NBA Championship and Olympic Gold in the Same Year
Winning an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal are two of the
highest achievements in basketball. Winning both during the same
calendar year is considerably rarer.
NBA players first competed in Olympic basketball in
1992. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen immediately
became the first NBA players to combine an NBA championship with an
Olympic gold medal in the same year after winning with the Chicago
Bulls and the United States at the Barcelona Olympics.
| Year |
Player |
Country |
NBA Championship Team |
| 1992 |
Michael Jordan |
USA |
Chicago Bulls |
| 1992 |
Scottie Pippen |
USA |
Chicago Bulls |
| 1996 |
Scottie Pippen |
USA |
Chicago Bulls |
| 2012 |
LeBron James |
USA |
Miami Heat |
| 2016 |
Kyrie Irving |
USA |
Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 2021 |
Jrue Holiday |
USA |
Milwaukee Bucks |
| 2021 |
Khris Middleton |
USA |
Milwaukee Bucks |
| 2024 |
Jrue Holiday |
USA |
Boston Celtics |
| 2024 |
Jayson Tatum |
USA |
Boston Celtics |
| 2024 |
Derrick White |
USA |
Boston Celtics |
History and Notes
-
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen became the first
NBA players to win an NBA championship and Olympic gold medal in the
same year in 1992.
-
Pippen accomplished the feat again in 1996, making
him the first player to do it twice.
-
LeBron James joined the group in 2012 after winning
the NBA championship with Miami and Olympic gold with Team USA in
London.
-
Kyrie Irving accomplished the double in 2016 after
helping Cleveland win its first NBA championship and Team USA capture
gold in Rio de Janeiro.
-
Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton won the 2021 NBA
championship with Milwaukee before joining Team USA and winning Olympic
gold in Tokyo.
-
The Tokyo Games were officially the 2020 Olympics,
but they were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and actually
played in 2021. Because both achievements occurred during the 2021
calendar year, Holiday and Middleton qualify for this list.
-
In 2024, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White
became the first trio of NBA teammates to win the NBA championship and
Olympic gold during the same year. All three won the NBA title with
Boston before winning gold with Team USA in Paris.
-
Holiday's 2024 accomplishment made him the second player, after
Scottie Pippen, to achieve the championship-and-gold double twice.
Players to Accomplish the Feat More Than Once
| Player |
Times |
Years |
NBA Teams |
| Scottie Pippen |
2 |
1992, 1996 |
Chicago Bulls |
| Jrue Holiday |
2 |
2021, 2024 |
Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics |
