Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about basketball and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the basketball urban legends featured so far.

BASKETBALL URBAN LEGEND: Torrey Craig is guaranteed an NBA championship ring no matter who wins the NBA Finals.

It’s so funny that I was planning on doing this same exact story about Dion Waiters, who was in the same position last year as Torrey Craig is this season, but then, well, you know, Torrey Craig was put into this position and so now I might as well do the current example.

Okay, so Torrey Craig plays for the Phoenix Suns, who are in the NBA Finals…

The Suns are playing the Milwaukee Bucks, who earlier this year had on their roster….Torrey Craig…

The Bucks traded Craig to the Suns in March. The deal worked out well for Craig, as he has played a lot more for the Suns than he was playing for the Bucks (he went from 12 minutes a game in less than half the Bucks’ games, with no starts, to 19 minutes a game and starting eight games).

This then leads to the same question that came up last year when Dion Waiters was on the Los Angeles Lakers when they defeated the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, which was the team he played for earlier in the season, which is, “Are you guaranteed to receive an NBA championship ring if your current team plays your earlier in the season former team in the NBA Finals?”

A lot of people think that the answer is yes, but it is not true.

The truth of the matter is that the NBA leaves the decision of who gets a championship ring solely to the team itself (and usually the team leaves it to the players to decide). So there are no hard and fast rules regarding who gets a ring. Now, would the Bucks offer to give Craig a ring if they won the title? PROBABLY. Back in 2015-16, the Cleveland Cavaliers offered their longtime star, Anderson Varejao, a ring, after he was traded late in his career during the season and cut by the team that traded for him and then he signed with the Warriors, who then lost to the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. Varejao wanted to re-sign with the Warriors, so as a sign of loyalty, he turned it down. He then did re-sign with the Warriors but was cut during the following season, and when the Warriors won the title, they offered him a ring, as well, and this tiem he said yes.

So yeah, would the Bucks offer Craig a ring if they won? I would say that would be highly likely.

Is he guaranteed a ring no matter who wins the title? Nope.

So the legend is…

STATUS: False

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future urban legends columns! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com

Tags: Dion Waiters, Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns, Torrey Craig