Every legendary career has highlights.
Championships. MVPs. Game-winners. Records. Performances that get replayed decades later.
But almost every legend also has something they would probably rather forget.
A missed opportunity. A playoff collapse. A terrible performance. A moment when the entire basketball world seemed ready to define them by failure.
Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo all experienced those moments. What makes their stories special isn’t that the failures eventually disappeared. It’s what they did after them.
These are five NBA legends who experienced some of the lowest moments of their careers and came back with a completely different answer.
Magic Johnson — From “Tragic Johnson” to Beating Boston
By 1984, Magic Johnson was already a two-time NBA champion and one of the biggest stars in basketball. Then came a Finals against Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics that became one of the most painful stretches of his career. The Lakers had opportunities to take control of the series, but Magic repeatedly found himself involved in crucial mistakes. In Game 2, Los Angeles had the ball with a chance to win in regulation, but Magic dribbled out the remaining seconds without getting a shot off. Boston eventually won in overtime. In Game 4, Magic committed a costly late turnover and missed two important free throws in another overtime loss. Then came Game 7 in Boston, where another late turnover helped end the Lakers’ championship hopes. Boston won the series, and the man everyone called Magic suddenly had a new nickname: “Tragic Johnson.”
That wasn’t criticism Magic could escape with one good regular-season game. He had to wait an entire year for the opportunity to truly answer it, and somehow he got exactly the opponent he needed. The Lakers went 62–20 in 1984–85 and returned to the Finals against Boston. Things initially looked disastrous again when the Celtics destroyed Los Angeles 148–114 in Game 1, the infamous Memorial Day Massacre. Instead of allowing Boston to become his nightmare all over again, Magic helped the Lakers take control of the series. He averaged 18.3 points, 14.0 assists and 6.8 rebounds, and Los Angeles won four of the next five games. Game 6 was played in Boston Garden, the building where the previous season had ended so painfully. This time Magic walked out as a champion after the Lakers won 111–100.
One year after being called Tragic Johnson, Magic Johnson had beaten the Celtics for the championship on their own floor.
Kobe Bryant — Four Airballs Didn’t Stop Him From Shooting
Before the five championships, the 81-point game and the Black Mamba persona, Kobe Bryant was an 18-year-old rookie trying to prove that a kid straight out of high school belonged on an NBA playoff floor. The Lakers faced the Utah Jazz in the 1997 Western Conference semifinals, and with Los Angeles facing elimination in Game 5, Kobe found himself taking enormous shots late in the game. He airballed a potential game-winner near the end of regulation. Then, in overtime, he airballed three more shots. Four airballs in the closing minutes of an elimination game. Utah won 98–93 and ended the Lakers’ season while Kobe’s misses became one of the first major moments of his NBA career.
For some young players, that could have created hesitation that lasted for years. Kobe’s reaction became an early glimpse of the mentality that would eventually define him. He later explained that he realized his legs weren’t strong enough to generate the power he needed after such a long season, so he went to work strengthening his body rather than becoming afraid of taking those shots. His role expanded, he became an All-Star by his second season, and by 1999–2000 Kobe had developed into one of the league’s premier young guards. Three years after those Utah airballs, the Lakers reached the NBA Finals against Indiana. Kobe injured his ankle during the series and missed Game 3, but returned and delivered 28 points in Game 4, including crucial overtime baskets after Shaquille O’Neal fouled out. Los Angeles eventually won the championship, and it became the first of three straight.
The kid who once airballed four shots with his season on the line eventually became one of the players an entire generation associated with wanting the ball in exactly those situations. The airballs didn’t teach Kobe to stop shooting. They helped teach him what he needed to do so the next ones went in.
LeBron James — Dallas Changed Everything
LeBron James entered the 2011 Finals with more pressure surrounding him than perhaps any superstar in modern NBA history. He had left Cleveland for Miami, joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and famously predicted multiple championships. When the Heat reached the Finals in their first season together, it looked like LeBron was about to validate everything. Instead, the Dallas Mavericks handed him the defining failure of his career. Miami led the series 1–0 and held a 15-point fourth-quarter lead in Game 2, only for Dallas to storm back. As the series progressed, LeBron became increasingly passive. The lowest point came in Game 4, when he scored only eight points on 3-of-11 shooting in an 86–83 loss. He averaged just 17.8 points for the series, and Dallas won the championship in six games.
There was nowhere for LeBron to hide. Every criticism that had followed him suddenly became louder: maybe he couldn’t perform when the pressure was greatest, maybe he wasn’t clutch, maybe he would never win a championship. His response wasn’t simply putting up bigger regular-season numbers. LeBron returned in 2011–12, won his third MVP and took Miami back into the postseason. Then came the moment that showed something had changed. The Heat trailed Boston 3–2 in the Eastern Conference Finals and entered Game 6 at TD Garden facing elimination. Another loss would have made the Dallas collapse look like the beginning of a pattern. Instead, LeBron produced 45 points, 15 rebounds and five assists on 19-of-26 shooting, delivering one of the greatest elimination-game performances in NBA history.
