How Many Championships Will Lebron, Howard, Durant, Melo, Wade Win?

Written by Daniel Evans on 15 April 2010

Lebron James: Kevin, have you seen my two NBA championship rings?

Kevin Durant: No, Lebron. Why don’t you check your championship ring display case?

Loading ...

Maybe paraphrasing a popular commercial between the talking puppets of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant is the best way to look into the NBA’s future. With Bryant aging (31), the NBA is starting to balance itself out a little bit. Bryant’s Lakers won the last NBA title and are among the favorites to win this season’s. Los Angeles has become a consistent team with Kobe at the helm, because he wills them to wins and plays them in position to win championships.

As sad as it is for a sports fan like me to write, Bryant’s prime will be over soon. The same goes for Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and many others. These guys have been in the league for a long time and will all be retired before we know it.

That leaves the NBA in the hands of its next generation of stars.

Every single day it seems like I hear “Lebron James is still young. That guy is going to win as many championships as he wants.” If you want, swap out James with Dwight Howard. Or Kevin Durant. Or Camelo Anthony. The statement still makes sense with any of them included. We’ve heard that statement mentioned regarding all these players at one point.

The truth is there are only so many titles to go around. Doing the math, let’s call 33 the age where skills start to deteriorate enough that players have to make significant adjustments to their game. That gives Kobe Bryant two more years. He might still be playing at a high level when he’s 40, because he’s Kobe, but at some point he has to start declining. Throw in that factor and think about Bryant’s Lakers, Boston’s “Big Three”, and the Spurs/Mavericks/Suns (and every other NBA star for that matters) for the next two seasons and all of a sudden the window for the young guys mentioned above to win a title starts to look smaller. Star players do not decline overnight and the NBA has too many stars for this to be a one man show for years to come.

Lebron James probably has a decade of great basketball left in him. Can he win multiple titles in an era that will also include Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, and Kevin Durant? All of those guys are young players that would be snatched up in the first five picks of a draft if they were thrown back into a pool with every other NBA player.

How many titles will all those guys win? It’s truly tough to judge. If I give Lebron James four titles, then how many are left for the other three guys? And what about for other guys not even mentioned yet like Chris Bosh (26 years old), Dwayne Wade (28 years old), Amare Stoudemire (27 years old), Brandon Roy (25 years old), and Deron Williams (25 years old)? Out of that group, somebody is likely to win a championship (or in Wade’s case, another title).

So, how does it stack up? That’s what I’m here for, to wildly look into a crystal ball and tell you how many championships players will have when their careers end.

Here’s my best guess at how many titles Lebron James, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwayne Wade–five of the game’s best players under 30, will win:

LEBRON JAMES

RING PREDICTION

At 25, Lebron James has a lot of basketball left in him. He’s let a few chances for a title slide by (07 vs. Spurs, last season) but he has plenty of chances left. The biggest question regarding his future is whether he will suit up in a different uniform starting next season. If he does, that could change everything about this projection. Without knowing where he is going to play for sure, it is hard to know whether James will ever be able to form a dynasty like other greats like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant did. To be on the safe side, I will say he wins two titles. His upcoming decision this offseason will likely seal his fate. A good choice–a move to a team with the ability to bring in elite players with Lebron–could be the beginning of one of the best runs in NBA history with James at the helm.

DWIGHT HOWARD

RING PREDICTION

NBA history tells us that dominant big men usually lead dynasties. Dwight Howard took the Magic to the NBA Finals last season. At 24, he’s likely going to be a dominant force in the middle for at least the next six years. His defense and rebounding makes him hard to gameplan for, but if his offensive game could still use some work. If he ever becomes a dominant force on offense, he could match Shaquille O’ Neal’s four rings. Expect him to continue developing on offense, while continuing to dominate the boards. I have him winning two rings, but he could win mor e than that if all the right pieces fall into play. A lot depends on whether the Magic can continue surrounding him with talent for the next five to six years.

KEVIN DURANT

RING PREDICTION

At only 21, Kevin Durant has become the youngest player ever to capture the scoring title. Oklahoma City has went from rebuilding to the playoffs with the emergence of Durant, a gifted forward with the talent to play any position on the floor. If the Thunder can continue adding pieces, Durant could end up with a handfull of rings based on talent. His market isn’t a great on e for free agents, so he might have to leave OKC to win titles. Oklahoma City is going the right direction, has a roster loaded with young talent, and has a superstar that can entice players to sign up to play with him. I will give him one championship, just because I can’t see a guy as talented as him not winning at least one.

CARMELO ANTHONY

RING PREDICTION

Anthony is one of the hardest cases to predict. The Nuggets are built for a championship now, but have not been able to get past Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. At 31, Bryant is running out of prime years left. With Carmelo Anthony at 25, the Nuggets are going to be a fringe NBA Finals team for years to come. This could be the team to beat in the West for the next few sea sons, depending on how high a level aging stars in the conference can continue playing at. Will he ever get over the hump? I say he gets at least one ring.

DWAYNE WADE

RING PREDICTION

(won in 2006)

At 28, Wade is the youngest out of the group many still consider the “NBA’s new generation of stars”. He’s the first young guy in this article that I’ve broken down that actually owns a NBA Championship ring. The question here (as with all the players listed) is how many more Wade takes home? He’s considering leaving Miami and if he does his next stop will play a large role in whether he ever gets another ring. There’s only so many rings to go around while Wade is still in his prime (maybe five great years left), and this is probably Lebron and Dwight Howard’s league during that time. I believe he will finish his career with the one he has.