now that the 2023–24 NBA season has barely begun, the 2020s decade has crowned just four NBA champions between 2020 and 2023. Ironically, with 39 postseason victories so far this decade, P.J. Tucker leads the pack ahead of two-time NBA Finals MVP Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, who each have 37 victories.
Before being traded to the Bucks in 2021, Tucker would win five postseason games with the Rockets in 2020. Tucker had 21 victories in all as he helped the Milwaukee Bucks defeat the Suns in the 2021 NBA Playoffs and win their first NBA championship since 1971. Tucker would pick up 18 additional victories in total over the course of his following two postseason trips with the Heat and 76ers, increasing his total to 39 from 2020–2023. Will we witness an increase in that number this season with the Clippers in 2023–24?
These are the NBA players who have won the most playoff wins every decade. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