Miami won Game 6, took Game 7 and advanced to face Oklahoma City in the Finals. This time there was no disappearing act. LeBron averaged 28.6 points, 10.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists in the Finals, recorded a triple-double in the championship-clinching Game 5 and finally lifted the trophy as Finals MVP. Twelve months earlier, he had walked off the court after one of the most damaging Finals performances ever by an all-time great. Now he was an NBA champion.
The 2011 Finals didn’t destroy LeBron’s legacy. His response to them became one of the most important parts of it.
Stephen Curry — From 73–9 and 3–1 to Another Championship
Stephen Curry’s 2015–16 season was heading toward basketball immortality. He averaged 30.1 points, made an NBA-record 402 three-pointers, became the first unanimous MVP in league history and led Golden State to a record 73–9 regular season. After coming back from a 3–1 deficit against Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors took a 3–1 lead of their own over LeBron James and Cleveland in the NBA Finals. One more victory would have completed arguably the greatest team season the league had ever seen.
They never got it.
Cleveland forced a Game 7 in Oakland, and Curry struggled, finishing with 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting and 4-of-14 from three. But one possession in particular has always stood out. With about five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and Golden State holding a one-point lead, Curry attempted a behind-the-back pass toward Klay Thompson along the sideline. The pass sailed out of bounds untouched. In a Game 7 where every possession mattered, it was an unnecessary mistake at the worst possible time. Golden State scored only two more points the rest of the game. Then came Kyrie Irving’s three, Curry’s missed attempt against Kevin Love and Cleveland’s 93–89 victory.
In a matter of days, the conversation around one of the greatest individual seasons ever changed completely. 73–9 became 3–1. The unanimous MVP had watched another team celebrate a championship on his home floor.
Golden State responded by adding Kevin Durant, so there is no point pretending Curry did it alone. The Warriors became even more overwhelming. But Curry still had to return to the same stage where his previous season had fallen apart, and once again Cleveland was waiting for him. This time there would be no comeback. Golden State stormed through the postseason and finished 16–1, beating Cleveland in five games. Curry averaged 26.8 points, 9.4 assists and 8.0 rebounds in the Finals, then finished the championship-clinching Game 5 with 34 points and 10 assists.
One year earlier, Curry had walked off that floor after one of the most painful collapses in NBA history. Now he was walking off it as a champion again. He couldn’t erase 2016. He could make sure 2016 didn’t define him.
Giannis Antetokounmpo — From the Wall to 50 Points for a Championship
Giannis Antetokounmpo had reached the top individually before he proved he could reach it as a champion. He won MVP in 2019 and 2020 while Milwaukee became one of the NBA’s best regular-season teams. But the postseason kept exposing questions about his game. In the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals, Milwaukee took a 2–0 lead over Toronto and appeared headed toward the Finals. Then the Raptors adjusted, packed the paint and built the defensive strategy that became known as constructing a “wall” against Giannis. Toronto won four straight games and eliminated Milwaukee.
The following season was even worse. The Bucks entered the 2020 playoffs with the NBA’s best record at 56–17, only to run into Miami in the second round. The Heat again crowded Giannis’ drives, took a 3–0 series lead and eventually eliminated Milwaukee in five games. Giannis injured his ankle during the series, but the questions had already become unavoidable. Could a team really win a championship with Giannis as its best player if playoff opponents could shrink the floor and force him away from what he did best?
The following postseason, Milwaukee got Miami in the first round. There was no long wait for revenge. The Bucks swept the Heat 4–0, then survived Kevin Durant and Brooklyn in a seven-game war before beating Atlanta to reach the Finals. Even then, Giannis’ story wasn’t easy. He had hyperextended his left knee in the Eastern Conference Finals and looked as if his postseason might be finished. Instead, he returned for Game 1 of the Finals. Phoenix won the first two games, putting Milwaukee in another hole, but Giannis and the Bucks responded with four consecutive victories. He scored 41 in Game 3, 26 in Game 4 and 32 in Game 5.
Then came Game 6.
With Milwaukee one win away from its first championship in 50 years, Giannis delivered the performance that permanently changed the conversation around him: 50 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. Even the free throws, one of the weaknesses opponents and crowds had targeted throughout the playoffs, fell when they mattered most. Giannis went 17-of-19 from the line as Milwaukee defeated Phoenix 105–98.
The player teams once dared to beat them in the biggest moments had just scored 50 points to win an NBA championship.
Failure Is Part of the Story
Time has a funny way of cleaning up legendary careers. We remember Magic’s championships, Kobe’s killer instinct, LeBron’s dominance, Curry’s threes and Giannis holding the Finals MVP trophy. The ugly parts slowly get pushed toward the background.
But they shouldn’t be.
Magic had “Tragic Johnson.” Kobe had the airballs. LeBron had Dallas. Curry had 3–1. Giannis had the wall.
None of those moments stopped being failures because those players eventually won. If anything, they make what happened afterward more impressive. They had to hear the criticism, watch the replays and enter another season knowing that eventually they would have to face another pressure moment.
Greatness isn’t going through an entire career without failing. Nobody does that. Sometimes greatness is failing in front of millions of people, coming back to the same stage and giving everyone a completely different ending to remember.
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