The great Bill Russell holds the record of most championships as a player with 11. Can anyone even match or surpass that? That record is still holding strong since 1969, the year we landed a man on the moon and the year of great muscle cars.

The retired greats don’t even come close.

Wilt Chamberlain = 2

Hakeem Olajuwon = 2

Larry Bird = 3

Magic Johnson = 5

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar = 6

Michael Jordan = 6

Among active players it looks hopeless.

Tim Duncan (aged 34) and Manu Ginobili (aged 32) both at the twilight of their careers have 3. Tony Parker aged 28 also has 3 but with their current line-up he will be hard pressed to win 8 more to match Russell’s in the difficult Western Conference.

Shaquille O’Neal has 4 on the huffin’ and puffin’ age of 38 is close to retiring with little hope of winning another title.

Kobe Bryant, fresh from a title run at age 31 has 5 in his hand, there’s still a long way to go to the record. He’s been in the league since he was 18 years old. The physical toll of playing more or less 100 games a year and constant traveling has taken its effect on the Black Mamba. Can he can go for an improbable 6 more titles? I don’t think so. The young talent in the NBA is amazing and for the first time in this career he’s now dealing with lingering injuries.

Pau Gasol on the other hand has 2 at age 29. As great as he is today, he should play even more dominant and beg the Lakers organization to keep a championship caliber team for the next decade to come close to Russell.

Among young players few hold much potential.

Andrew Bynum at a young age of 22 already has two with the Lakers. If he improves his play, keeps his knees in check and stays in an organization that would maintain a championship caliber roster, it’s possible for him to win 9 more.

LeBron James is already an NBA veteran at the age of 25, still no rings though. If he gets involved in an organization dedicated to winning, he can go for 11.

Kevin Durant, 21 years old is being projected as the best player in the NBA in 3 years. The future looks bright for this fella he just has to stay away from injuries and as I said above, be involved in a team dedicated to winning. He should be surrounded by a fantastic crew, a great coach and adoring fans.

With the NBA’s minimum age of 20, future players have 20 or less years to achieve the amazing feat of 11 rings.

It’s possible because it’s still the NBA, where amazing happens.