LeBron James has appeared in five straight NBA Championships, winning two of them with the Miami Heat. He has two Olympic gold medals and one bronze. He’s a four-time NBA MVP, an eleven-time All Star and winner of many other accolades and awards. On June 4th, LeBron will be leading his Cleveland Cavaliers into the NBA Finals against the Splash Brothers and the Golden State Warriors, and it’s obvious who’s the leader and best player on the Cavaliers.
Due to his numerous awards and domination on the court, debates have erupted over and over again as to LeBron’s place on the list of NBA GOATs. Some say he should be high on that list, others say that he’s climbing but not yet up there with the names of Jordan and Magic. Our friends at the Root have given you reasons why he will be one of the greatest, but they’re also given us six reason as to why he isn’t even in the conversation as of yet.
And what better place to start the discussion than around the NBA Finals, a place he’s become very familiar with over these last five years.
Every time LeBron James makes it to the NBA Finals, theres always a faction of the NBA fandom trying to make the case that LeBron should be considered the greatest of all time. At which point, longtime basketball fans who arent from Cleveland or Miami roll their eyes and tell those basketball dilettantes to get on YouTube to watch some clips from the days when real men played real basketball.
Getting to the NBA Finals five years in a rowfour with Miami and one with Clevelandand winning two championship titles is definitely an impressive NBA rsum. But Michael Jordanthe person most often evoked in these debates about LeBrons greatnesswon six championships in eight years. Why do we have to keep having this discussion?
To read the full story, read the story from The Root here.
