NBA Teams With Most MVP Winners

The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles are tied for the most championships in history with 17 apiece, and are the two winningest NBA franchise in history. Interestingly, these two historic franchises also have the most number of NBA MVP winners, with Boston having ten MVP winners and the Lakers claiming eight. The next three teams are the Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers with six each and the Milwaukee Bucks with five of their own.

Meanwhile, the NBA odds are not in favor of ten teams in the league that haven’t won the most outstanding individual accolade, namely the Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors.

Boston Celtics – 10 MVPs

The C’s have claimed the most NBA MVP awardees with ten. Of these ten, Bill Russell collected five in 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1965. Bob Cousy (1957) and Dave Cowens (1973) added one each to set the most number of winners for Boston. Following Russell in the list is Larry Bird, who was able to win the award three times (1984, 1985 and 1986) in his career.

Player, Head Coach, Activist, Mentor: Happy Birthday to the great Bill Russell (2/12/34) 11 @NBA championships in 13 seasons with the @celtics (two as player-coach), five NBA MVP Awards, College: Led University of San Francisco to two NCAA titles; 55 consecutive wins. pic.twitter.com/SuTbfes1nO

— NBA History (@NBAHistory) February 12, 2018

Los Angeles Lakers – 8 MVPs

Boston’s archrival, the Los Angeles Lakers, is not too far behind with eight MVP winners. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1976, 1977 and 1980 winner) and Magic Johnson (1987, 1989, 1990 winner) have led the purple and gold franchise with three apiece. While Shaquille O’Neal (2000 winner) and Kobe Bryant (2008 winner) tallied one apiece to make the Lakers’ total to eight.

14 years ago today (2008): Kobe Bryant won his only NBA regular season MVP award. pic.twitter.com/QlSpp1kZEd

— Kobe Bryant Stories & Motivation (@kobehighlight) May 6, 2022

Chicago Bulls – 6 MVPs

The GOAT of most basketball generations, Michael Jordan, has racked up a total of five NBA MVP awards in his career in 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996 and 1998 for Chicago. After his time with the Bulls, the franchise has dwindled to be a cellar-dweller team for years until they drafted Derrick Rose in 2008, eventually winning the MVP honors in 2011 and helping the team contend once more.

Philadelphia 76ers – 6 MVPs

Tied with Chicago with 6 MVP winners is the Philadelphia 76ers. Wilt Chamberlain got the most awards for the franchise with three consecutive years in 1966, 1967 and 1968. After Chamberlain, Philly’s next MVP was Julius Erving in 1981 and Moses Malone in 1983. Then eighteen years later, in 2001, the 76ers had their most recent winner in the form of Allen Iverson.

Milwaukee Bucks – 5 MVPs

The 2021 NBA Champions Milwaukee Bucks only had two players who bagged the MVP award in their franchise history, but they won the honor multiple times, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971, 1972 and 1974. There was a 45-year drought, though after that last time that the city saw an MVP awardee when Giannis Antetokounmpo picked up back-to-back awards in the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

pic.twitter.com/SHlLxYLvUK

— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) September 18, 2020