History UsefulNotes / LeBronJames

In his first year in L.A., James suffered the first significant injury of his career, breaking his streak of ''eight'' straight Finals appearances, but he recovered in style the next year, extending his record for first-team All-NBA nods (13), breaking Derek Fisher's record for most playoff games played and won, leading the Lakers to another title in the "COVID-19 bubble" playoffs, and claiming his fourth Finals MVP, becoming the only player to win that award with three different franchises. James also led the Lakers to the first-ever NBA Cup, the trophy of the league's in-season tournament, in 2023, also being named the tournament MVP.

* MinorInjuryOverreaction: Basketball fans have also called LeBron "The King of Flop" or even "LeFlop" for his ability to draw fouls by selling a minor bump so that it looks like a major collision. One of his most notable, against the Chicago Bulls in the 2011 playoffs, saw him react as though he'd been [[EyeScream poked in the eye]] by a player who was four feet away ... and then wink once the action had moved on.

** Before the 2021 NBA Playoffs, [=LeBron=] himself was seen as that for every single first round opponent for every single team he went up against. Before matching up against the Phoenix Suns that season as the #7 seed, he managed to never lose an entire series in the first round to anyone whenever he entered the NBA Playoffs, usually making do with his opponents there with little to no trouble whatsoever. In fairness to [=LeBron=] and the Lakers, his team was one of only two total teams to have little rest between playing in the 2020 NBA Finals and starting the 2020-21 season only two months later. However, after leading against the Suns 2-1 at one point, Anthony Davis ended up with injury issues, which combined with the Suns being extra motivated by perceived embarrassment in Game 3 of that series caused by [=LeBron=] himself ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Andre Drummond on the bench]]), led to his first defeat in a series to someone in the first round.[[note]]The Suns were also able to defeat Kobe Bryant in the first round during the late 2000s, interestingly enough. That season's Suns team that beat [=LeBron=] eventually made it to the NBA Finals before losing in 6 games to the Milwaukee Bucks, led by an injury-recovering Giannis Antetokounmpo.[[/note]]

** By the time Anthony Davis was traded to the Lakers in 2019, he established this relationship with [=LeBron=] - one that actually had roots in the distant past when a younger Davis once traveled to Ohio to attend a basketball seminar ran by James. Their subsequent season saw them perform to such a great degree that their collective statline made them rival some of the greatest duos in Lakers' franchise history, such as Kobe Bryant and Creator/ShaquilleONeal or UsefulNotes/MagicJohnson and Creator/KareemAbdulJabbar.
* ChewToy: The Toronto Raptors are this to him. From 2016-2018, the Raptors faced [=LeBron=] and the Cavaliers in the playoffs three straight times, losing each series soundly. While the 2016 contest was a hard fought one in the Conference Finals, the 2017-2018 second-round series were utter bloodbaths in which the Cavs would sweep the Raptors in 4 straight games each, with [=LeBron=] being a major factor in each sweep, and despite the Raptors being favored in both series. It got so bad that people were poking fun at Toronto, calling it [=LeBronto=], a spin on how ''badly'' [=LeBron=] has manhandled the Raptors. Incidentally, Toronto would win the NBA title in LBJ's first season in L.A. - one that he wasn't in to begin with.

* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Took the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors - who had set the record for having ''the'' best regular season in NBA history - and came back from a 3-1 deficit to win Cleveland's first major sports title in more than 50 years.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: The unexpected 3-1 upset comeback in the 2016 NBA Finals over UsefulNotes/StephenCurry and the Golden State Warriors can be considered that to both James and fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers. After dealing with tons of heartbreak as a team and then seeing [=LeBron=] leave for the Miami Heat, the Cavaliers easily fell into the doldrums of mockery once again... at least for one season. From there, they drafted Kyrie Irving, who was perceived as their next superstar in the making, and even after winning two championships with the Heat, [=LeBron=] felt like he saw something in that team to come back to them for a second run over staying with Miami and their aging duo of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. After trading Cleveland's last two #1 picks (Anthony Bennett & Andrew Wiggins) to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Love (thus creating a new Big 3 in Cleveland), the Cavaliers faced significant injuries in their return to the NBA Finals, losing a 4-1 series to the Golden State Warriors in 2015. To make matters worse for them, not only did Golden State improve themselves to legendary team status with a 73-9 NBA record (surpassing even UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan and the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' all-time best record of 72-10) and later overcame a 3-1 series deficit themselves during the Western Conference Finals, but Cleveland fired head coach David Blatt (someone who was well respected as a basketball coach in Israel) and replaced him with a then-unproven interim head coach in Tyronn Lue (someone whom some fans probably would best remember as being mocked by Allen Iverson in the 2001 NBA Finals) during the season. Despite these unexpected setbacks, however, the Cavaliers not only returned to the NBA Finals once again, but dealt with serious adversity early on that series before a reversal of fortunes ended up changing fate for the Cavaliers, giving them the unexpected upset over an all-time great team and letting [=LeBron=] fulfill his original destiny of winning a championship for Cleveland at long last.

