LeBron James

Cleveland, Part I (2003-2010)

LeBron entered the league as the most hyped High School prospect ever. The Magic Johnson-esque huge point guard with brilliant vision and a brilliant body (pause) burst onto the scene in 2004 and hasn’t looked back since. Drafted to his hometown Cavaliers, James won rookie of the month every month en route to rookie of the year. His sophomore campaign was already putting up the 27/7/7 box score he’s so well known for. In year 3 when they first get to the playoffs, James averaged over 31 ppg, getting his first of record 13 all NBA 1st team nod leading his team to 50 wins and putting up a 29 on +2 as a 21 year old.

That’s a hell of a ramp up to his first “Prime” (2007-2010). As a 22 year old, he led the Cavs to another 50 win season with the supporting cast of Landry Hughes(14.9 ppg), Drew Goodin(11 ppg), Big Z (12 ppg), Andersen Varejao (7 ppg), and Erick Snow (4 ppg). Most people reading this realize that this was a horrific excuse for a supporting cast. Most people reading this didn’t realize that I spelled half of their names wrong because these guys were incredibly irrelevant and had absolutely zero business being in the finals and I knew most of you wouldn’t notice. I might take one of George Mikan’s Lakers teams over the 2007 Cavs. Their only competition for worst team ever in the finals was the same franchise 11 years later. Despite his putrid platoon of supporting players, LeBron managed to put together his first true masterpiece, the 48 special in Detroit. The Pistons had made 5 consecutive Conference Finals and were known for their stellar defense. Yet LeBron was able to put up 29 of the Cavs finals 30 points, and 25 in a row in 50 minutes to squeak out a 2 point win in double overtime. However, as will be a recurring theme in LeBron’s career, his carry-job that pulled the agonizing assemblage of characters all the way to the NBA finals “hurts” his legacy. In the 2007 finals, James puts up his first poor statistical playoff series. The games were quite close, but the Spurs swept the Cavaliers, 4-0. Any time you see a statistic on TV, or Reddit, that is trying to attack James’ late-game abilities with an x amount of points within x minutes in the 4th quarter of the finals or playoffs, most of those data come from this series which skews the numbers away from his overall career performance and overindexes on the 22 year old going up against a Spurs dynasty, that were, as Tim Duncan said, “guarding him with five guys.”

2008 saw the Cavs take a step backwards - big surprise. LeBron led the league in field goals and points¹ and dragged them to 45 wins and a negative SRS. Another year of no teammate averaging even 15 ppg. Despite this, LeBron completed his 3rd consecutive drubbing of Washington and took the 66 win, title winning Celtics to game 7 and put up 45/5/6 in a legendary duel with Paul Pierce.

2009 was the leap from elite MVPish player to all time basketball God status. 2009 is in some ways, the best statistical season on record. It broke the on/off metrics, he put up some of the best PER/VORP/WSper48 minutes we’ve ever seen. And if you don’t like outdated advanced metrics, he brought the Cavs to 66 wins, the league’s best record, MVP and 2nd place in DPOY voting. An historic 8.68 SRS in the regular season and LeBron put up arguably the best playoff numbers of all time. The only problem was that the other top contributors on the Cavs were Mo Williams, Delonte West and a 33 year old Ilgauskas. We now have 3 consecutive years of some of the best playoff performances of all time yielding no titles. 2007 was arguably the biggest carry-job in NBA history and 2009 was arguably the best statistical output we’ve ever seen. It’s understandable that he wasn’t happy when Cleveland’s front office was adding the corpse of Ben Wallace, Antawn Jamison, and in 2010, Shaquille “I need a GLP-1” O’Neal who was 9 years past his peak. 2010 the regular season brilliance continued, another MVP was given and after the obliteration of the Bulls in round 1, with the immortal “Kill LeBron James” quote from Barkley, the Celtics defeated the Cavs in an upset and we were forever robbed of the Kobe/LeBron finals. Despite leading both teams in points 4 out of the 6 games and putting up a 27/19 in the elimination game, it wasn’t the transcendent performance we had seen in the 2010 regular season or his heroics of years past. So, quick timeline: Drafted to the 2003 Cavaliers, one of the worst teams in history. Playoffs in year 3, all-time carry-job in year 4 including iconic 48 point game, swept to a far superior dynastic team in finals. Takes historic defense and 66 win team to 7 games in year 5, year 6 has the best statistical footprint on record, MVP, 2nd in DPOY and an 8.68 SRS and loses in the conference finals despite literally breaking basketball in the playoffs. This followed by another MVP, 60+ win season that comes to an underwhelming end. All of this with a truly pathetic excuse for a supporting cast, and somehow, the narrative was that this guy “didn’t have it.” Maybe the only ones who “didn’t have it” were those making these confoundingly foolish claims and “it” was an IQ over 60.

