Chicago Bulls: 4 stars that had their title hopes ruined by Michael Jordan

Stars that had title hopes ruined by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls: Shawn Kemp

Most of the attention in the 1996 NBA Finals between the Bulls and Seattle SuperSonics fell on the eventual Hall-of-Famer and defensive standout point guard Gary Payton, in his matchup with Jordan. But it wasn’t “The Glove” that was one of the stars of the SuperSonics that wound up going his entire career without winning a ring.

The lone star (and likely eventual Hall-of-Fame inductee) from the SuperSonics with that 1996 squad that made a run to the NBA Finals to face Jordan and the Bulls that went his entire career without getting a ring was the uber-athletic big man Shawn Kemp. The 6-foot-10 and 230-pound six-time All-Star selection had his best shot to get a ring during the 1996 NBA Finals.

And just as the pesky Suns did in the 1993 NBA Finals, Kemp and the Sonics pushed the Bulls to a six-game series in 1996. But it was Jordan, Pippen, and the Bulls that would ultimately get the best of Kemp, Payton, and the Sonics.

Kemp started out the Finals matchup with Jordan and the Bulls red hot until Game 3. He combined for 61 points, 22 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and five blocks, in the first two games of this Finals series. But neither of those games would result in wins for the Sonics. It was two well-rounded efforts from the likes of Jordan, Pippen, and Hall-of-Fame big man Dennis Rodman that staved off the sparkling performances from Kemp in the first two games.

The Sonics would win two of the next four, but that put them two games shy of where they needed to be to top the Bulls in the 1996 NBA Finals.

Following the conclusion of the 1995-96 season, Kemp would go on to have two more All-Star nods. But the furthest he would ever make it again in the playoffs after that was the second round in the 1997 postseason, before the Sonics were eliminated by the Houston Rockets.