** Wilt's rival Bill Russell only played for the Boston Celtics. Steph Curry is smaller than [=LeBron=] and has only played for the Warriors so far. Both also had losing Finals records against their rivals.

%% *{{Nepotism}}: [=LeBron=] James Sr. to [=LeBron=] James Jr. (or Bronny, as he's more commonly known to people in the scouting department), to the point where [=LeBron=] Sr. himself has reiterated that he'd like to end his basketball career having his son, Bronny, playing with him on the same team that gets him drafted once he's considered eligible for it. [=LeBron=] also has a young son named Bryce James that is also projected to play professionally someday himself, though [=LeBron=] likely would consider himself too old to even suggest playing alongside Bryce by then. At the very least, he'd have much less motivation to try playing by then considering he already broke the all-time scoring record in the NBA.

* PowerupLetdown: The 2021-22 Lakers were considered exactly that, despite James doing everything he could to not let that happen to them. In addition to [=LeBron=] and Anthony Davis returning, the Lakers also acquired more (super)star caliber players like L.A. native Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, and [=DeAndre=] Jordan, as well as reacquired Dwight Howard once again to have a star-studded roster fitting to compete against what the Brooklyn Nets had done the previous two seasons with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and many other players of similar (super)star caliber talents like James Harden, [=DeAndre=] Jordan, Blake Griffin, [=LaMarcus=] Aldridge, Paul Millsap, Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond, and Goran Dragić (though not all of them played together with the Nets for fairly obvious reasons). Unfortunately, most of those star names no longer played like stars, as they were all far past their primes. As a result they didn't even make the playoffs.
* RagsToRiches: [=LeBron=] was born to a teenage single mother in the projects (with his father never officially being considered discovered to the public eye), and moved from house to house as his mother found work. Today he is one of the highest paid athletes in the world, projected to the first active basketball player to earn a net worth of $1 billion (yes, billion with a b) throughout his playing career[[note]](UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan also earned himself over a billion dollars himself, to the point of eventually owning the Charlotte Hornets basketball team from it, but a majority of his money was earned through endorsement deals he did, not necessarily money he earned while playing in the NBA; the only other professional athletes to even reach $1 billion in earnings are golf great Tiger Woods and soccer great Lionel Messi.)[[/note]], as well as one of the best basketball players of all-time.

* TemptingFate: Infamously announced that the new-look 2010-2011 Heat came together to win "not one, not two...", but ''eight or more'' championships in one of his first post-Decision public appearances. What happened that year was perhaps his worst performance of his entire career in 2011, losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the finals. Sure, Miami won back-to-back titles after that dismal performance, and conceivably could've had a three-peat if the 2014 Finals had gone their way, but when you set the bar that high, anything you do afterwards loses some of its luster.

** During the 2021-22 season, James not only reached the 10,000-rebound mark to become the first player to surpass it while also scoring 30,000 points in the NBA, but he also reached 10,000 assists as well, becoming the only player in NBA history to reach those kinds of numbers there. Not only that, he also surpassed Karl Malone for the second-best scorer in NBA history while also being the second player to ever reach the 37,000-point barrier at 37,062 by the end of the season. He also became the oldest player to average 30 points per game in a season that year, thus sort of bookending his career back when he was the youngest player ever to average 30 points per game when he was 21 years old.
** On January 15, 2023, James became the only other player in NBA history to reach the 38,000-point milestone barrier in a match against the Philadelphia 76ers. Less than a month later, on February 7, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading scorer, a record that was once considered impossible for someone in the NBA to break back in the day. He scored 38 points (with the last basket made being a fadeaway jump shot near the end of the third quarter) in front of a packed home crowd at the Crypto.com Arena that also featured Kareem himself in the stands in a match against the Oklahoma City Thunder. To put into perspective how incredible his moment was, it was done while James had to play in ''three different seasons shortened by factors completely out of his control'' (the first being cut to 66 regular season games due to the 2011 NBA lockout period and the last two being cut completely unexpectedly due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and the effects it had upon the world in the years 2020 & 2021 in particular, with the former (2019-20 season) having 71 regular season games played for the Lakers and the latter (2020–21 season) having 72 regular season games for everyone), meaning he could have legitimately gotten to those milestones of his a lot sooner than that had those other three seasons been more normal by comparison! In 2023, he also tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's All-Star record by being named an All-Star for the 19th time in a row, and did Kareem one better with his 20th straight All-Star selection the next year. This gave [=LeBron=] sole possession of the records for most All-Star selections (let alone consecutively) and most All-Star starting appearances in general. As another reminder, his only season without an All-Star selection to his name as of 2024 was his rookie season, where he showcased his talents well enough to have been named an All-Star that season also if he were allowed to have been one at that time. Not to mention that he made the All-NBA third team in 2023, extending his record of All-NBA selections to 19. His 13 first-team All-NBA selections are also the most ever, and 11 of those were in consecutive years, tying Karl Malone for that distinction.

