Aaron Gordon, Zeke Nnaji join list of former Wildcats to win an NBA championship

A champagne diet is in order for Aaron Gordon and Zeke Nnaji, who became the most recent former Arizona Wildcats to win an NBA championship on Monday after the top-seeded Denver Nuggets cruised by the eighth-seeded Miami Heat in five games.

Gordon — who averaged 14 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in the NBA Finals alongside Finals MVP Nikola Jokic — and Nnaji are the first Wildcats not named Andre Iguodala to win an NBA championship as players in seven years.

Here’s a list of every UA player to win an NBA championship as a player:

Jud Buechler

Number of championships: 3

Team: Chicago Bulls (1996-98)

What they did: Buechler was a reserve forward during the second three-peat of the Michael Jordan era in Chicago.

Steve Kerr

Number of championships: 5

Teams: Chicago Bulls (1996-98), San Antonio Spurs (1999, 2003)

What they did: Kerr etched his name in NBA Finals lore in the 1997 Finals, knocking down a midrange shot at the top of the key to beat the Utah Jazz and seal the second title of Chicago’s second three-peat. Joked Kerr, to thousands of fans in Chicago during the Bulls’ championship celebration: “When we called timeout with 25 seconds to go, we went into the huddle and Phil (Jackson) told Michael, ‘Michael, I want you to take the last shot.’ Michael told Phil, ‘You know, Phil, I don’t really feel comfortable in these situations, so maybe we ought to go in another direction. Why don’t we go to Steve?’ So I thought to myself, ‘Well, I guess I gotta bail Michael out again.’ The shot went in, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” After his time with the Bulls, Kerr was a bench guard for the Spurs under legendary head coach Gregg Popovich.

Sean Elliott

Number of championships: 1

Team: San Antonio Spurs (1999)

What they did: The Tucson native averaged 11.2 points and 4.3 rebounds in 50 games during a shortened, lockout-influenced season. San Antonio — led by the formidable frontcourt of Tim Duncan and David Robinson — beat the Knicks in five games.

Bison Dele

Number of championships: 1

Team: Chicago Bulls (1997)

What they did: Formerly known as Brian Williams, the former All-Pac-10 big man posted 7.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per game off the bench. Dele then played two more seasons with the Detroit Pistons.

Luke Walton

Number of championships: 2

Team: Los Angeles Lakers (2009, ’10)

What they did: Walton was drafted by the Lakers late in the Kobe-Shaq era, and by the time L.A. returned to contending for championships, the former Arizona point forward had a minimal role.

Jason Terry

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Number of championships: 1

Team: Dallas Mavericks (2011)

What they did: The former NBA Sixth Man of the Year averaged 18 points and shot 49.4% from the field — 39.3% from 3-point range — against a LeBron James-led Miami Heat team.

Andre Iguodala

Number of championships: 4

Team: Golden State Warriors (2015, ’17, ’18, ’22)

What they did: Despite James dominating the NBA Finals in 2015 while averaging 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists in six games, Iguodala was named NBA Finals MVP — the only ex-Wildcat to accomplish that feat — for shouldering the responsibility of guarding the then-Cavaliers star.

Richard Jefferson

Number of championships: 1

Team: Cleveland Cavaliers (2016)

What they did: After falling short of winning an NBA championship with the New Jersey Nets, Jefferson won his only championship with the Cavaliers, averaging 5.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals in seven games. Cleveland overcame a 3-1 series deficit to dethrone Golden State, which had set an NBA record for most wins in a regular season (73-9).

Channing Frye

Number of championships: 1

Team: Cleveland Cavaliers (2016)

What they did: Like his former UA teammate Jefferson, Frye was a contributor off the bench for the Cavs’ frontcourt. He averaged 7.5 points and 3.6 rebounds.

Zeke Nnaji

Number of championships: 1

Team: Denver Nuggets (2023)

What they did: The former first-round draft pick didn’t play in the NBA Finals, but he did appear in four games this postseason, including three in the second round against the Phoenix Suns.

Aaron Gordon

Number of championships: 1

Team: Denver Nuggets (2023)

What they did: A decade after signing with the UA as a five-star small forward, the high-flying Gordon — also known as “Mr. 50” for a perfect dunk contest score — won his first-ever title as the frontcourt counterpart to Jokic. Gordon’s 14 points per game in the NBA Finals are a career-high for him in the playoffs. In Game 4 on Friday, Gordon dropped 27 points on 11-for-15 shooting from the field, to go with seven rebounds and six assists.