Oshae Brissett became the latest Canadian to capture the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
The 25-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., added his name to the growing list after the Boston Celtics trounced the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 Monday night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to clinch the franchise’s record 19th title.
Brissett played 17 minutes during the series and recorded seven points, three rebounds and one block during Game 4.
After playing with the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers, Brissett signed a two-year contract with the Celtics as a free agent last summer and averaged 3.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game during the regular season.
A Canadian player was guaranteed to claim the championship no matter what, with canucks Dwight Powell, A.J. Lawson and Olivier-Maxence Prosper all playing for the Mavericks.
Brissett is the 10th Canadian to win an NBA title.
Mike Smrek was the first, capturing back-to-back championships with the “Showtime” era Los Angeles Lakers (1987-88). Bill Wennington earned three straight with the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls (1996-98) while Rick Fox also won three consecutive titles with the Los Angeles Lakers (2000-02).
Joel Anthony (Miami Heat, 2012, ’13), Cory Joseph (San Antonio Spurs, 2014), Tristan Thompson (Cleveland Cavaliers, 2016), Chris Boucher (Golden State Warriors 2018 and Toronto Raptors 2019), Andrew Wiggins (Golden State 2022) and Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets 2023) have added their names to the list in recent years.