Eight Years, Eight NBA Champions. Is Parity Here to Stay?

Winning an NBA championship is hard enough. Defending one has become an even bigger challenge, with no team managing the feat since the Golden State Warriors in 2018.

The New York Knicks are the latest team looking to buck that trend, but oddsmakers aren't convinced. The Spurs and Thunder enter the 2026-27 season as co-favorites at +270, with the defending champion Knicks further back at +900.

The NBA seems to be stuck in an unstoppable parity mode in which the words “repeat champion” have become foreign. Since the Golden State Warriors won back-to-back crowns, there have been eight different NBA champions. This is the longest run in league history since 1975-1980, when there were six different champions crowned. 

Do the recent championship results represent a true era of parity or simply a period in which building a dynasty is much more challenging?

Eight Years, Eight NBA Champions

Unlike Major League Baseball, where the L.A. Dodgers are chasing a third-straight World Series crown,  NBA teams have struggled to find that defending-the-crown formula. Injuries, free agency, avoiding the NBA’s second salary cap apron, and other teams improving via the draft are some of the big reasons behind the parity.

After the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA Title, Kawhi Leonard signed a free agent deal with the L.A. Clippers. The following season had the unexpected twist of Walt Disney World hosting the NBA bubble. 

In 2025, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander capped off his MVP season by leading the Thunder to the franchise’s first NBA championship since relocating to Oklahoma City. No matter which of the previous eight seasons is talked about, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the list has zero repeat winners.

Two Surprising Championship Seasons

2018-19 Toronto Raptors 

The 2018-19 Raptors championship run stands out as the most unexpected outcome, being that Toronto was a +1850 preseason underdog. Golden State, on the other hand, was expected to make the Finals, being that they opened the season as a -168 favorite to 3-peat. Instead of it being another edition of the Steph Curry and Kevin Durant show, Leonard’s Raptors won it in six games. 

Toronto traded for Leonard prior to the season, and the move paid off big time as the Finals MVP averaged 28.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists for the series.   

2022-23 Denver Nuggets

The word surprising typically isn’t used when talking about Nikola Jokic, but Denver opened the 2022-23 season with a +1800 price, compared to the Celtics (+500). Once the postseason arrived, the 53-win Nuggets dominated the competition with a 16-4 record that included sweeping the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. 

Over those 20 postseason games, Jokic compiled 600 points, 269 rebounds, and 190 assists - all of which ranked No. 1. 

Two Championship Seasons We Could See Coming

2024-25 OKC Thunder 

The Thunder winning in 2025 isn’t as surprising, given that they opened with +500 odds; Boston (+325) was the only team with a shorter price. OKC finished the regular season with an NBA-best 68-14 record, 

The Finals matchup versus the Pacers ended up being one of the more exciting ones as it went seven games. The Thunder took Game 7 103-91, and Gilgeous-Alexander was named the Bill Russell Finals MVP after averaging 30.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 5.6 assists. 

This was one of those seasons where injuries significantly impacted the postseason as star players Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard, and Tyrese Halliburton all suffered torn ACL injuries. Halliburton went down in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.    

2023-24 Boston Celtics 

This season stands out for being the one year that the preseason favorite ended up being the last team standing. A deep Celtics roster led by Tatum and Jaylen Brown proved to be too much to handle. After finishing the regular season with an NBA 64-18 record, when the postseason rolled around, Boston dropped a grand total of three games. After sweeping the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, it only took five games to claim the 18th NBA championship in franchise history.

The Brown-Tatum pairing was one of those unstoppable duos. In 19 playoff games, Tatum averaged 25 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 6.3 assists while Brown, who was named NBA Finals MVP, added 23.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. 

When will we see another NBA Dynasty begin?

A strong case could be made that the NBA’s parity era will soon come to a screeching halt.  The Spurs have a legitimate shot at contending for the O’Brien Trophy over the next decade thanks to young star Victor Wembanyama being just 22 years old. The young nucleus also includes Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. After falling to the Knicks in the most recent NBA Finals, it seems only a matter of time before San Antonio starts winning multiple titles again.

Betting odds aside, the Thunder are a serious threat to win another title soon, especially with SGA, Jalen Williams, and Holmgren all being signed through the 2029-30 season.   

In the Eastern Conference, Knicks fans would love nothing more than to see their team repeat. They only had to wait 53 years between championship seasons. While the entire starting five is returning, the biggest unknown is how long owner James Dolan will be willing to keep paying Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges over $30 million per year. Towns is on the books for over $57 million this season and has a 2027-28 player option. He’s eligible for an extension, but the chances of a deal getting done before opening night seem less likely than this parity error ending.