* RedBaron: King James; alternatively, the King or simply his initials, LBJ.

* TheDreaded: Even to this day, a lot of teams treat [=LeBron=] this way due to his bottomless skillset. This also applies to any team's fanbase, but especially that of the Toronto Raptors who were swept in the second round two years in a row. You could imagine the Raptors' fanbase [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing heaving a huge sigh of relief when [=LeBron=] left for the Lakers, and an even bigger one when the Lakers missed the playoffs.]]

** Finally, Wilt is the only player in NBA history to have his number retired by 3 franchises he played for. It was about 99.9% certain that [=LeBron=] would be the second...

** On January 15, 2023, James became the only other player in NBA history to reach the 38,000-point milestone barrier in a match against the Philadelphia 76ers. Less than a month later, on February 7, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading scorer, a record that was once considered impossible for someone in the NBA to break back in the day. He scored 38 points (with the last basket made being a fadeaway jump shot near the end of the third quarter) in front of a packed home crowd at the Crypto.com Arena that also featured Kareem himself in the stands in a match against the Oklahoma City Thunder. To put into perspective how incredible his moment was, it was done while James had to play in ''three different seasons shortened by factors completely out of his control'' (the first being cut to 66 regular season games due to the 2011 NBA lockout period and the last two being cut completely unexpectedly due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and the effects it had upon the world in the years 2020 & 2021 in particular, with the former (2019-20 season) having 71 regular season games played for the Lakers and the latter (2020–21 season) having 72 regular season games for everyone), meaning he could have legitimately gotten to those milestones of his a lot sooner than that had those other three seasons been more normal by comparison! He also tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's All-Star record around that same period of time by being named an All-Star for the 19th straight time in a row, which he holds a record for most consecutive All-Star appearances in a row and most All-Star starting appearances in general. As another reminder, his only season without an All-Star selection to his name as of 2023 was his rookie season, where he showcased his talents well enough to have been named an All-Star that season also if he were allowed to have been one at that time. Not to mention that he made the All-NBA third team, extending his record of All-NBA selections to 19. His 13 first-team All-NBA selections are also the most ever, and 11 of those were in consecutive years, tying Karl Malone for that distinction.

** By the time Anthony Davis was traded to the Lakers in 2019, he established this relationship with [=LeBron=] - one that actually had roots in the distant past when a younger Davis once traveled to Ohio to attend a basketball seminar ran by James. Their subsequent season saw them perform to such a great degree that their collective statline made them rival some of the greatest duos in Lakers' franchise history, such as Kobe Bryant and Creator/ShaquilleONeal or Magic Johnson and Creator/KareemAbdulJabbar.

** Finally, Wilt is the only player in NBA history to have his number retired by 3 franchises he played for. It is about 99.9% certain that [=LeBron=] will be the second.
*** It turns out that the 0.01% chance transpired, since Orlando is retiring the jersey of [[ShaquilleONeal "Shaq"]] - which just goes to show how long [=LeBron=] has been playing. Shaq is getting his jersey retired 14 years - a full career! - after he played with [=LeBron=], who was already seven years into his career at the time.

*** It turns out that the 0.01% chance transpired, since Orlando is retiring the jersey of ShaquilleONeal - which just goes to show how long [=LeBron=] has been playing. Shaq is getting his jersey retired 14 years - a full career! - after he played with [=LeBron=], who was already seven years into his career at the time.

*** The 0.01% chance has transpired, since Shaq is going to have his jersey retired by the Orlando Magic - which just goes to show how long [=LeBron=] has been playing - Shaq is getting his jersey retired 15 years after he played with [=LeBron=], who was in season 6 at the time.

*** The 0.01% chance has transpired, since Shaq is going to have his jersey retired by the Orlando Magic - which just goes to show how long [=LeBron=] has been playing - Shaq is getting his jersey retired 15 years after he played with LeBron, who was in season 6 at the time.

