LeBron's Legacy

With each passing year in the career of LeBron James, his claim of being the GOAT basketballer seems to grow stronger. With now his 4th NBA Ring, it’s maybe fair to say that the throne held by Michael Jordan is close to being usurped by “King James”. LeBron has become the 1st ever player to win finals MVP with 3 teams and was arguably robbed of becoming the 1st player to win 3 regular season MVPs with 3 teams too, what was once used as a stick to beat LeBron with has become one of his most impressive accomplishments. In his 17th year in the NBA, LeBron is setting the standards for play yet again, but at his age and with the amount of basketball he has played, there has never been anyone as durable and as good at their stage in their career, and LeBron has arguably been the best player in the world since around his 3rd season too. The argument of “RINGS!” seems more futile every day, as it is yet to be answered why it is better for a player to fail to make it out of the first round of the playoffs than lose in the NBA Finals. In fact, in LeBron’s final loses, there is only one season that deserves the derision it receives, that being his abject performance vs Dallas for Miami in which he was outscored and outperformed by nearly everyone on the court. Other than that, LeBron has faced the “winningest” team in NBA history in the Warriors both with and without his next and third best players, and saw that team add arguably the greatest scorer of the 21st century in Kevin Durant. The the other two teams he came up against a very good Spurs team with Cleveland, one who sweeped a dreadful Cavaliers side with LeBron and who would’ve almost certainly broken records against them without, and again, with Miami in which Kawhi Leonard introduced himself to the basketball world. It’s probably unlikely that LeBron will be able to match Jordan in terms of Rings and MVPs, and even if he did it may not matter as the mythos surrounding Jordan, as exemplified in the Netflix hit ‘The Last Dance’, may be too much for LeBron to overcome in the minds of many, but there is a growing number of people changing their minds and realising that they are witnessing greatness.