Basketball bling: The last 15 NBA championship rings in pictures

Only a handful of NBA players are able to win championship rings, which makes earning one all the more special.

NBA ring ceremonies are a culmination of a team's achievement from the prior season. Players, owners, coaches and staff members are awarded rings that will commemorate their hard work and accomplishments from the title run. We'll look back at pictures of rings from the last 15 NBA champions.

The Celtics left no stone unturned when it came to designing their ring to celebrate the 2024 title. According to NBC Sports Boston, the ring features 18 emerald cut diamonds as an ode to each of the franchise's titles. 80 white diamonds also spell out the word "champions", with 80 being the total number of wins Boston logged in the regular season and playoffs combined.

Denver 7's website highlighted some really cool features from the 2023 Nuggets ring. There is a special level within the ring that allows a person to toggle the year from 2023 to 1967, which is the first year the franchise existed. The lever also switches the color of the background from blue to white.

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According to the NBA's website, the Warriors' 2022 championship ring is the first to be made up of primarily yellow diamonds. Of course, the organization had to get creative, since the 2022 title was its fourth in an eight-year span.

The NBA's website talked about the 360 diamonds at the top of the Bucks' championship ring. The number represents the number of wins the team had since they were bought by Wes Edens and Mark Lasry, up until the point they won it all. They also used 4.14 carats of emeralds in the ring, to represent Milwaukee's 414 area code.

This was the championship that the Lakers secured in the NBA bubble during the pandemic. According to the Los Angeles Times, each ring cost over $20,000 to produce. The ring also featured a small design tribute to Kobe Bryant, who tragically passed away in a helicopter accident in January 2020.

As the first Canadian team to win the NBA title, the Raptors had to go all out for their ring design. The "North" was prominently displayed on their rings, as a nod to the pride fans feel north of the American border. Baron Championship Rings' website notes that Toronto's ring included the single-largest diamond in any professional sports championship ring.

The 2018 Warriors ring neatly included the playoff journey that the team had to go through to win it all. The results of all four postseason series is included on the ring, which will help anyone wearing it remember each and every obstacle they had to go through to reach the mountain top.

As was mentioned earlier, winning a lot of titles increases the challenge of coming with concepts to keep the jewelry fresh. According to the NBA's website, the Warriors decided to honor players who were on both the 2015 and 2017 title teams with two representations of the Larry O'Brien trophy. Players who were only on the 2017 team have one such image.

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LeBron James infamously yelled, "Cleveland, this is for you!" after the Cavaliers won their first title in franchise history in 2016. The organization pulled out all the stops to recognize the landmark achievement. Baron Championship Rings' website noted that this ring is the heaviest in NBA history.

This is the first ring from the Warriors' dynasty. It was made from yellow gold with 67 percent purity, to pay homage to Golden State's 67 wins during the season, according to Baron Championship Rings.

Perhaps the slogan on the 2014 Spurs ring says it all. It reads "from good to great", which perfectly describes their road to the title. They came up just short in 2013, but were motivated as can possibly be to finish the job in 2014.

Photo credit: NBA official website

Perhaps the most unique feature of the 2013 Heat championship rings is a motto that was written in Chinese. It translates to sacrifice, which was a theme that was hammered home way back in the preseason that year, when the team played exhibition games in Shanghai.

Baron Championship Rings' website highlights the 46 custom princess-cut diamonds included in the 2012 Miami championship ring. NBA fans will remember this title taking the pressure off of the big 3 in Miami, comprised of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Perhaps one of the more intriguing stories surrounding the 2011 Mavericks ring involves the desire of a player to pawn it off. Former Dallas guard DeShawn Stevenson sold his ring in 2023 for over $73,000, according to FanSided.

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This was the fifth and final championship Kobe Bryant won in his illustrious career. One really cool feature is that the ring actually encompasses pieces of the game ball used in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, according to the league's website.