[=LeBron=] Raymone James, Sr. (born December 30, 1984 in Akron, Ohio) is an UsefulNotes/{{N|ationalBasketballAssociation}}BA small forward for the Los Angeles Lakers. Previously, he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, winning championships for each team he's played. Considered to be the face of the league since at least the start of the 2010s, if not earlier than that, [=LeBron=] is the NBA's all-time leader in points scored and [[LongRunner minutes played]] and is the holder of four NBA championships and four NBA MVP awards. He has a resume that is in competition for the [[TheAce "Greatest of All Time"]] moniker, and in many ways his life reads like that of a RealLife ByronicHero.

James' [[MasterOfAll incredible versatility]] have led to comparisons to multiple Hall of Famers of varying skill sets, from UsefulNotes/MagicJohnson and UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan to Karl Malone and Oscar Robertson. He is the only player in NBA history to post 10,000 points, rebounds, and assists, and he is the only individual to have been named Sportsperson of the Year by ''Magazine/SportsIllustrated'' three times.[[labelnote:*]]2012 and 2016 by himself; 2020 with four others in three sports[[/labelnote]]. His size and athleticism makes him one of the best slashers and finishers in basketball and allows him to rebound the ball effectively. He is an unusually gifted passer for his position, averaging 10.2 assists per game during the 2019–20 campaign to ''lead the league'' in that category. He led both teams in the 2016 Finals in points, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocked shots, something that has never been done before in any playoff series. Even in defeat, he can still be enormously dominant—in the Cavs' 2017 Finals loss to the Dubs, he became the first player ever to average a triple-double in the Finals. His greatest asset, however, is arguably his durability; while injuries have recently become a more recurring problem for the aging star, through most of his career you couldn't keep him off the court, and he is one of only three players to lead the NBA in minutes played in 3+ seasons.

** On January 15, 2023, James became the only other player in NBA history to reach the 38,000-point milestone barrier in a match against the Philadelphia 76ers. Less than a month later, on February 7, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading scorer, a record that was once considered impossible for someone in the NBA to break back in the day. He scored 38 points (with the last basket made being a fadeaway jump shot near the end of the third quarter) in front of a packed home crowd at the Crypto.com Arena that also featured Kareem himself in the stands in a match against the Oklahoma City Thunder. To put into perspective how incredible his moment was, it was done while James had to play in ''three different seasons shortened by factors completely out of his control'' (the first being cut to 66 regular season games due to the 2011 NBA lockout period and the last two being cut completely unexpectedly due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and the effects it had upon the world in the years 2020 & 2021 in particular, with the former (2019-20 season) having 71 regular season games played for the Lakers and the latter (2020-21 season) having 72 regular season games for everyone), meaning he could have legitimately gotten to those milestones of his a lot sooner than that had those other three seasons been more normal by comparison! He also tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's All-Star record around that same period of time by being named an All-Star for the 19th straight time in a row, which he holds a record for most consecutive All-Star appearances in a row and most All-Star starting appearances in general. As another reminder, his only season without an All-Star selection to his name as of 2023 was his rookie season, where he showcased his talents well enough to have been named an All-Star that season also if he were allowed to have been one at that time. Not to mention that he made the All-NBA third team, extending his record of All-NBA selections to 19. His 13 first-team All-NBA selections are also the most ever, and 11 of those were in consecutive years, tying Karl Malone for that distinction.

* CoolOldGuy: Very much downplayed considering his actual age, but as of his 20th season in the league in 2022–23, he became the fourth-oldest active NBA player, and with all three players older than him having retired by the start of his 21st season in 2023–24,[[note]]The two oldest in 2022–23, Udonis Haslem and Andre Iguodala, both played that season before retiring. The next-oldest, Carmelo Anthony, last played in 2021–22 but didn't officially announce his retirement until late in the 2022–23 season.[[/note]] he's now the oldest active player. Despite many of his contemporaries having retired and most players retiring upon nearing their forties, [=LeBron=] still remains incredibly dangerous.

* CoolOldGuy: Very much downplayed considering his actual age, but as of his 20th season in the league, he became the fourth oldest active NBA player in the league[[note]]Udonis Haslem, Andre Iguodala and Carmelo Anthony being older than him[[/note]] at 38 years of age. Despite many of his contemporaries having retired and most players retiring upon nearing their forties, [=LeBron=] still remains incredibly dangerous.

In his first year in L.A., James suffered the first significant injury of his career, breaking his streak of ''eight'' straight Finals appearances, but he recovered in style the next year, extending his record for first-team All-NBA nods (13), breaking Derek Fisher's record for most playoff games played and won, leading the Lakers to another title in the "COVID-19 bubble" playoffs, and claiming his fourth Finals MVP, becoming the only player to win that award with three different franchises.