Miami (2010-2014)

Then comes the move to Miami. The Heat started the season 9-8 and had a bumpy road throughout the regular season, but still ended up with the best SRS, and net rating in the league. However, due to some variance and shooting luck, the Bulls, with the second best SRS and net rating ended up with 62 wins to the Heat’s 58 which got Derrick Rose the worst MVP in league history, a truly indefensible award. LeBron made up for it by completely neutering Rose in the conference finals, locking him down defensively. This looked to be the year, but alas LeBron had arguably the worst playoff series of his career in the 2011 Finals. Wade was brilliant, and Dirk was excellent, but LeBron put up a paltry 18 points/75 on +1 efficiency in a very close 4-2 loss to the Mavericks. This led to a crescendo of slander on television that persists to this day about James as a playoff performer.

The next 12 months, and most of the next 5 years were flooded with LeBron sucks and is a huge choker narrative screaming out of the TV. Being down 3-2 against the Celtics who had already beaten him twice in his career didn’t help. But the Demon Eyes LeBron meme was born when he single handedly took the soul out of that Celtics team, and fanbase. Considering the amount of scrutiny, pressure and vitriol from the sports world, you could argue it’s his best performance. 45-15-5 to force game 7 where he shut the door on the Cs. In the 2012 finals, he beat Kevin Durant, Westbrook, and Harden 4 games to 1, and 9 years into his career, LeBron James was a champion. This started what most consider the 3 year peak of his career. 2012-2014 LeBron James was undoubtedly one of the highest peaks in NBA history. Offensive and defensive dominance, along with elite passing in both the regular season and the playoffs. 2013 brought another season of MVP and 2nd place DPOY - both controversial. He was one vote away from unanimous MVP - some buffoon voted for Carmelo Anthony. And he got 2nd place in DPOY to Marc Gasol who was voted 2nd team all defense. I don’t know which of those is more absurd. The 2013 Playoffs brought more legendary performances, but came close to failure against San Antonio. After giving Duncan and the Spurs their first finals loss and chasing the opportunity to 3-peat, the Heat fizzled out in 2014. They got the number 2 seed in the East behind Indiana, LeBron lost MVP to KD, another travesty. And James wasn’t voted to the all defensive 1st team like he had been the previous 5 years. To me, this is the forgotten season. Despite all these narrative based ideas indicating he wasn’t as good, LeBron posted one of his best seasons ever, and possibly his regular season offensive peak. He shot a scalding hot 11 points better than league average true shooting and put up at least 29 on +13 in each of the 4 rounds of the playoffs. That’s mindboggling. However, due to Miami being swept in the 2014 finals and failing to 3-peat, again the narrative was that he simply didn’t have some “killer instinct” as if that’s what wins basketball games instead of points scored vs points allowed. He famously was “locked down” by Kawhi Leonard in that series, but somehow managed to score 29 points/75 on +16 efficiency, something almost no player has ever averaged in any series. I guess “locked down” means different things to different people.

Cleveland, Part II (2014-2018)

