The Last Player to 3-Peat in the NBA? It’s Not Who You Think

The NBA has gotten to an era with no repeating NBA champions in eight years. As such, the idea of a 3-peat looks almost ancient to many fans. 

However, why no team three-peated since the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002, there has been a recent three-peat player.

Former NBA star Patrick McCaw holds that honor. He was a role player who quietly achieved one of the rarest feats in league history by winning championships in each of his first three seasons. 

McCaw won back-to-back titles with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018 before joining the Toronto Raptors and winning his third ring in 2019. 

No player has done a back-to-back-to-back since the Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant era.

From Undrafted Prospect to Immediate Champion

McCaw was a late second round draft pick in 2016 by the Milwaukee Bucks but was subsequently traded to the Warriors. He was assigned to the G League on a two way contract but still managed to play 70 games and 20 of them were starts.

His contributions stat-wise was a modest 4.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. But he was a solid role piece for the Steve Kerr dynasty Warriors side. 

He remained part of the rotation on a star-studded roster featuring Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

That Warriors team won 67 games that season and defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games in a repeat of the 2016 Finals matchup to claim the 2017 championship. McCaw played 15 playoff games and started three of them which was modest but impactful.

McCaw played 57 games the following season, but his minutes improved from his rookie year. The Warriors made the Finals again and for the fourth straight year, it was against the Cavaliers. Golden State swept Cleveland in four games for their second straight title, completing a repeat. 

McCaw’s Unusual Three-Peat Across Two Franchises

McCaw became a free agent after his second title in Golden State. He then moved to the East and initially signed with the Cavaliers but was waived. He then joined the Raptors in January 2019.

Unlike with the Warriors, he was rarely used during his Toronto stint. He played just 26 games and had just a single start with career-low in minutes per game. 

Still, he was a member of the team that was led by Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam, upsetting the Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals in six games, delivering Toronto its first championship. 

McCaw appeared in 11 postseason games for the Raptors, including four of the six Finals games against his former team. 

His contribution may have been limited, but rings don’t come with asterisks for playing time. McCaw had now 3-peated and became only the ninth player in history to win a championship in each of his first three years in the league.

After that final championship, his career went off grid and, after being waived by the Raptors in 2021, he bounced around in the G League, first with the Delaware Blue Coats and as recently as last year, he signed with the Raptors 905. 

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