[=LeBron=] Raymone James, Sr. (born December 30, 1984 in Akron, Ohio) is an UsefulNotes/{{N|ationalBasketballAssociation}}BA small forward for the Los Angeles Lakers. Previously, he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, winning championships for each team he's played. Considered to be the face of the league since at least the start of the 2010s, if not earlier than that, [=LeBron=] is the NBA's all-time leader in points scored and is the holder of four NBA championships and four NBA MVP awards. He has a resume that is in competition for the [[TheAce "Greatest of All Time"]] moniker, and in many ways his life reads like that of a RealLife ByronicHero.

James' [[MasterOfAll incredible versatility]] have led to comparisons to multiple Hall of Famers of varying skill sets, from Magic Johnson and UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan to Karl Malone and Oscar Robertson. He is the only player in NBA history to post 10,000 points, rebounds, and assists, and he is the only individual to have been named Sportsperson of the Year by ''Magazine/SportsIllustrated'' three times.[[labelnote:*]]2012 and 2016 by himself; 2020 with four others in three sports[[/labelnote]]. His size and athleticism makes him one of the best slashers and finishers in basketball and allows him to rebound the ball effectively. He is an unusually gifted passer for his position, averaging 10.2 assists per game during the 2019–20 campaign to ''lead the league'' in that category. He led both teams in the 2016 Finals in points, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocked shots, something that has never been done before in any playoff series. Even in defeat, he can still be enormously dominant—in the Cavs' 2017 Finals loss to the Dubs, he became the first player ever to average a triple-double in the Finals. His greatest asset, however, is arguably his durability; while injuries have recently become a more recurring problem for the aging star, through most of his career you couldn't keep him off the court, and he is one of only three players to lead the NBA in minutes played in 3+ seasons.

* RagsToRiches: [=LeBron=] was born to a teenage single mother in the projects (with his father never officially being considered discovered to the public eye), and moved from house to house as his mother found work. Today he is one of the highest paid athletes in the world, projected to the first active basketball player to earn a net worth of $1 billion (yes, billion with a b) throughout his playing career[[note]](UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan also earned himself over a billion dollars himself, to the point of eventually owning the Charlotte Hornets basketball team from it, but a majority of his money was earned through endorsement deals he did, not necessarily money he earned while playing in the NBA; the only other professional athlete to even reach $1,000,000,000 in earnings is golfer Tiger Woods.)[[/note]], as well as one of the best basketball players of all-time.

** On January 15, 2023, James became the only other player in NBA history to reach the 38,000 point milestone barrier in a match against the Philadelphia 76ers. Less than a month later, on February 7, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading scorer, a record that was once considered impossible for someone in the NBA to break back in the day. He scored 38 points (with the last basket made being a fadeaway jump shot near the end of the third quarter) in front of a packed home crowd at the Crypto.com Arena that also featured Kareem himself in the stands in a match against the Oklahoma City Thunder. To put into perspective how incredible his moment was, it was done while James had to play in ''three different seasons shortened by factors completely out of his control'' (the first being cut to 66 regular season games due to the 2011 NBA lockout period and the last two being cut completely unexpectedly due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and the effects it had upon the world in the years 2020 & 2021 in particular, with the former (2019-20 season) having 71 regular season games played for the Lakers and the latter (2020-21 season) having 72 regular season games for everyone), meaning he could have legitimately gotten to those milestones of his a lot sooner than that had those other three seasons been more normal by comparison! He also tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's All-Star record around that same period of time by being named an All-Star for the 19th straight time in a row, which he holds a record for most consecutive All-Star appearances in a row and most All-Star starting appearances in general. As another reminder, his only season without an All-Star selection to his name as of 2023 was his rookie season, where he showcased his talents well enough to have been named an All-Star that season also if he were allowed to have been one at that time. Not to mention that he made the All-NBA third team, extending his record of All-NBA selections to 19. His 13 first-team All-NBA selections are also the most ever, and 11 of those were in consecutive years, tying Karl Malone for that distinction.

** On January 15, 2023, James became the only other player in NBA history to reach the 38,000 point milestone barrier in a match against the Philadelphia 76ers. Less than a month later, on February 7, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading scorer, a record that was once considered impossible for someone in the NBA to break back in the day. He scored 38 points (with the last basket made being a fadeaway jump shot near the end of the third quarter) in front of a packed home crowd at the Crypto.com Arena that also featured Kareem himself in the stands in a match against the Oklahoma City Thunder. To put into perspective how incredible his moment was, it was done while James had to play in ''three different seasons shortened by factors completely out of his control'' (the first being cut to 66 regular season games due to the 2011 NBA lockout period and the last two being cut completely unexpectedly due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and the effects it had upon the world in the years 2020 & 2021 in particular, with the former (2019-20 season) having 71 regular season games played for the Lakers and the latter (2020-21 season) having 72 regular season games for everyone), meaning he could have legitimately gotten to those milestones of his a lot sooner than that had those other three seasons been more normal by comparison! He also tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's All-Star record around that same period of time by being named an All-Star for the 19th straight time in a row, which he holds a record for most consecutive All-Star appearances in a row and most All-Star starting appearances in general. As another reminder, his only season without an All-Star selection to his name as of 2023 was his rookie season, where he showcased his talents well enough to have been named an All-Star that season also if he were allowed to have been one at that time. Not to mention that he made the All-NBA third team, extending his record of All-NBA selections to 19. His 13 first-team All-NBA selections are also the most ever.

