LeBron James is a player who everyone knows about and talks about every single day. LeBron James is a player who has revolutionized the NBA and changed the NBA in many ways. This guy, LeBron James, was touted as The Chosen One in his junior year in high school and was the first junior in high school history to win the Gatorade National Player of the Year award and then had a rockstar senior year.
Ever since LeBron was 15 years old, he was expected to become the nation’s best player in high school and dominate the competition, and he did. At age 18, he was expected to be the first pick of the NBA draft in a loaded 2003 draft class, and he did. He was expected to be an all time great and compared to Michael Jordan, and he did. In LeBron James career, he was expected to live up to his massive hype in high school and continue his dominance in the NBA. He was the most hyped draft prospect of all time and even with all the expectations he has on him, he surpassed all of that and now is in “Mount Rushmore” and considered by the majority of the fans the 2nd greatest player of all time.
The consensus is that Michael Jordan is the GOAT and that no one will dethrone “His Airness”. Michael Jordan is romanticized by everyone even if they never watched him play. Even though no one’s legacy is perfect, the media makes Michael Jordan’s legacy perfect and untarnished. He is considered the messiah of the NBA while his challenger, LeBron, is considered a villain and that he will never surpass MJ. All the fans crush his legacy and say that “he can’t win on his own”, “he needed Wade and Bosh to win in Miami”, and “he needed Kyrie Irving to win”. The problem with the majority of the fans is that they don’t see what’s in front of them and that we are watching the most dominant player set foot on the court each and every night and proving to us why he will crush MJ when it’s all said and done. His career averages of 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 7 assists per game shows us that he can score like Michael Jordan and still able to pass like Magic Johnson each night he steps on the floor while still being able to guard all 5 positions. He is a triple double threat every single night and is also the most versatile player to ever step on an NBA court.
When you see LeBron on the TV screen going up for a dunk, he looks like a superhuman brought from a different planet because of how he is built like a football player but has the speed of a point guard on the floor. There’s no singular way to stop LeBron because his basketball IQ is through the roof and his ability to find his way to the basket is unmatched. He is also able to stay on the floor and is one of the most durable players ever. He has never missed a playoff game in his career and he has only missed 6% of all possible games he is able to play in. The NBA also now made “the LeBron James rule” for the rest issue because of the fact that he missed 13 games this season to take some rest. He has single handily driven the revenue of the NBA for 16 years now and the fans complained that he missed 13 games to stay healthy for the long postseason.
In this decade, LeBron has made the NBA Finals every single year as of now. He has been to 7 straight Finals appearances and 8 in total in his career. He already has played in more NBA Finals series than legends like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. He has been able to dominate in every Finals series (besides his first 2 in 2007 and 2011) and had been able to leave a mark on each Finals series. LeBron still has a good 5 years left to pad onto his crazy stat line and his legacy. He is only 33 and entering his 15th season. He still has a few amazing seasons left to play at the level he is on now before he starts his decline.
LeBron has also had a major impact off the court. He has spoken out about the events in Charlottesville about how the people in the United States should unite and become better as a society after the horrible events that took place there. He also spoke out at the 2016 ESPYs about how we can better our communities and that we can eliminate racism that the US currently has. LeBron speaking out in these events adds to his legacy as not only a once in a generational basketball player but also a human being who is willing to help out others and build better communities around the US and around the world and that he is not only the greatest player of all time but he is also a great guy off the court.
Why LeBron Is Ultimately the GOAT
