Line #35 UsefulNotes/LeBronJames


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lebron_james_lakers_lead_frustrated_2.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:In action with the Lakers.]]
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4	[=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.
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6	James first received media attention for his basketball prowess in high school, appearing on the cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' and signing a shoe deal before he even graduated. He was drafted #1 overall straight out of high school by his hometown Cavs in 2003, almost immediately transforming them into a serious contender. During his first stint in Cleveland, "King James" was the Rookie of the Year, became the youngest player ever to earn All-NBA recognition (second team in 2005), visited the Finals in 2007, was the leading scorer in '08, was named MVP in back-to-back years in '09-'10, and broke ''many'' "youngest-to-ever" records. However, his frequent postseason defeats prompted [=LeBron=] to leave Cleveland and announce his decision to join the Heat via [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decision_(TV_special) a live television special]]. This was [[{{Understatement}} not received well by fans and the media]], leading ''many'' to openly criticize or even actively root against him.
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8	James ran roughshod with Wade and Bosh through the Playoffs before meeting Dirk Nowitzki's Mavericks in the Finals, where his lackluster performance etched his image as a [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut choker]] in the minds of many. He quickly bounced back, finally achieving his first championship and Finals MVP in 2012. As icing on the cake, he won an [[UsefulNotes/OlympicGames Olympic]] gold medal, becoming the first player to win a championship, Finals MVP, and Olympic gold in one year since Jordan (he previously won bronze in '04 and won another gold in '12). In '13, he won another championship, season MVP, and Finals MVP.
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10	In 2014, James surprisingly returned to his hometown team, [[HesBack leading to much rejoicing in Northeast Ohio]]. Cleveland won the conference, making it [=LeBron=]'s fifth straight year atop the East, though injuries led to them coming up short in the Finals once again. The next season, with everyone healthy, he led the Cavs to a rematch against the Warriors and brought them back from a 3–1 series deficit to give the city its first major sports title in over a half-century. He brought them back to the Finals in '17 and '18, losing both to the Dubs before [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leaving again as a free agent]] to the Lakers.
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12	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 win the first-ever NBA Cup, the trophy of the league's in-season tournament, in 2023, also being named the tournament's first MVP. At the end of that season, he was named to the All-NBA third team, extending his record of overall selections to 20, and also making him the ''oldest'' player to earn an All-NBA nod.
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14	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. Also, ESPN pointed out in January 2024 that [=LeBron=] had played against 35% of all players in NBA history.
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16	James' longevity and sustained dominance, combined with his business savvy, made him the first person to ever earn $1 billion ''solely'' from playing basketball, though he has likely made far more from both advertising and his diverse investments. He produced and starred in ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'', the long-awaited sequel to ''Film/SpaceJam'' (which, fittingly, had starred Jordan). He likewise prominently features AsHimself in ''Film/{{Trainwreck}}'' and ''Film/{{House Party\|2023}}'' (2023). His likeness also appeared in ''VideoGame/MultiVersus'', voiced by Creator/JohnEricBentley, and has been featured on the cover of ''VideoGame/NBA2K 14'' and the special edition of ''19''.
17	----
18	!!Tropes associated with [=LeBron=] James:
19	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter:
20	** Michael Jordan is this to him. While it's debatable who is the better player, Jordan has the accolades to back him up, winning as many Finals series as [=LeBron=] has lost. [=LeBron=] himself has stated that his main motivation is to catch "the ghost [who] played in Chicago". As time has gone by, Jordan's state as the undisputed #1 has come more and more under fire, especially as [=LeBron's=] has continued to play at a higher level in his older years in contrast to Jordan's more low-key role with the Washington Wizards in his final year. Younger NBA fans tend to gravitate more toward James, while older ones tend to move toward Jordan.
21	** Early in [=LeBron=]'s career, Kobe Bryant was considered that also, due to the similar nature Kobe had with Michael Jordan throughout his career. While they never met in the Playoffs, fans still compared the two before [=LeBron=]'s signing with the Lakers.
22	** The argument can be made that he's this to Kevin Durant, who admittedly joined the Golden State Warriors to not only beat [=LeBron=], but also (temporarily) usurp 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.
23	** From the day he signed with Miami to the day his second run in Cleveland ended, [=LeBron=] and[=/=]or his team played this role to the entire rest of the Eastern Conference. For those eight seasons, he and his team won their division and the conference finals every single year, placing either 1st or 2nd in the bracket in all but the last of those years--and in a conference where sub-.500 teams snuck into the playoffs onto the regular, the list of contenders who even had a chance of knocking [=LeBron=] and company down was never longer than one or two names.
24	** 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 UsefulNotes/KobeBryant 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]]
25	** 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.
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27	* BashBrothers: When he was on the Heat, [=LeBron=] was this with Dwyane Wade[[note]]they were also this when Wade went to Cleveland, though to a lesser degree[[/note]], one of his best friends off the court. One of their signature moves was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DLJ-IoyL8w an alley-oop pass to one another]].
28	** 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 UsefulNotes/KobeBryant and Creator/ShaquilleONeal or UsefulNotes/MagicJohnson and Creator/KareemAbdulJabbar.