* BadassGrandpa: Very much downplayed considering his actual age, but as of his 20th season in the league, he became the fourth oldest active NBA player in the league[[note]]Udonis Haslem, Andre Iguodala and Carmelo Anthony being older than him[[/note]] at 38 years of age. Despite many of his contemporaries having retired and most players retiring upon nearing their forties, [=LeBron=] still remains incredibly dangerous.

** On January 15, 2023, James became the only other player in NBA history to reach the 38,000 point milestone barrier in a match against the Philadelphia 76ers. Less than a month later, on February 7, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading scorer, a record that was once considered impossible for someone in the NBA to break back in the day. He scored 38 points (with the last basket made being a fadeaway jump shot near the end of the third quarter) in front of a packed home crowd at the Crypto.com Arena that also featured Kareem himself in the stands in a match against the Oklahoma City Thunder. To put into perspective how incredible his moment was, it was done while James had to play in ''three different seasons shortened by factors completely out of his control'' (the first being cut to 66 regular season games due to the 2011 NBA lockout period and the last two being cut completely unexpectedly due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and the effects it had upon the world in the years 2020 & 2021 in particular, with the former (2019-20 season) having 71 regular season games played for the Lakers and the latter (2020-21 season) having 72 regular season games for everyone), meaning he could have legitimately gotten to those milestones of his a lot sooner than that had those other three seasons been more normal by comparison! He also tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's All-Star record around that same period of time by being named an All-Star for the 19th straight time in a row, which he holds a record for most consecutive All-Star appearances in a row and most All-Star starting appearances in general. As another reminder, his only season without an All-Star selection to his name as of 2023 was his rookie season, where he showcased his talents well enough to have been named an All-Star that season also if he were allowed to have been one at that time.

** The third different NBA team each played for was the Lakers, and both won titles in L.A.

** Wilt played for three franchises and ended his career with the Lakers, [=LeBron=] has so far played for three with the Lakers being his latest one.

** Before the 2021 NBA Playoffs, [=LeBron=] himself was seen as that for every single first round opponent for every single team he went up against. Before matching up against the Phoenix Suns that season as the #7 seed, he managed to never lose an entire series in the first round to anyone whenever he entered the NBA Playoffs, usually making do with his opponents there with little to no trouble whatsoever. In fairness to [=LeBron=] and the Lakers, his team was one of only two total teams to have little rest between playing in the 2020 NBA Finals and starting the 2020-21 season only two months later. However, after leading against the Suns 2-1 at one point, Anthony Davis ended up with injury issues, which combined with the Suns being extra motivated by perceived embarrassment in Game 3 of that series caused by [=LeBron=] himself ([[AndZoidberg and Andre Drummond on the bench]]), led to his first defeat in a series to someone in the first round.[[note]]The Suns were also able to defeat Kobe Bryant in the first round during the late 2000s, interestingly enough. That season's Suns team that beat [=LeBron=] eventually made it to the NBA Finals before losing in 6 games to the Milwaukee Bucks, led by an injury-recovering Giannis Antetokounmpo.[[/note]]
** Certain NBA fans also consider UsefulNotes/StephenCurry and the Golden State Warriors as this by comparison to [=LeBron=] James, primarily due to Curry's record against [=LeBron=] and the Cavaliers in the four straight years they competed against each other in the NBA Finals (even with the aforementioned Kevin Durant bit in mind), as well as Curry tying James for NBA Finals championships won by the end of the 2021-22 season. As of May 2023, their head-to-head team record is 3-2 in Curry's favour, but in 4 out of those 5 series, LeBron outplayed Curry.
* BadassGrandpa: Very much downplayed considering his actual age, but as of his [=20th=] season in the league, he became the fourth oldest active NBA player in the league[[note]]Udonis Haslem, Andre Iguodala and Carmelo Anthony being older than him[[/note]] at 38 years of age. Despite many of his contemporaries having retired and most players retiring upon nearing their forties, [=LeBron=] still remains incredibly dangerous.

