LeBron James: The journey of a once in a lifetime athlete
What can you say about LeBron James that hasn't been said before? Athletic, dominant, one of the greatest minds in the game, leadership skills and the list goes on and on.
We are living in the era of LeBron James and as basketball fans, we have been fortunate to witness a once in a lifetime athlete play this wonderful game. At 6 feet 8 inches, weighing 250 pounds, A four-time MVP, James has probably been the most dominant player at the small forward position. Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird and Kevin Durant are the only three players who come close to him in that regard.
James has had a remarkable career, to say the least. He was the number 1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft and was selected by his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had a terrific debut season and ended up winning the rookie of the year award with impressive final averages of 20.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game.
The Cavaliers struggled in their initial few years with James even though their performance improved every year. They made it to the NBA finals in 2007 behind James's stellar play but were swept 4-0 by the San Antonio Spurs.
James went on to play another 3 seasons with the Cavaliers and also won back to back MVP awards in the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons. The Cavaliers though never managed to reach the finals after 2007 and James was about to enter into free agency after the 2009-2010 season.
A lot of fans, analysts and the media expected James to re-sign with the Cavaliers. James, however, had other plans. He knew that he was in his prime and he wanted to be a position that would give him the best opportunity to contend for a championship.
On July 8th, 2010 James sent shock waves through the entire league as he announced on a live ESPN special titled The Decision that he would take his talents to South Beach and sign with the Miami Heat.
Cavaliers fans were stunned. It was a decision that did not go down well with them. They burned his jerseys and the "We are all witnesses" banner came down in Cleveland. Legends of the game too criticized James for not being "The guy" and helping his team win a title. Nevertheless, James moved on and fans had no choice but to accept what had happened.
James joined fellow all-stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami and promised that the team would win multiple championships. James indeed had a fantastic tenure with the Heat, winning back to back MVP awards, NBA championships and the NBA Finals MVP awards in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 NBA seasons.
After playing 4 seasons with the Heat, James decided to opt out of his contract and became an unrestricted free agent. On July 11th, 2014 he revealed that he intended to rejoin the Cavaliers and on July 12th he made it official and signed with the team. The reason why he came back - to win a championship for his city.
James carried the Cavaliers to the NBA finals in his first season back (where they faced the Golden State Warriors) with help from fellow all-stars Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. The Cavaliers lost Irving and Love to injuries for the entirety of the Finals which put the burden of scoring on James.
He carried the team on his back and put up staggering numbers - 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers ended up losing to the Warriors 4-2.
James and the Cavaliers once again made it to the NBA Finals the following season and had to face the Warriors who were coming off the most impressive regular season record (73-9) in NBA history. The Warriors had a 3-1 series heading into game 5 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland and it looked like they were on their way to another championship.
Everyone wrote James and the Cavaliers off after game 4 but James remained confident in himself and his teammates and made a huge statement in game 5 with 41 point effort that ended in a victory for the Cavaliers and sent the series back to Cleveland for game 6.
James and the Cavaliers came out with so much energy in game 6 and completely dominated the Warriors. James took over the game and ended up scoring 41 points in back to back games. The Cavaliers won the game and forced a game 7.
Game 7 would go down to the wire and with the score tied at 89 apiece, the Warriors had possession with 1:50 to go in the fourth quarter. Andre Iguodala of the Warriors took a rebound of Kyrie Irving's miss and ran up the court, he passed the ball to Steph Curry who passed it back to him and it looked like an easy layup.
James came out of nowhere to block the shot of the board, his signature chase down block, probably the most important and impressive block of his career. With 53 seconds remaining on the clock, Irving made the biggest shot of his life, a three-pointer over Steph Curry. The Cavaliers took the lead 92-89.
Curry missed a three-pointer on the other end of the floor after some brilliant defense from Kevin Love and James was fouled hard after the Cavaliers took possession on the ensuing play. He made one free throw out of two that sealed the game for the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers emerged victorious, winning the city's first professional sports title in 52 years and in the process also ended up becoming the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-1 series deficit in the Finals. James had a triple-double in game 7 and finished the series with jaw-dropping averages of 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 9.7 assists. He won the finals MVP trophy as well.
James then went to play 2 more seasons with the Cavaliers and reached the NBA Finals in both the seasons but the series ended in bitter disappointments for James and the Cavaliers as they lost 4-1 and 4-0 to the Golden State Warriors lead by Kevin Durant's incredible play.
On June 29, 2018, James opted out of his contract with the Cavaliers and became an unrestricted free agent. On July 9th, he officially signed with the Los Angeles Lakers marking the first time that James would be a part of the Western Conference.
James, to no one's surprise, has gotten off to an incredible start with the Lakers with averages of 28.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.9 assists. He has shown absolutely no sign of slowing down.
Will James add another MVP trophy to his collection this season? Will he finally win his fourth ring? We don't know for sure. What we do know is that he is the greatest player of his generation and will go down as one of the best players to have stepped on the court and played the game of basketball.