It never happened while he was a Jayhawk, and it devastatingly never happened while he wore an NBA jersey. However, former Kansas forward Nick Collison has finally secured his long-sought-after Championship ring.
Collison played for the Kansas Jayhawks from 1999 until 2003, when he was selected 12th overall in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Seattle Supersonics, who eventually became the Oklahoma City Thunder. After playing his entire professional career with the franchise, Collison joined the Thunder's coaching staff and is currently the acting special assistant, a role he was promoted to in 2021.
When the Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, a dream became reality for Collison as his team won the title.
Nick Collison gets his ring as a special assistant to the Thunder. https://t.co/OomMQDkzbz
— Mike Vernon (@M_Vernon) June 23, 2025
The Thunder defeated the Pacers 4-3 in the 2025 NBA Championships, led by league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
While Collison was never an NBA Champion as a player, he deserved quite a few honors, including his jersey No. 4 being retired by Oklahoma City in 2019, making him the seventh-ever player to earn that achievement in franchise history (the first ever as the OKC Thunder).
During his 15-year tenure with the Sonics and Thunder, Collison earned 5,359 points (5.9 PPG), 4,701 rebounds (5.2 RPG), and 939 assists (1.0 APG) in total.
While playing for Kansas, Collison was a two-time Big 12 All-American (2001 & 2003), a consensus First Team All-American (2003), and the Big 12 Player of the Year (2003). Similarly, he was the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Player of the Year during his final season for the Jayhawks.
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Collison also represented Team USA on a number of occasions during his playing career. He won gold at the 2003 FIBA Americas Championship, the 2001 FIBA U21 World Championship, and the 1998 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.