** By the time Anthony Davis was traded to the Lakers in 2019, he established this relationship with [=LeBron=] - one that actually had roots in the distant past when a younger Davis once traveled to Ohio to attend a basketball seminar ran by James. Their subsequent season saw them perform to such a great degree that their collective statline made them rival some of the greatest duos in Lakers' franchise history, such as Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal or Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: The unexpected 3-1 upset comeback in the 2016 NBA Finals over UsefulNotes/StephenCurry and the Golden State Warriors can be considered that to both James and fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers. After dealing with tons of heartbreak as a team and then seeing [=LeBron=] leave for the Miami Heat, the Cavaliers easily fell into the doldrums of mockery once again... at least for one season. From there, they drafted Kyrie Irving, who was perceived as their next superstar in the making, and even after winning two championships with the Heat, [=LeBron=] felt like he saw something in that team to come back to them for a second run over staying with Miami and their aging duo of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. After trading Cleveland's last two #1 picks (Anthony Bennett & Andrew Wiggins) to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Love (thus creating a new Big 3 in Cleveland), the Cavaliers faced significant injuries in their return to the NBA Finals, losing a 4-1 series to the Golden State Warriors in 2015. To make matters worse for them, not only did Golden State improve themselves to legendary team status with a 73-9 NBA record (surpassing even UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan and the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' all-time best record of 72-10) and later overcame a 3-1 series deficit themselves during the Western Conference Finals, but Cleveland fired head coach David Blatt (someone who was well respected as a basketball coach in Israel) and replaced him with a then-unproven interim head coach in Tyronn Lue (someone that some fans probably would best remember as being mocked by Allen Iverson in the 2001 NBA Finals) during the season. Despite these unexpected setbacks, however, the Cavaliers not only returned to the NBA Finals once again, but dealt with serious adversity early on that series before a reversal of fortunes ended up changing fate for the Cavaliers, giving them the unexpected upset over an all-time great team and letting [=LeBron=] fulfill his original destiny of winning a championship for Cleveland at long last.

* {{Expy}}: While he is often compared to Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, his closest comparison might be Wilt Chamberlain.

** Wilt's rival Bill Russell only played for one franchise. Steph Curry is smaller than [=LeBron=] and only played for the Warriors so far. Both also had losing Finals records against their rivals.
** Finally, Wilt is the only player in NBA history to have his jersey retired by 3 franchises he played for. It is about 99.9% certain that [=LeBron=] will be the second.

** The argument can be made that he's this to Kevin Durant, who admittedly joined the Golden State Warriors to not only beat [=LeBron=] James, but also (temporarily) usurped him as the best player in the NBA. Even now, with Durant returning to the Western Conference (this time while with the Phoenix Suns) on February 9, 2023, Durant is looking to end that idea for both [=LeBron=] and Durant's former teammate, UsefulNotes/StephenCurry.

** Before the 2021 NBA Playoffs, [=LeBron=] himself was seen as that for every single first round opponent for every single team he went up against. Before matching up against the Phoenix Suns that season as the #7 seed, he managed to never lose an entire series in the first round to anyone whenever he entered the NBA Playoffs, usually making due with his opponents there with little to no trouble whatsoever. In fairness to [=LeBron=] and the Lakers, his team was one of only two total teams to have little rest between playing in the 2020 NBA Finals and starting the 2020-21 season only two months later. However, after leading against the Suns 2-1 at one point, Anthony Davis ended up with injury issues, which combined with the Suns being extra motivated by perceived embarrassment in Game 3 of that series caused by [=LeBron=] himself ([[AndZoidberg and Andre Drummond on the bench]]), led to his first defeat in a series to someone in the first round.[[note]]The Suns were also able to defeat Kobe Bryant in the first round during the late 2000's, interestingly enough. That season's Suns team that beat [=LeBron=] eventually made it to the NBA Finals before losing in 6 games to the Milwaukee Bucks, led by an injury recovering Giannis Antetokounmpo.[[/note]]

* BadassGrandpa: Very much downplayed considering his actual age, but as of his [=20th=] season in the league, he became the fourth oldest active NBA player in the league[[note]]Udonis Haslem, Andre Iguodala and Carmelo Anthony being older than him[[/note]] at 38 years of age. Despite many of his contemporaries having retired and most players retiring upon nearing their fourties, [=LeBron=] still remains incredibly dangerous.

* RagsToRiches: [=LeBron=] was born to a teenage single mother in the projects (with his father never officially being considered discovered to the public eye), and moved from house to house as his mother found work. Today he is one of the highest paid athletes in the world, projected to the first active basketball player to earn a net worth of $1 billion (yes, billion with a b) throughout his playing career[[note]](UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan also earned himself over a billion dollars himself, to the point of eventually owning the Charlotte Hornets basketball team from it, but a majority of his money was earned through advertisement deals he did, not necessarily money he earned while playing in the NBA; the only other professional athlete to even reach $1,000,000,000 in earnings is golfer Tiger Woods.)[[/note]], as well as one of the best basketball players of all-time.

