Only three teams can win NBA title based on this legendary coach's 'rule'

The 2024-25 NBA regular season is entering the home stretch with every game meaning more and more with regard to the playoff field.

But regardless of which teams make the playoffs, there's one stat that has practically predicted every NBA Finals champion in the last 15 years.

Legendary head coach Phil Jackson stated in 2008 that, "you must win 40 games before you lose 20 to be seen as an elite team." That soon became known as the iconic "40-20" rule.

Since the 2010-11 season, all but one league champion has met Jackson's requirement. The only exception was the 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks but that was the modified COVID-19 season.

According to the "40-20" rule, there are only three teams that can be considered "elite" and legitimate contenders for the NBA title.

Those teams are the Cleveland Cavaliers (47-10), Boston Celtics (41-16) and Oklahoma City Thunder (46-10). Boston would be going for back-to-back titles after proving the rule right in 2023-24.

The Memphis Grizzlies (37-20), New York Knicks (37-20) and Denver Nuggets (38-20) recently eliminated themselves from contention, according to Jackson's standards, but that doesn't necessarily eliminate them completely.

Besides the 2020-21 Bucks, the 2005-06 Miami Heat, 2003-04 Detroit Pistons, 1998-99 San Antonio Spurs and 1994-95 Houston Rockets also defied the rule and took home the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

"No, I don't buy into that," Nuggets head coach Michael Malone told reporters last season when his team were faced with the same challenge. "Everybody's got to take a chill pill."

The 2023-24 Nuggets wound up getting eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals.

It'll be interesting to see which of this year's three "contenders" actually fulfill the seemingly statistical oracle or whether any of those that don't meet the criteria shock the basketball world for the first time in a full, normal season in 19 years.