It never happened between Magic Johnson’s Lakers and Larry Bird’s Celtics. Same for Michael Jordan and Karl Malone or Jerry West and Bill Russell.
While there have been 14 rematches in NBA Finals history, this year’s meeting between LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers and Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors will be the first trilogy in league history.
After the Warriors beat the Cavs for their first title in 40 years in 2015, Cleveland got revenge last season with a comeback from 3-1 down to give the city its first major championship since 1964. Now they meet for the rubber match starting June 1 in Oakland.
While this may be unprecedented in the NBA, it has happened once before in the NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball with matchups that included some of those sports’ biggest stars.
There was Babe Ruth vs. Frankie Frisch in the 1920s and then a pair of memorable three-peat matchups in the 1950s featuring Otto Graham against Bobby Layne in the NFL and Gordie Howe against Maurice Richard in the NHL.