** It even extends to Creator/{{ESPN}}. A frequent criticism of the network is that no matter what, they will always find some excuse to talk about him. Same is also said for Bleacher Report as well.

** During the 2021-22 season, James not only reached the 10,000 rebound barrier to become the first player to surpass it while also scoring 30,000 points in the NBA, but he also reached 10,000 assists as well, becoming the only player in NBA history to reach those kinds of numbers there. Not only that, he also surpassed Karl Malone for the second-best scorer in NBA history while also being the second player to ever reach the 37,000 point barrier at 37,062 by the end of the season. He also became the oldest player to average 30 points per game in a season that year, thus sort of bookending his career back when he was the youngest player ever to average 30 points per game when he was 21 years old.
** On January 15, 2023, James became the only other player in NBA history to reach the 38,000 point milestone barrier in a match against the Philadelphia 76ers. Less than a month later, on February 7, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading scorer, a record that was once considered impossible for someone in the NBA to break back in the day. He scored 38 points (with the last basket made being a fadeaway jumpshot near the end of the third quarter) in front of a packed home crowd at the Crypto.com Arena that also featured Kareem himself in the stands in a match against the Oklahoma City Thunder. To put into perspective how incredible his moment was, it was done while James had to play in ''three different seasons shortened by factors completely out of his control'' (the first being cut to 66 regular season games due to the 2011 NBA lockout period and the last two being cut completely unexpectedly due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and the effects it had upon the world in the years 2020 & 2021 in particular, with the former (2019-20 season) having 71 regular season games played for the Lakers and the latter (2020-21 season) having 72 regular season games for everyone), meaning he could have legitimately gotten to those milestones of his a lot sooner than that had those other three seasons been more normalized by comparison! He also tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's All-Star record around that same period of time by being named an All-Star for the 19th straight time in a row, which he holds a record for most consecutive All-Star appearances in a row and most All-Star starting appearances in general. As another reminder, his only season without an All-Star selection to his name as of 2023 was his rookie season, where he showcased his talents well enough to have been named an All-Star that season also if he were allowed to have been one at that time.

* PowerupLetdown: The 2021-22 Lakers were considered exactly that, despite James doing everything he could to not let that happen to them. In addition to [=LeBron=] and Anthony Davis returning, the Lakers also acquired more (super)star caliber players like L.A. native Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, and [=DeAndre=] Jordan, as well as reacquired Dwight Howard once again to have a star-studded roster fitting to compete against what the Brooklyn Nets had done the previous two seasons with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and many other players of similar (super)star caliber talents like James Harden, [=DeAndre=] Jordan, Blake Griffin, [=LaMarcus=] Aldridge, Paul Millsap, Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond, and Goran Dragić (though not all of them played together with the Nets for fairly obvious reasons). Unlike those Nets teams, though, who at the very least played in the Playoffs in both of those seasons, the 2021-22 Lakers somehow managed to perform even worse than they did in [=LeBron=]'s first season in Los Angeles, despite having a much more talented looking roster on paper and a championship winning head coach in Frank Vogel. That season led to Vogel being fired after the end of it for the Lakers, with Darvin Ham being the team's new head coach afterward.

** They each won titles at 31 and 35.

James' [[MasterOfAll incredible versatility]] have led to comparisons to multiple Hall of Famers of varying skill sets, from Magic Johnson and UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan to Karl Malone and Oscar Robertson. He is the only player in NBA history to post 10,000 points, rebounds, and assists, and he is the only individual to have been named Sportsperson of the Year by ''Magazine/SportsIllustrated'' three times.[[labelnote:*]]2012 and 2016 by himself; 2020 with four others in three sports[[/labelnote]]. His size and athleticism makes him one of the best slashers and finishers in basketball and allows him to rebound the ball effectively. He is an unusually gifted passer for his position, averaging 10.2 assists per game during the 2019–20 campaign to ''lead the league'' in that category. His greatest asset, however, is arguably his durability; while injuries have recently become a more recurring problem for the aging star, through most of his career you couldn't keep him off the court, and he is one of only three players to lead the NBA in minutes played in 3+ seasons. He led both teams in the 2016 Finals in points, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocked shots, something that has never been done before in any playoff series. Even in defeat, he can still be enormously dominant—in the Cavs' 2017 Finals loss to the Dubs, he became the first player ever to average a triple-double in the Finals.