Los Angeles Lakers - Avg Season Score 13.97

Total Seasons: 72 (Minneapolis Lakers 1948-1960, LA Lakers 1960-present)
Winning Seasons: 54
50+ Wins: 33
Conference or Division Finals: 41
NBA Finals: 32
NBA Championships: 17
MVPs: 8 (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1976, 77, 80; Magic Johnson 1987, 89, 90; Shaquille O'Neal 2000; Kobe Bryant 2008)

The Lakers franchise got off to a roaring start in Minneapolis - winning 5 championships in its first 6 seasons - and the winning has seldom subsided since then. The Lakers have made the playoffs more times than any other franchise and advanced to the NBA Finals 31 times in their first 62 years. A slump ensued throughout most of the 2010s, ending with the team's 17th championship in 2020.

This card - featuring all four of the team's MVP winners - seemed like a good choice to represent the franchise for this list.

Boston Celtics - Avg Season Score 11.91

Total Seasons: 74
Winning Seasons: 54
50+ Wins: 33
Conference or Division Finals: 36
NBA Finals: 21
NBA Championships: 17
MVPs: 10 (Bob Cousy 1957; Bill Russell 1958, 61, 62, 63, 65; Dave Cowens 1973; Larry Bird 1984, 85, 86)

The Celtics are tied in championships with the Lakers and have two more MVPs, but rank slightly behind in these rankings because of the Lakers' big advantage in Finals appearances.

With a whopping 11 championships in Bill Russell's 13 NBA seasons, a card featuring the Celtics of that era was the obvious choice for this list.

San Antonio Spurs - Avg Season Score 8.30

Total Seasons: 44
Winning Seasons: 37
50+ Wins: 27
Conference Finals: 14
NBA Finals: 6
NBA Championships: 5
MVPs: 3 (David Robinson 1995; Tim Duncan 2002, 03)

The Spurs joined the NBA from the ABA in 1976 and have enjoyed a remarkable run of success since then, with just 7 losing seasons in 44 years (and only two since 1990). The team hit its peak in the Tim Duncan era, winning 5 championships and posting 50+ wins an incredible 18 consecutive seasons, a record which will almost certainly never be broken. (The Lakers' 12 straight 50-win seasons is the next longest streak in NBA history.)

Miami Heat - Avg Season Score 6.63

Total Seasons: 32
Winning Seasons: 21
50+ Wins: 9
Conference Finals: 8
NBA Finals: 6
NBA Championships: 3
MVPs: 2 (LeBron James 2012, 13)

The Heat's accomplishments tower over all other post-ABA merger expansion teams, and most other teams period. This short-printed card in the 2013-14 Hoops set documents their second of back-to-back NBA championships and was an easy choice to represent the franchise for this list.

Chicago Bulls - Avg Season Score 6.09

Total Seasons: 54
Winning Seasons: 30
50+ Wins: 16
Conference Finals: 11
NBA Finals: 6
NBA Championships: 6
MVPs: 6 (Michael Jordan 1988, 91, 92, 96, 98; Derrick Rose 2011)

Few team's owe as much of their success to just one player as do the Bulls to Michael Jordan. Jordan spent just 11 full seasons with the Bulls, but those 11 seasons were responsible for 8 of the team's 11 Conference Final berths, all 6 of their championships, and 5 of their 6 MVPs.

Philadelphia 76ers - Avg Season Score 5.44

Total Seasons: 71 (Syracuse Nationals 1949-63; Philadelphia 76ers 1963-Present)
Winning Seasons: 44
50+ Wins: 18
Conference or Division Finals: 21
NBA Finals: 9
NBA Championships: 3
MVPs: 6 (Wilt Chamberlain 1966, 67, 68; Julius Erving 1981; Moses Malone 1983; Allen Iverson 2001)

The Sixers haven't done much winning for the past three decades, but were one of the NBA's best teams in the first decade after the ABA merger (1976-77 through 1985-86). In that 10-year period they won 50+ games 9 times, reached the Eastern Conference Finals or beyond 7 times, and won the 1983 NBA championship as depicted on this card.

Golden State Warriors - Avg Season Score 5.09

Total Seasons: 74 (Philadelphia Warriors 1946-62; San Francisco Warriors 1962-1971; Golden State 1972-Present)
Winning Seasons: 37
50+ Wins: 10
Conference or Division Finals: 17
NBA Finals: 11
NBA Championships: 6
MVPs: 3 (Wilt Chamberlain 1960; Steph Curry 2015, 16)

The Warriors are the only team in the NBA to have more Finals appearances than 50-win seasons, a testament to the fact that much of their playoff success came in the franchise's early years in Philadelphia when the NBA season was much shorter. The Dubs recent string of hugely successful seasons make it easy to forget that they were an NBA laughing-stock for most of the 1990s and 2000s, with just two winning seasons and one playoff series victory between 1994 and 2012.

Houston Rockets - Avg Season Score 4.23

Total Seasons: 53 (San Diego Rockets 1967-1971; Houston Rockets 1971-Present)
Winning Seasons: 38
50+ Wins: 14
Conference Finals: 8
NBA Finals: 4
NBA Championships: 2
MVPs: 4 (Moses Malone 1978, 82; Hakeem Olajuwon 1994; James Harden 2018)

The Rockets were the only Western Conference team besides the LA Lakers to reach the NBA Finals in the 1980s, sneaking through despite a losing record in 1981 and upsetting the Lakers in the 1986 Western Conference Finals. But the team's best seasons came with Hakeem Olajuwon leading them to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 95. I'm not sure why Hakeem is MIA on this Stadium Club insert; I guess it captures the rest of the team watching him do something spectacular.

Oklahoma City Thunder - Avg Season Score 3.98

Total Seasons: 53 (Seattle SuperSonics 1967-2008; OKC 2008-Present)
Winning Seasons: 36
50+ Wins: 15
Conference Finals: 10
NBA Finals: 4
NBA Championships: 1
MVPs: 2 (Kevin Durant 2014; Russell Westbrook 2017)

As the Seattle SuperSonics, this franchise won the NBA championship in 1979 and reached the NBA Finals in 1978 and 1996. Since moving to Oklahoma City in 2008 the team's best stretch included four Western Conference Finals appearances in six seasons, losing in 2011, 2014, and 2016, and winning in 2012 as seen on this Panini sticker.

Detroit Pistons - Avg Season Score 3.97

Total Seasons: 72 (Fort Wayne Pistons 1948-57; Detroit 1957-Present)
Winning Seasons: 30
50+ Wins: 14
Conference or Division Finals: 17
NBA Finals: 7
NBA Championships: 3

The highest-rated team in these rankings without an MVP, Detroit enjoyed two lengthy winning stretches in franchise history. They went to five straight Eastern Conference Finals from 1987-91 (reaching the NBA Finals three times and winning two championships), and then went to six straight Eastern Conference Finals from 2003-08 (reaching the Finals twice and winning one championship).

This short-print celebrating the Pistons' first championship was perhaps the hobby's first legitimate "chase card". With prices quickly spiking to $50+ the card triggered so many complaints from collectors unable to complete their sets that Hoops eventually offered a replacement card #353 as a mail-in wrapper redemption.