There has never been another basketball player quite like LeBron James.
For more than two decades, LeBron has been asked to score like an elite shooting guard, pass like an all time point guard, rebound like a power forward, defend multiple positions, carry offenses, lead championship teams, and somehow do all of it while facing expectations that began before he even entered the NBA. Somehow, he lived up to them.
LeBron entered the league in 2003 as perhaps the most hyped prospect basketball had ever seen. He was 18 years old, had never played a minute of NBA basketball, and was already being discussed as someone who could eventually become one of the greatest players ever. Usually, expectations like that destroy a player. LeBron turned them into reality.
At his peak, there was essentially nothing he couldn’t do on a basketball court. He could overpower defenders on his way to the rim, run an entire offense as its primary playmaker, control the glass, defend across multiple positions, and take over games as a scorer when necessary. His combination of size, athleticism, basketball IQ, passing, and scoring made him one of the most complete players the sport has ever seen.
The individual résumé is ridiculous. LeBron has won four NBA MVP awards, earned four Finals MVPs, been selected to more than 20 All Star Games, and accumulated more All NBA selections than any player in league history. He was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team and became the NBA’s all time leading scorer, eventually becoming the first player in league history to surpass 40,000 regular season points.
But LeBron’s greatness isn’t simply about accumulating numbers for a long time. His peak belongs with anyone who has ever played.
From 2009 through 2013, LeBron won four MVP awards in five seasons. During his Miami years, he reached another level, combining overwhelming athleticism with an increasingly polished offensive game and elite defense. In 2012–13, he finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting while also winning MVP and leading Miami to a championship.
And then there is 2016.
Trailing the 73 win Golden State Warriors 3–1 in the NBA Finals, LeBron helped produce the only 3–1 comeback in Finals history. Facing elimination in Games 5 and 6, he scored 41 points in each game. Then in Game 7, he delivered a triple double and made one of the most famous defensive plays basketball has ever seen with The Block on Andre Iguodala.
Cleveland won its first NBA championship, and LeBron fulfilled the promise he had made when he returned home.
That championship alone would have secured his place among basketball’s immortals, but his career contains much more. LeBron has won four championships with three different franchises, Cleveland, Miami, and Los Angeles. He also became the first player in NBA history to win Finals MVP with three different franchises, leading each of those organizations to a championship.
And now, with Philadelphia, LeBron has the opportunity to do something even more unprecedented. He is aiming to lead a fourth different franchise to an NBA championship. If he can accomplish it, he would add another achievement to a career already filled with things we had never seen before. Four franchises. Four championships. Potentially four different organizations led to the top of the basketball world by the same player. That would be absolutely unprecedented.
LeBron also reached eight consecutive NBA Finals from 2011 through 2018 and ten Finals overall, becoming the defining player of an entire era of basketball.
Then there is the longevity.
We’ve seen great players have incredible peaks. We’ve seen players remain productive for extraordinarily long careers. LeBron somehow gave us both. The teenager who entered the NBA in 2003 became an MVP, then a champion, then the league’s all time scoring leader, while remaining capable of producing elite basketball more than two decades later.
People will debate the greatest player in NBA history forever, and that’s part of what makes sports fun. Michael Jordan has his argument. Kareem Abdul Jabbar has his place in the conversation. But for me, when I consider the combination of peak, longevity, versatility, statistics, championships, individual accolades, and the ability to elevate virtually any roster around him, LeBron stands above everyone else.
He isn’t simply my greatest small forward ever.
LeBron James is my greatest basketball player of all time.
And that makes him an easy choice as the #1 greatest small forward in NBA history.
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