NBA playoffs 2025 - Luka? Brunson? Here are six NBA superstars who need a ring to cement their legacies - ESPN

Great regular seasons make NBA players rich and famous. Great playoff runs make them legends. This has always been the standard and will always be.

Charles Barkley is judged, whether it's fair or not, because of his lack of a championship. Kevin Garnett went from being viewed as a failing star, as he lost in the first round of the playoffs seven consecutive years in Minnesota, to the definition of a leader after winning a title in Boston. Jerry West was one of the great champions in league history, but his anguish in losing his first eight trips to the Finals defined his career in many ways. One of Pat Riley's most memorable lines is, «there is winning and there is misery,» and that comes from a man with nine rings.

More recently, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic used title runs to validate the MVP trophies they'd already earned.

As the playoffs begin, here are six players who have yet to win a championship and could use deep playoff runs to cement their places in the game.

Doncic didn't ask to be traded, nor did he make getting to Los Angeles a priority like many stars have over the decades.

But he's a Laker now, and that comes with certain expectations. Doncic's brilliant run to the Finals last season included a jaw-dropping Western Conference finals — he averaged 33 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals — that only raised the stakes. But his numbers dipped in the Finals; his 24% 3-point shooting and 23 turnovers in the five games against the Boston Celtics were below his standard; and his Game 3 disqualification left a need for a better showing.

Doncic is off to a hot start, scoring 37 points in Game 1 of the Lakers' first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the Lakers lost in a 117-95