Who has the most NBA Finals MVP awards
- Michael Jordan, six: in 1991, 1992 and 1993 and again from 1996 to 1998, one for each of the Bulls' titles.
- LeBron James, four: with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013, the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, the only player to win it with three teams.
- Three each: Magic Johnson (1980, 1982 and 1987) and Shaquille O'Neal (2000 to 2002) of the Lakers, and Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs (1999, 2003 and 2005).
- Two each: Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard.
Those 12 players hold 33 of the 58 awards, and 25 others won once. Jordan won three in a row twice and O'Neal once; Olajuwon, Bryant, James and Durant won in back-to-back years. Abdul-Jabbar won 14 years apart, the longest gap, with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971, as Lew Alcindor, and the Lakers in 1985; he and Leonard, with the Spurs and the Toronto Raptors, are the only others to win with two teams.
NBA Finals MVP winners list by year
Winners come from Wikipedia's list, checked against each player's own page and NBA Communications' notes on the 2026 Finals; series results come from our list of NBA champions.
| Year | Finals MVP | Pos. | Team | Series | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Jalen Brunson | G | New York Knicks | 4-1 | 29 |
| 2025 | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | G | Oklahoma City Thunder | 4-3 | 26 |
| 2024 | Jaylen Brown | F/G | Boston Celtics | 4-1 | 27 |
| 2023 | Nikola Jokić | C | Denver Nuggets | 4-1 | 28 |
| 2022 | Stephen Curry | G | Golden State Warriors | 4-2 | 34 |
| 2021 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | F | Milwaukee Bucks | 4-2 | 26 |
| 2020 | LeBron James | F | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-2 | 35 |
| 2019 | Kawhi Leonard | F | Toronto Raptors | 4-2 | 27 |
| 2018 | Kevin Durant | F | Golden State Warriors | 4-0 | 29 |
| 2017 | Kevin Durant | F | Golden State Warriors | 4-1 | 28 |
| 2016 | LeBron James | F | Cleveland Cavaliers | 4-3 | 31 |
| 2015 | Andre Iguodala | F/G | Golden State Warriors | 4-2 | 31 |
| 2014 | Kawhi Leonard | F | San Antonio Spurs | 4-1 | 22 |
| 2013 | LeBron James | F | Miami Heat | 4-3 | 28 |
| 2012 | LeBron James | F | Miami Heat | 4-1 | 27 |
| 2011 | Dirk Nowitzki | F | Dallas Mavericks | 4-2 | 32 |
| 2010 | Kobe Bryant | G | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-3 | 31 |
| 2009 | Kobe Bryant | G | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-1 | 30 |
| 2008 | Paul Pierce | F | Boston Celtics | 4-2 | 30 |
| 2007 | Tony Parker | G | San Antonio Spurs | 4-0 | 25 |
| 2006 | Dwyane Wade | G | Miami Heat | 4-2 | 24 |
| 2005 | Tim Duncan | F/C | San Antonio Spurs | 4-3 | 29 |
| 2004 | Chauncey Billups | G | Detroit Pistons | 4-1 | 27 |
| 2003 | Tim Duncan | F/C | San Antonio Spurs | 4-2 | 27 |
| 2002 | Shaquille O'Neal | C | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-0 | 30 |
| 2001 | Shaquille O'Neal | C | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-1 | 29 |
| 2000 | Shaquille O'Neal | C | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-2 | 28 |
| 1999 | Tim Duncan | F/C | San Antonio Spurs | 4-1 | 23 |
| 1998 | Michael Jordan | G | Chicago Bulls | 4-2 | 35 |
| 1997 | Michael Jordan | G | Chicago Bulls | 4-2 | 34 |
| 1996 | Michael Jordan | G | Chicago Bulls | 4-2 | 33 |
| 1995 | Hakeem Olajuwon | C | Houston Rockets | 4-0 | 32 |
