How Many Players Have Won the NCAA Tournament and NBA Finals?

The exclusive list features some of the greatest basketball players in history.

Los Angeles Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (33) and Magic Johnson (32) on the bench against the Portland Trail Blazers at Memorial Coliseum. / Imagn Images

There are more avenues for players to reach the NBA than ever before. A huge percentage of the league's superstars come from abroad, playing as pros overseas before coming to the NBA. Even for American-born athletes, the G-League, Australia's NBL and other leagues provide players alternate pathways to reach the NBA. Even so, there's nothing quite like a player becoming a March Madness legend.

The popularity of college basketball ebbs and flows, but the NCAA tournament remains one of the world's great sporting events, and helps turn even small school standouts into national basketball stars.

While the NBA has existed since 1946 (beginning as the Basketball Association of America before becoming the NBA with the 1949 merger with the National Basketball League), the list of players to capture both an NCAA championship and NBA title is quite short. Sports Illustrated has evaluated the rosters of every NBA Finals champion dating back to 1947, the first title recognized by the NBA, and in total, 57 players have won rings as both a Division I college basketball and NBA player.

The list includes some of the NBA's all-time greats, like Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas and, of course, Michael Jordan. We've also seen a few players join the list in just the last few years. The 2023 Denver Nuggets featured a pair of recent national champions—Kansas's Christian Braun and Villanova's Connor Gillespie—while Al Horford, a two-time winner at University of Florida, broke through for his first NBA championship with the Boston Celtics last season.

Here is the full list:

All Players Who Have Won the NCAA Tournament & NBA Finals

Player	NCAA national championships	NBA championships
Howie Dallmar	Stanford (1942)	Philadelphia Warriors (1947)
Arnie Ferrin	Utah (1944)	Minneapolis Lakers (1949, '50)
Jim Pollard	Stanford (1942)	Lakers (1949, '50, '52 to '54)
Herm Schaefer	Indiana (1940)	Lakers (1949, '50)
Clyde Lovellette	Kansas (1952)	Lakers (1954); Boston Celtics (1963, '64)
Dick Farley	Indiana (1953)	Syracuse Nationals (1955)
Tom Gola	La Salle (1954)	Warriors (1956)
Bob Cousy	Holy Cross (1947)	Celtics (1957, '59 to '63)
Frank Ramsey	Kentucky (1951)	Celtics (1957, '59 to '64)
Bill Russell	San Francisco (1955, '56)	Celtics (1957, '59 to '66, '68, '69)
Lou Tsioropoulos	Kentucky (1951)	Celtics (1957, '59)
Cliff Hagan	Kentucky (1951)	St. Louis Hawks (1958)
K.C. Jones	San Francisco (1955, '56)	Celtics (1959 to '66)
John Havlicek	Ohio State (1960)	Celtics (1963 to '66, '68, '69, '74, '76)
Larry Siegfried	Ohio State (1960)	Celtics (1964 to '66, '68, '69)
Ron Bonham	Cincinnati (1962)	Celtics (1965, '66)
Tom Thacker	Cincinnati (1961, '62)	Celtics (1968)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	UCLA (1967 to '69)	Milwaukee Bucks (1971); Los Angeles Lakers (1980, '82, '85, '87, '88)
Lucius Allen	UCLA (1967, '68)	Bucks (1971)
Keith Erickson	UCLA (1964, '65)	Lakers (1972)
Gail Goodrich	UCLA (1964, '65)	Lakers (1972)
Henry Bibby	UCLA (1970 to '72)	New York Knicks (1973)
Jerry Lucas	Ohio State (1960)	Knicks (1973)
Jamaal Wilkes	UCLA (1972, '73)	Golden State Warriors (1975); Lakers (1980, '82, '85)
Bill Walton	UCLA (1972, '73)	Portland Trail Blazers (1977); Celtics (1986)
Magic Johnson	Michigan State (1979)	Lakers (1980, '82, '85, '87, '88)
Butch Lee	Marquette (1977)	Lakers (1980)
Rick Robey	Kentucky (1978)	Celtics (1981)
Quinn Buckner	Indiana (1976)	Celtics (1984)
James Worthy	North Carolina (1982)	Lakers (1985, '87, '88)
Billy Thompson	Louisville (1986)	Lakers (1987, '88)
Milt Wagner	Louisville (1986)	Lakers (1988)
Isiah Thomas	Indiana (1981)	Detroit Pistons (1989, '90)
Michael Jordan	North Carolina (1982)	Chicago Bulls (1991–93, '96–98)
Rodney McCray	Louisville (1980)	Bulls (1993)
Glen Rice	Michigan (1989)	Lakers (2000)
Richard Hamilton	UConn (1999)	Pistons (2004)
Corliss Williamson	Arkansas (1994)	Pistons (2004)
Nazr Mohammad	Kentucky (1996, '98)	San Antonio Spurs (2005)
Derek Anderson	Kentucky (1996)	Miami Heat (2006)
Antoine Walker	Kentucky (1996)	Heat (2006)
Corey Brewer	Florida (2006, '07)	Dallas Mavericks (2011)
Jason Terry	Arizona (1997)	Mavericks (2011)
Shane Battier	Duke (2001)	Heat (2012, '13)
Mario Chalmers	Kansas (2008)	Heat (2012, '13)
Danny Green	North Carolina (2009)	Spurs (2014); Toronto Raptors (2019); Lakers (2020)
Brandon Rush	Kansas (2008)	Warriors (2015)
Marreese Speights	Florida (2007)	Warriors (2015)
Sasha Kaun	Kansas (2008)	Cleveland Cavaliers (2016)
Quinn Cook	Duke (2015)	Warriors (2018); Lakers (2020)
Anthony Davis	Kentucky (2012)	Lakers (2020)
Mamadi Diakite	Virginia (2019)	Bucks (2021)
Donte DiVincenzo	Villanova (2016, '18)	Bucks (2021)
Justin Jackson	North Carolina (2017)	Bucks (2021)
Christian Braun	Kansas (2022)	Denver Nuggets (2023)
Collin Gillespie	Villanova (2018)	Nuggets (2023)
Al Horford	Florida (2006, '07)	Celtics (2024)

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