29	* 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.
30	** He's also turned the Atlanta Hawks into one whenever they've met in the playoffs. It doesn't get as much attention because the first encounter was years before the other two, but [=LeBron=] and company have swept the Hawks all three times they've faced off.
31	* CoolOldGuy: Very much downplayed considering he is not even forty years old, but he remains one of the best players in the NBA despite also becoming now the oldest active NBA player by the start of his 21st season in 2023–24.
32	* CrutchCharacter: As a Cavalier, he was the biggest example in the entire NBA. During his first run with Cleveland in the 2000s, [=LeBron=] pulled some absolutely Herculean feats, even dragging the team to the 2007 Finals pretty much by himself, but he could never overcome the shallow pool of supporting talent around him. When he left for Miami, the Cavs cratered so completely that they went from having the league's best record in '09-'10 to its second-worst in '10-'11. Upon his return, he avoided this problem for the first couple seasons, thanks to the Cavs having multiple other stars like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to share the load, and it paid off with their famous upset series victory over the Warriors in the 2016 Finals. But after securing that ring, a mix of trades, injuries, and--in J.R. Smith's case--the occasional boneheaded play at the worst possible time slowly forced [=LeBron=] back into the role by the end of the 2017-18 season, where he carried the team to their fourth straight Eastern Conference title before promptly getting swept by the Warriors. Hilariously, once he left for Los Angeles, [[HistoryRepeats the Cavaliers posted the exact same record they did after his first disappearance]], though they at least had the comfort of not being dead last in the East this time.
33	* 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.
34	* TheDreaded: An interesting example in that while he is not feared by any individual player, he is very much feared by teams and organizations. 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.]]
35	* 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 4-2 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.
36	** The 2019-20 season can also be considered that for him and the Los Angeles Lakers due to the emotional turmoil they had to deal with around the start of 2020 onward. First, [=LeBron=] and the Lakers had to deal with the emotional baggage of team legend (and former rival to James) Kobe Bryant tragically dying unexpectedly on January 26, 2020 before then figuring out how to deal with the eventual worldwide turmoil that was the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic once that virus hit U.S. shores in March, just when the Lakers ''finally'' broke their longest Playoff drought in team history. Once it was decided the NBA could resume their season (albeit at Ride/WaltDisneyWorld via the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for the rest of that season), the Lakers alongside every other NBA team competing at the time had to deal with the environmental changes that came from the unfamiliar settings at hand. However, while the Lakers did not finish off their regular season so strongly at the complex, they did play the 2020 NBA Playoffs like they would any other Playoff year, competing as hard as they could under some very good competition that had already qualified there (mostly by default). Once entering the Playoffs, they managed to beat each Western Conference opponent 4-1 in each series before having [=LeBron=]'s former team, the Miami Heat, come up to them and take their upstart selves to six games before ultimately losing to James and the Lakers in a blowout favoring the Lakers for not just their 17th championship (tying the Boston Celtics for that all-time glory, as well as dedicating this one to Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna), but James' fourth with three different teams.
37	* EasilyForgiven: When [=LeBron=] left his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010, just about the entire city felt betrayed and [=LeBron=] became an instant villain, as well as arguably the most hated sports figure in Cleveland's history (his only competition being [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Modell Art]] [[http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2012/09/art_modell_never_really_recove.html Modell]] during that time). Fans burned his memorabilia in protest and anguish, his murals in Cleveland were either removed, defaced, or both, a spoof of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ6nKET2Yho his infamous "What should I do?" Nike ad]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep-9sSKa0RA was released by the city of Cleveland in response to his decision]], and his presence at the Cavaliers' home arena elicited "Wrestling/RomanReigns the day after he retired Wrestling/TheUndertaker" levels of boos and fan vitriol, plus the need for increased security personnel.\
38	When he became a free agent in 2014, however, [[https://www.si.com/nba/2014/07/11/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers and]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdkRQCdvD_g declared]] that he was "coming home", he was welcomed with open arms, and remains beloved in his home town, especially after bringing an NBA championship to the title-deprived Cleveland[[note]](the city had won no championships in any major pro sport since 1964's Cleveland Browns, a drought of over 52 years)[[/note]] in 2016.\
39	In 2018 when he once again became a free agent and then signed with the Los Angeles Lakers fans were left sad, but not angered this time around, thanking him for leading the Cavaliers to four consecutive Finals appearances and one championship, Cleveland's first in over 50 years. In a sense, he accomplished the goal that he first set out for Cleveland back when he first joined the Cavaliers back in 2003, as noted back in the spoof of his "What should I do?" ad that the city of Cleveland responded to earlier in the decade.
40	* {{Expy}}: While he is often compared to Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, his closest comparison might be UsefulNotes/WiltChamberlain.
41	** Both started their NBA careers playing in (or in [=LeBron's=] case, near) their hometowns.[[note]]The Warriors moved from Philadelphia to San Francisco during Wilt's stint with the team.[[/note]]
42	** Wilt and [=LeBron=] both ended up playing (and winning titles) for the teams that represented their hometowns. Furthermore they won them after going back home after several years already into their careers (Wilt from San Francisco, [=LeBron=] from Miami).