| 1994 | Hakeem Olajuwon | C | Houston Rockets | 4-3 | 31 |
| 1993 | Michael Jordan | G | Chicago Bulls | 4-2 | 30 |
| 1992 | Michael Jordan | G | Chicago Bulls | 4-2 | 29 |
| 1991 | Michael Jordan | G | Chicago Bulls | 4-1 | 28 |
| 1990 | Isiah Thomas | G | Detroit Pistons | 4-1 | 29 |
| 1989 | Joe Dumars | G | Detroit Pistons | 4-0 | 26 |
| 1988 | James Worthy | F | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-3 | 27 |
| 1987 | Magic Johnson | G | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-2 | 27 |
| 1986 | Larry Bird | F | Boston Celtics | 4-2 | 29 |
| 1985 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | C | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-2 | 38 |
| 1984 | Larry Bird | F | Boston Celtics | 4-3 | 27 |
| 1983 | Moses Malone | C | Philadelphia 76ers | 4-0 | 28 |
| 1982 | Magic Johnson | G | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-2 | 22 |
| 1981 | Cedric Maxwell | F | Boston Celtics | 4-2 | 25 |
| 1980 | Magic Johnson | G | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-2 | 20 |
| 1979 | Dennis Johnson | G | Seattle SuperSonics | 4-1 | 24 |
| 1978 | Wes Unseld | C/F | Washington Bullets | 4-3 | 32 |
| 1977 | Bill Walton | C | Portland Trail Blazers | 4-2 | 24 |
| 1976 | Jo Jo White | G | Boston Celtics | 4-2 | 29 |
| 1975 | Rick Barry | F | Golden State Warriors | 4-0 | 31 |
| 1974 | John Havlicek | F/G | Boston Celtics | 4-3 | 34 |
| 1973 | Willis Reed | C/F | New York Knicks | 4-1 | 30 |
| 1972 | Wilt Chamberlain | C | Los Angeles Lakers | 4-1 | 35 |
| 1971 | Lew Alcindor | C | Milwaukee Bucks | 4-0 | 24 |
| 1970 | Willis Reed | C/F | New York Knicks | 4-3 | 27 |
| 1969 | Jerry West | G | Los Angeles Lakers | 3-4 | 30 |
The only Finals MVP from the losing team
Jerry West, in 1969, the first year of the award. West averaged 37.9 points in seven games for the Lakers, who lost Game 7 at home to the Boston Celtics, 108-106. Every winner since has played for the champion.
NBA Finals MVPs by position
By the first position Wikipedia lists, guards and forwards have won 22 awards each and centers 14. Centers took 6 of the 11 from 1969 to 1979, and forwards 9 of the 10 in the 2010s, when Bryant, in 2010, was the only guard to win.
By that count, no center won between O'Neal in 2002 and Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets in 2023, 20 Finals in a row. Guards have won the last two, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2025 and Brunson in 2026.
NBA Finals MVPs by team
The Lakers have had the most Finals MVPs, 13, from eight players, counting West's. The Celtics have seven from six players, from John Havlicek in 1974 to Jaylen Brown in 2024. The Bulls have six, all Jordan's, and the Spurs and the Golden State Warriors five each; Stephen Curry won one of the Warriors' five, in 2022. The Knicks' three went to Reed, in 1970 and 1973, and Brunson.
Twelve franchises have never had one: the 10 that have never won the title and the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings, whose only titles came before 1969.
How often the NBA MVP is also Finals MVP
In 16 of the 58 seasons, 28 percent, the league MVP was also Finals MVP: Jordan four times, Bird and James twice, and Reed, Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Johnson, Olajuwon, O'Neal, Duncan and Gilgeous-Alexander once. The MVP's team won 18 titles in that span, and only twice did a teammate take Finals MVP instead: Johnson in 1980, over Abdul-Jabbar, and Andre Iguodala in 2015, over Curry.
