Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images
NBA titles: 2
NBA seasons: 8
Championship percentage: 25.0 percent
It’s unfortunate that injuries ended one-time All-Star Andrew Bynum’s career early, as the big man had excellent size and strength, as well as fantastic finishing ability around the basket. Bynum was an important part of the Lakers’ repeat in ’09 and ’10, as his rim-protection and rebounding helped Los Angeles form a tough frontcourt duo with him and Pau Gasol.
Due to injuries, Bynum only played in 418 regular-season games. In comparison, he made 74 playoff appearances in his career. We think that if we ever did research on the players with the highest ratio of career NBA playoff appearances vs. regular-season appearances, Bynum would actually fare pretty well in that one, too.
In addition, Bynum could have more Finals and playoff appearances, and maybe even another ring, had he not hurt his knee during the 2007-08 regular season, which forced him to miss the second half of the campaign and the entire playoffs. That year, the Lakers got to the Finals but lost to Boston in six games, in part due to their lack of size down low.
Bynum was having a good season when he got hurt, so the 7-footer could have helped change the Lakers’ fortunes in the ’08 Finals. That would have given Bynum a 37.5 percent championship win rate, which would have put him Top 8 in the list, and given Bryant six rings, the same number as Jordan.