His second Cleveland stint is where his regular season started to wane, just a little. The inhuman athleticism was gone. He was still more often than not the best athlete on the floor, but the video game bounce wasn’t there anymore. The Cavaliers won 53, 57, 51 and 50 games the next 4 years, but the regular season always felt like pulling teeth. They did manage to make the finals each year - marking 8 consecutive finals for LeBron, something not achieved since Russell. 2015 brought the famous buzzer-beater in Chicago where LeBron took the white board from David Blatt and drew up his own shot. That takes some massive cajones, and immediately ends any argument for “he doesn’t want the moment” as he literally saw an end of game situation and changed it so he was under more pressure, then absolutely drained the jumpshot - and this was on one ankle. Heartbreak in Cleveland struck again as their finals hopes shattered from a Kevin Love injury caused by Kelly “The Antichrist” Olynyk in the first round, and Kyrie’s kneecap breaking in Game 1 of the Finals. LeBron had to then average 35 ppg with Timofey Mozgov as his next best player against the MVP and 67 win warriors. Shocker, they lost. The 4-6 finals argument falls apart for many reasons, but Timofey Mozgov and Matthew Dellavedova going up against Curry, Klay, Draymond and Iguodala is right up there with the best of them. LeBron averaged the most points, rebounds and assists for any player on either team, a feat that up until that point, had never been done. It seemed like that was it. Cleveland was cursed, LeBron was past his apex-athleticism prime, and had gone 3-8 in his last 2 Finals. But not so fast. After sweeping the Hawks and going 12-2 through the Eastern Conference, the Cavs were ready to take on the Warriors in a repeat match. This time Cleveland was healthy. It looked like they were finished, falling down three games to one with the first unanimous MVP looking to repeat and everyone cheering against James. So many infamous memes from after game 4 that aged like milk, including: “That's what happens when someone smaller, younger, and less athletic than you takes your crown AND throne. And then makes you dance for his amusement.” An eternal reddit comment in a post game thread. This along with Klay’s “I guess he got his feelings hurt, it’s a man's game” line have yielded some incredible short-form video preempting the greatest comeback in sports history.

Game 5 Draymond was suspended for too many flagrant fouls. Not because Adam Silver just selected him to miss a game for punching LeBron in the nuts, because he had a slew of flagrant fouls throughout the playoffs that all just happened to be one of Draymond’s limbs hitting someone else in the scrotum. If anyone deserved to be suspended in any playoffs ever, it was Draymond. LeBron and Kyrie go for 41 each in a game at Golden State, and an innumerable amount of tweets followed procuring that LeBron “will not do that again with Draymond back.” However, he did in fact, do exactly that again, going for 41 points in game 6 in a rout to push the series to a game 7. I maintain that the greatest singular play in all of sports is the Kick-6 “Auburn’s gonna win the football game!” But the second greatest play? “Blocked by James” Game 7. Against the first unanimous MVP. The team that had beaten them the prior year, then broke the regular season wins record. Both teams scored the exact amount of points through six games. 89-89 in game 7, no one had scored for 5 minutes. And the layup gets blocked with his signature chasedown coming out of nowhere, hurtling down the court at what seemed to be mach-1. Add on Kyrie’s 3 and LeBron’s almost dunk of the millennia (foul on Draymond, makes a FT pushing it to 4, final score) and the Cavs win the title. The first 3-1 comeback, and they did it against the greatest regular season team of all time. This time, LeBron led both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. A feat that will likely never be done again. This eternal victory cemented him as a top 5 player by nearly anyone in any context. For some, this was enough to move him to the top spot.

Instead of a rubber match, Kevin Durant decided to join the team that he lost a 3-1 lead against and create the most loaded team of all time. And they ran through the playoffs, including Cleveland, en route to a title, 16-1 in the playoffs, and the number 1 spot on my GReatest teams list (add link here).

Similar to 2014 and 2009, LeBron had some amazing play in a year that didn’t result in a title. He averaged 31 on +11 in the 2017 playoffs, and 33/12/10 per game on +10 efficiency in the finals, against the best team ever. It’s also noteworthy that while the Cavs lost 4 games to 1 against the Warriors, the Cavs in 2017 had the best relative offensive rating that post season of any team ever, and the 2016-2017 Cavs had the best 2 year run, if you’re only looking at playoff data. This was certainly a championship caliber team, they were simply going against a juggernaut.

2018 was different. Kyrie decided to leave and go to Boston - one of many strange career decisions - and the Cavs front office got hoodwinked by taking a broken Isaiah Thomas, who had just put up a great box score season. Thomas contributed nearly nothing for the 2018 Cavs, or for anyone else throughout the rest of his career. Sad story for him, the Cavs, and some bad Karma for the Celtics medical staff. The regular season was quite painful to watch, possibly the worst 50 win team in a while. It was LeBron and a slew of washed up, out of gas players who were worn down by the playoff runs and mentally exhausted. What ensued when they got to the playoffs is yet another all-time playoff run. LeBron scored the 2nd most points of any playoff run and averaged 34/9/9 a game. This includes: A 15-0 run by himself to start the game against Indy, A buzzer-beater against Indy, the ultimate LeBronto sweep in round 2 with a series ending, sweep sealing kiss off the glass. A down 2-0 and 3-2 performance to beat Boston, with Tatum, Brown and Stevens. Look up Stevens at the press conference after this game 7, he’s in awe of what had to happen for them to lose that game. The apex came in game 1 of the 2018 finals. LeBron drops 51 points in a soul-crushing loss. They were ahead, George Hill misses a free throw and JR Smith forgets the game was tied and doesn’t shoot the ball. The Cavs lose in overtime, LeBron breaks his hand post-game and they get swept again. That’s 2 finals he lost 4-0. In one he played poorly, in the other he played great and was simply overmatched and undermanned. This was the end of Cleveland era #2.

