A list of NBA 8 MVPs without championships, with multiple active players on the list, Embiid s worst record in the playoffs

Even the best players in the NBA, they may not be able to win the championship as they wish. For example, Chris Paul, known as the "God of Point Guard", has played in the NBA for 20 seasons, but he has not yet been able to stand on the highest podium. Next, we will take stock of these 8 players, and they are even more "uncrowned kings". Although they have all won the regular season MVP, they have not won the O'Brien Cup in their careers!

8. Charles Barkley

After joining the Suns in 1992, Barkley ushered in another peak season. In the regular season of the new season, he averaged 25.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game. With his help, the team won the league's first record. Therefore, he finally successfully defeated Jordan and others and won the MVP of the season. Under the leadership of Barkley in the playoffs, the Suns reached the finals. Unfortunately, facing the Bulls, who were in the limelight at the time, the team finally lost to their opponents with a big score of 2-4. Barkley has also tried his best in this series. He averaged 27.3 points, 13 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game in 6 games. This is the only time Barkley has reached the finals in his career. Even if he joins the Rockets and joins Olajuwon, he will not be able to reach the finals again, so let alone win the championship.

7. Karl Malone

In Malone's career, he won two MVPs. The first time was in 1997, when he averaged 27.4 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.4 steals that season. The second time was in 1999. In that season, he averaged 23.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.3 steals. In his playoff career, Malone's last three seasons to the championship were in 1997, 1998 and 2004. He reached the finals with the team in these three seasons, but every time his team failed to laugh to the end, and the Jazz lost to the same team in 1997 and 1998.

6. Allen Iverson

The best season in his career was undoubtedly the 2000-2001 season. That year, he averaged 31.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.5 steals per game in the regular season. Therefore, in the competition for MVP, he successfully stood out and won the only time in his career. When the season came to the playoffs, Iverson continued his hot form. He averaged 32.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists in the entire playoffs. Unfortunately, they met the arrogant Lakers in the past, and the team was swept by the Lakers with a big score of 1-4. Since then, Iverson has never been so close to the championship, and when he retired, his career still did not make up for the regret of not having a championship.

5. Steve Nash's early career was not favored by people. In 2004, he left because he failed to get a satisfactory offer. In the end, he chose to return to the sun that year, and it was this decision that completely changed his career. After returning to the Suns, Nash and the team's offensive concept coincided with him, so under his leadership, the Suns played one of the best offensives in the league. With this advantage, they won the league's first record in the 2004-2005 season, and Nash, who averaged 15.5 points and 11.5 assists per game, also successfully won the MVP.

In 2006, Nash successfully defended his MVP again. This season, he averaged 18.8 points and 10.5 assists per game, but at that time, the Suns fell in the division finals for two consecutive years. Later in 2010, Nash led the Suns to the Western Conference Finals, but unfortunately they lost to the Lakers in this round of series. Since then, Nash, who has gradually moved up and down, has become further and further away from the championship.

4. Derek Ross

In 2008, the Bulls chose Ross without any suspense. The latter quickly realized his talent when he entered the league. In the third season of his career, Ross averaged 25 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1 steal. The most important thing is that under his leadership, the Bulls ranked first in the league in the regular season with a record of 62 wins and 20 losses. Therefore, after the regular season, Ross became the youngest MVP in NBA history.

It was also in 2011 that Ross led the Bulls to the division finals, but facing the three Heat giants at that time, their team was still a little immature and failed to go further in the end. Later, Ross quickly fell due to injury, and after that, he went to many teams but failed to return to the top. Finally, he officially announced his retirement last year.

3. Westbrook

The Thunder were expected to reach the finals again after 4 years in 2016, but they were reversed by the Warriors. This loss also stimulated Durant, so he chose to join the Warriors in the offseason. In the 2016-2017 season, in order to prove that the Thunder could still win, Westbrook played the best season of his career. That year, he averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, 10.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game in the regular season, so he also successfully won the MVP.

However, since then, Westbrook's performance in the playoffs has been very unsatisfactory. So far, he has broken through the first round in 2020 and 2025. Considering Westbrook's current decline, the probability of him winning the championship before retirement is getting lower and lower.

2. After Harden

lost the Finals in 2012, Harden was placed in the trade with the Rockets by the Thunder and was then sent to the Rockets. But coming to the Rockets did not make Harden decline. Instead, he became a better player here. In the 2017-2018 regular season, he averaged 30.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 8.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game. At the same time, he also led the Rockets to achieve the best record in team history. In the end, he was successfully elected as the MVP. This year, the Rockets had a chance to win the championship, and they once took a 3-2 lead against the Warriors, but the injury of the second-in-commander Paul made all this empty talk.

Since 2018, Harden has never been so close to the championship. 2021 may be the most promising season after he left the Rockets, but unfortunately it was ruined by injuries in the end. Harden has now declined a lot from his peak, and the Clippers' lineup is not enough to support him in the championship.

1. Embiid

2022-2023 regular season Embiid averaged 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 blocks per game. While winning the regular season scoring champion for the second consecutive year, he was also elected as the MVP. Due to the success of the regular season, the outside world naturally raised its expectations for Embiid, but he obviously failed to prove himself in the playoffs, and he has not even reached the division final until now. And every time we get into key games, Embiid's performance is always disappointing. The tiebreaker facing the Celtics in 2023 is a good example. As the MVP of the season, he only scored 15 points in the game as 5 of 18 shots.