NBA Retrospective: Great Players Who Won Championships in Supporting Roles

There have already been a lot written about NBA greats who couldn't win a championship, and corollary to that, to "winners" who have shown they can win again and again.  It got me thinking about a middle group of players...those who could not win titles by themselves, but were critical members of championship teams as the number 2 guys or as the team's secondary superstar.  I am not familiar with the players before my time, but these are my noteworthy players from the 80s until today.

Scottie Pippen is perhaps the ultimate secondary superstar.  He had the fortune/misfortune of spending the peak years of his career playing with and in the shadows of Michael Jordan.  In the couple of years Jordan was out, he showed that he could not carry a team as "the" main man, as particularly tainted by his refusal to play against the Knicks when he wasn't the one given the last shot.  And while his other opportunities came when his skills had significantly fallen off (Portland, Houston), he also did not display the necessary leadership.  He was someone who was really best off as the secondary superstar.

David Robinson is perhaps the most talented of the secondary superstars.  He was a member of talented teams but did not have the luxury of playing beside a strong secondary.  The best was perhaps Sean Elliott, but who may have been a best fit as a number 3 guy behind Tim Duncan and David Robinson.  It could be said that an in-his-prime Robinson would have been able to hold his own against an in-his-prime Duncan, but at the end of the day, Robinson never won a title as the Spurs main man and he won as a secondary superstar when Duncan came on board.

The LA Lakers James Worthy is perhaps the most unsung of this list.  He played most of his career with the star studded Laker teams led by Magic Johnson.  He won multiple titles with them and even had a year when he was the Championship Series MVP.  He was nearly traded to the Mavericks for Mark Aguirre and Roy Tarpley in 1986, and that might have given him the opportunity to lead "Worthy's Team" and see how far he could take them.  Ultimately though, he is best known as the finisher on the Magic-led Laker breaks.

Jason Kidd also was not able to win a title as the main man (New Jersey) but was able to do so as Dirk's sidekick later in his career.  Had he won a title with the Nets, he would have been their top dog.  By the time he rejoined Dirk, however, it was clear that it was Dirk's team and he was in a supporting role.

Clyde Drexler was another superstar on the downside of a career when he finally won by joining a younger, stronger star in Hakeem Olajuwon.  In his earlier days, he was the star of the deep Portland Trailblazer teams that challenged the Lakers, Pistons, and Bulls in the early 90s.  Despite a very deep team that featured Buck Williams, Clifford Robinson, Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey, Kevin Duckworth among others, they failed to beat the Pistons in 1990, and the Bulls in 1992.  As an aging star, he was traded to Houston and was a significant contributor to the Rockets 95 playoff run on their way to back to back titles.  Despite his contributions, however, that was clearly Hakeem's team.

While these players could be considered as having had superstar careers, they won championships in a supporting role.  Still, they did win at least one each.  That's one more than the likes of Ewing, Malone, Stockton, etc.