Los Angeles and Beyond

When he went to the Lakers with Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball, the team sucked. The Lakers had not been to the playoffs in 6 years and then acquired Anthony Davis. LeBron turned into a full on point guard in the 2020 season, finishing 2nd in MVP and leading the league in assists. His defense was not back to his peak, but very good. If there was an all defensive 3rd team, he might have contended for that. After the “East is weak” claims of the last 8 years, LeBron got the first seed in the West and went on to win the title, beating his former team in the bubble. His regular season efficiency dropped in 2020, but it continued its excellence in the post-season, putting up 29 on +11 in the Finals. Now LeBron has 4 rings, one with every team that he went to, all in just the second year there. But this was the beginning of the end. 2021 was a legitimately good season, with the Lakers having the league’s best defense. But after the Solomon Hill injury, and the Westbrook trade which held them back from the playoffs, LeBron’s incredible prime had ended. His post prime was still awesome. He played some elite ball in the run to the conference finals in 2023, including 31/4/4 in the first half of game 4, a series which ended in a sweep. 2024 was the same story, only two rounds earlier. 2025 was the mid-season Luka trade/robbery. Obviously there were fit issues and the team wasn’t properly constructed, another first round fizzle out. 2026 had a Luka injury, and LeBron beating a Houston team pretty much by himself in round 1, but losing to OKC in four games. As I write this, LeBron is just a few games into his 76ers season. It's pretty clear at this age he’s well past his prime and might have an all star level impact at best so I think it’s fair to finally judge the totality of his career.

The Case for Number One

I want to point something out about longevity. I think most people just attribute it to injury luck and staying in shape. But to me, being GREAT for a long period of time is a huge indicator of how good a player is. Some players really only have it for a year, or maybe a 3 year run. However, the best players are great regardless of situation, regardless of teammates, coaches, league environment, pace, physicality etc etc. LeBron won a title in 2012 with Dwyane Wade, 2016 with Kyrie Irving, and 2020 with Anthony Davis. Those are three different players with 3 different coaches, league environments, supporting casts, offensive and defensive responsibilities. And he won with all of them. LeBron averaged 32 on +6 in the playoffs from 2008-2010. He also put up 30 on +6.8 from 2018-2022. Think about how different the league was and how much it had changed in those 15 years. He did it on slow teams, fast teams, clogged teams of 2008 and spaced out teams post 2020. That’s part of the greatness, the league never caught up to him. With all of the tape and game planning everyone had done for more than a decade, no one ever really had an answer. Even arguably the greatest team of all time, the Warriors in the finals from 2015-2017 (18 games) the Cavs were outscored by only 6 total points when LeBron was on the floor². That’s astounding. Kyrie and Love injuries in 2015 and the incredible KD/Steph performances of 2017 and still the Warriors were only ⅓ pt per game better than the Cavs with Playoff LeBron James. I have LeBron as best, second best, or third best peak of all time, with by far and away the most longevity. And for me, that’s enough to have him number one on my list. He’s the greatest of all time. In this analysis there haven't been many counting stats records, but if you do value them, here are just some of LeBron's standings in a few stats (subject to change):

The Counting Stats

Regular Season

• Points - 1st by a mile
• Assists - 4th
• Steals - 6th
• Most games with at least (pts/reb/ast)
  • 25/5/5 - 1st
  • 30/5/5 - 1st
  • 35/5/5 - 1st
  • 27/7/7 - 1st
• Games - 1st
• Minutes - 1st
• Field goals made - 1st

Playoffs

• Points - 1st. Only player with 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 or 8,000
• Assists - 2nd
• Steals - 1st. Only player with 400, only player with 500
• Games - 1st
• Minutes - 1st
• Free throws made - 1st
• Wins - 1st
• Series wins - 1st

¹ LeBron James on Basketball-Reference

² StatMuse