If the Charlotte Hornets win the 2026 Summer League, they will become the NBA’s first “back-to-back champions” since 2018

They would also (by extension) become the first repeat champions in this time period. It’s also interesting to note that no team has won both a summer league championship and an NBA season championship in this time period either.

Past 8 Summer League champions:

2026: TBD
2025: Charlotte Hornets
2024: Miami Heat
2023: Cleveland Cavaliers
2022: Portland Trail Blazers
2021: Sacramento Kings
2020: COVID-19
2019: Memphis Grizzlies

Past 8 NBA season champions:

2026: New York Knicks
2025: Oklahoma City Thunder
2024: Boston Celtics
2023: Denver Nuggets
2022: Golden State Warriors
2021: Milwaukee Bucks
2020: Los Angeles Lakers
2019: Toronto Raptors

Past 3 NBA Cups (there have only been 3):

2025-26: New York Knicks
2024-25: Milwaukee Bucks
2023-24: Los Angeles Lakers

cleo22270 | Heat

27 | 3 hours ago

If they could just make it to June, they’d be unstoppable.

It’s that pesky October to April that always stops them in their tracks.

ookbhx | Cavaliers

4 | 2 hours ago

Just have the summer league team play the full regular season. Easy.

palelei | Timberwolves

6 | 2 hours ago

if they win, i think that may be what sets Tidjane Salaun apart in the GOAT debate

Superb-Cheek2639 | Timberwolves

3 | 2 hours ago

2020 COVID-19 Team was insane

nico_juro | Nuggets

1 | 8 minutes ago

all star fauci

fishmorton | Kings

3 | 2 hours ago

RAISE THE BANNER

SnowballOfFear | Hornets

1 | 9 minutes ago

BANNERS*

SAguilar23 | Spurs

1 | 25 minutes ago

Going for the trifecta, Summer League Champ, NBA Cup Champ, NBA Champ!

Generalocity | USA

-2 | 3 hours ago

Social media has beaten the back to back champions talking point in the ground so quick and it’s still being talked about

Blake_a12

-2 | 3 hours ago

You’re really going to write this and not tell us who the last ones were?

SamsungStealer [OP] | Hornets

3 | 2 hours ago

The Golden State Warriors. I guess I’m getting old, it doesn’t feel like it was that long ago.

Blake_a12

0 | 2 hours ago

The warriors won the summer league back to back years?

SamsungStealer [OP] | Hornets

2 | 2 hours ago

No, they were the last team to win back to back years in the standard NBA season. There has never been a back-to-back summer league champion.

JTBeefboyo

-7 | 3 hours ago

You understand that the significance of the last 8 champions isn’t that there are none back to back but that there are in fact no repeats at all, right?

aka12lh44 | Lakers

6 | 3 hours ago

well SL also doesn’t have repeat

ArrowInBlack | Knicks

1 | 3 hours ago

Well are there any repeats?

SamsungStealer [OP] | Hornets

0 | 3 hours ago

That would also be true, yes. In fact, there’s no teams that have won both a regular season championship and a summer league championship in the past 8 years either.

There are 3 teams that won both an NBA championship and the NBA cup in this time period however.