In eight more seasons the MVP's team lost in the Finals, most recently Curry's Warriors, beaten by James and the Cavaliers in 2016. Since the first MVP in 1955-56, the MVP's team has won 24 titles in 71 seasons, our study of MVPs and titles found. Seventeen of the 37 Finals MVPs, Brunson among them, have never been league MVP.
Youngest and oldest NBA Finals MVPs
Johnson was the youngest, 20 years and 276 days old when he won as a rookie in 1980, and Abdul-Jabbar the oldest, 38 years and 54 days, in 1985. The next oldest were James in 2020, Wilt Chamberlain of the Lakers in 1972 and Jordan in 1998, all 35.
The median winner was 29, Brunson's age in 2026. Eight of the 58 were younger than 25, most recently Leonard at 22 in 2014, and 22 were 30 or older.
How long the Finals ran when the MVP was named
Of the 58 Finals since 1969, 23 went six games, 15 five, 12 seven and 8 were sweeps; across all 80 Finals six games is also the most common length, as our study of Finals length shows. Twelve MVPs were named after a Game 7, most recently Gilgeous-Alexander in 2025, and eight after a sweep, most recently Durant in 2018.
The top scorer among the winners was Jordan in 1993, with 41.0 points per game against the Phoenix Suns, and the lowest Wes Unseld of the Washington Bullets in 1978, with 9.0. Iguodala is the only winner who did not start every game of his series.
Unanimous NBA Finals MVPs and the closest votes
A panel of 11 media members votes on the award. We could confirm the count for 11 of the 13 Finals since 2014, and six winners got every vote: James in 2016 and 2020, Durant in 2017, Curry in 2022, Jokić in 2023 and Brunson in 2026.
Leonard fell one vote short twice, with 10 of 11 in 2014 and in 2019, when the other vote went to his Raptors teammate Fred VanVleet. Three votes split 7-4: Iguodala over James in 2015, Durant over Curry in 2018 and Brown over his Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum in 2024, as CBS Sports reported.
Jalen Brunson, the 2026 NBA Finals MVP
Brunson averaged 32.6 points in the five games and scored 45 in the 94-90 clincher at San Antonio on June 13, a Knicks record for a Finals game. NBA Communications noted that he and Jordan are the only players with 45 or more in a title-clinching game on the road, and that his 163 points were the most by a Knick in one Finals. He was the Knicks' first Finals MVP since Reed in 1973.
The 2026-27 regular season began on October 20, when the Knicks opened at home against the Philadelphia 76ers, and ends on April 11, 2027, the league's schedule shows. The NBA schedule lists every game, and the NBA simulator plays out the season.
NBA Finals MVP: frequently asked questions
Who has the most NBA Finals MVP awards? Michael Jordan, with six, all with the Chicago Bulls. LeBron James has four, and Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan three each.
Who won the 2026 NBA Finals MVP? Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks, with all 11 votes, after the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 4-1.
Has a Finals MVP ever come from the losing team? Once: Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1969, the first year of the award.
Who is the youngest NBA Finals MVP? Magic Johnson, at 20 years and 276 days, as a Lakers rookie in 1980. The oldest is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, at 38, in 1985.
Why is the Finals MVP award named after Bill Russell? The NBA renamed it in 2009 for Russell, an 11-time champion with the Celtics. His last title, in 1969, was the first Finals with an MVP, and the award went to West.
How this was built: the 58 Finals MVPs from 1969 to 2026 come from Wikipedia's list, read on Oct. 25, 2026, and checked against each winner's Wikipedia page, Wikipedia's page on each Finals since 2014 and, for 2025 and 2026, NBA.com. Series results and the date of each Finals' last game come from the 80 Finals we rebuilt game by game from NBA.com's game logs and Wikipedia; ages run to that date from birth dates on Wikipedia. Positions are the first Wikipedia lists; league MVPs come from NBA.com. Votes come from Wikipedia's Finals pages, Sports Illustrated (2019), CBS Sports (2024) and NBA Communications (2026); we could not confirm the 2021 and 2025 counts.