One more Tar Heel will be added to UNC’s list of NBA champions.
Justin Jackson or Cameron Johnson will become the 18th Carolina basketball player to win an NBA title.
According to UNC, this is the 11th time the NBA Finals featured teams with former Tar Heels on opposing sides.
Jackson of the Milwaukee Bucks and Johnson of the Phoenix Suns will begin the NBA Finals with much more at stake for both franchises.
Carolina’s list of former players in the NBA or old ABA has grown to 92, and one more of them will win an NBA ring when a champion is crowned in the seven-game series that opens Tuesday in Phoenix.
Including multiple titles, 35 NBA championships have been won by Tar Heels. Michael Jordan, of course, has the most with six, but it’s surprising some of the others who have more than one ring in their collection.
Mitch Kupchak won three, one with the Washington Bullets and two with the Lakers. Kupchak has a total of 10 rings including seven as assistant GM and general manager of the Lakers.
James Worthy has three with LA from 1985-88. Scott Williams also has three playing with Jordan and the Bulls in the early 1990s. Rick Fox has three in a row with the Lakers at the turn of the century.
Danny Green also has three and is one of four NBA players to win them with three different teams, Green’s as a starter with the Spurs, the Raptors and the Lakers. Green also joins Jordan and Worthy as the only Tar Heels to win both an NCAA championship and an NBA title.
Carolina alumni who have won two are named McAdoo, Robert with the Lakers in the 1980s and James Michael with the Warriors in 2015 and 2017. Kenny Smith, better known these days as a TV analyst, took advantage of Jordan’s first retirement when he led the Rockets to championships in 1994 and ’95.
Heels who have one NBA ring are Billy Cunningham, Charlie Scott, Tom LaGarde, Bobby Jones, Pete Chilcutt, Rasheed Wallace, Brendan Haywood and Harrison Barnes.
UNC easily leads the ACC with the number of players to win NBA championships (17). Louisville is second with 10. If anyone cares, Duke has six.
Jackson and Johnson both come off the bench for the Bucks and Suns, and they could be important to their teams that have been plagued by injuries through the playoffs. The game within a game. Who will be No. 18?
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