43	** Both are considered the overall most athletic specimens of their eras.
44	** Both were criticized early in their careers for not being able to deliver a title.
45	** 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. Both also won titles in L.A.
46	** They each won 4 [=MVPs=].
47	** They both have scoring and assist titles.
48	** They each rewrote the record books and became the all-time leading scorers.
49	** Wilt's rival UsefulNotes/BillRussell 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.
50	** Finally, Wilt was for a long time 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...
51	*** ...until Orlando announced it would retire the number of "Creator/{{Shaq\|uilleONeal}}" in February 2024 — which just goes to show how long [=LeBron=] has been playing. Shaq is getting his number retired 14 years — a full career! — after he played with [=LeBron=], who was already seven years into his career at the time.
52	* FakeHairDrama: [=LeBron=] started losing his hair a few seasons into his career, and his on-and-off attempts to disguise it have become something of a RunningGag over the years.
53	* FandomRivalry:
54	** Fans of [=LeBron=] James and fans of Michael Jordan will probably never settle the debate on which player is greater. Supporters of Jordan will point to the fact that Jordan has won more championships and Finals [=MVPs=], and has a perfect record in the Finals, and also that Jordan was more clutch. Fans of [=LeBron=] will say that he is the better, more versatile athlete. He led ten teams to the NBA Finals, winning four of them with three different franchises, where he was inauspiciously matched up against historically great teams like the Golden State Warriors.
55	** His fandom clashed with Kobe Bryant's in the late 2000s/early 2010s, particularly before [=LeBron=] started to win championships and firmly established himself as one of the best players to ever touch a basketball. This slowly waned when [=LeBron=] moved to the Lakers in 2018, at which point the strong personal friendship both shared helped improve his reputation as Kobe's successor in being the Laker superstar capable of bringing the organization more championship gold. [=LeBron=]'s later comments in the wake of Kobe's passing further established his dedication to the Lakers' cause further, culminating with a successful NBA championship run dedicated to the Black Mamba's memory. As such, while there may still be a debate between both players, it's treated with a lot more civility especially by Laker fans, who point out Kobe's general status as a beloved figure in contrast with [=LeBron=] and the modern success he brought to Los Angeles and that both have their merits.
56	* GeniusBruiser: It gets overlooked a lot compared to his athletic gifts, but [=LeBron=] James has arguably the highest basketball IQ in the league thanks to his PhotographicMemory, allowing him to remember every play he's seen, and use them to his advantage to set up plays for his teammates. This was most evidenced in the 2018 Conference Semifinals against the Toronto Raptors; despite the Raptors holding the #1 seed and the Cavaliers holding the fourth, [=LeBron=] noticed that the Raptors' playbook had not differed in the playoffs than from the regular season. He used this factor to utterly humiliate the Raptors in 4 games, leading to the Raptors' head coach being fired despite winning Coach of the Year that season.
57	* HeelRealization: After his departure from the Cavaliers in 2010 culminating in being unanimously hated by most basketball fans outside of Miami, [=LeBron=] embraced the villain role. However, after losing to the Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals, he publicly admitted how he left the Cavaliers wasn't the best move and how being the villain sucked the natural joy of playing basketball because he tried to play the game with hate. This ultimately was a factor in his decision to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers after the 2014 Finals.
58	* LightningBruiser: [=LeBron=] moves his 6'8", 260-pound body like a tank with turbo boosters. Of the ten players on the floor at a given moment, there's always a chance that [=LeBron=] is one of the strongest and fastest players among them at the same time, even in his later years in the NBA.
59	* 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.
60	%% *{{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 who 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.
61	* NumerologicalMotif: He became the all-time leading scorer by getting point 38,388. On that day he scored 38 points. He was 38 years old. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had the record for 38 years. This happened on the 7th of February... a.k.a., the [[HolyshitQuotient 38th day of the year]].
62	* 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.
63	* 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.
64	* RedBaron: King James; alternatively, the King or simply his initials, LBJ. He also used to be know as The Chosen One.
65	* TheRival: UsefulNotes/StephenCurry. The rivalry practically writes itself. As if it's not enough that James' Cavaliers and Curry's Warriors are the only two teams in NBA history to meet in four consecutive Finals series (no other pair of teams has done it more than twice), James and Curry are almost the complete antithesis of one another as players. Curry is a masterful shooter who, by NBA standards, is nothing special physically and relies on scoring from the outside. [=LeBron=] is arguably the most physically gifted NBA player of all time who scores primarily at the rim. The two get bonus rivalry points for the fact that [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2015/05/28/lebron-james-and-steph-curry-were-born-in-the-same-akron-hospital-39-months-apart/ they were born in the same hospital 3 years apart]], Curry to a millionaire NBA player father and [=LeBron=] to a single mom on public assistance; the difference is almost comic book-like. Even as recent as the 2021 play-in tournament, [=LeBron=] and Curry had to compete hard against each other to earn a playoff spot for that season, with James and the Lakers making it in and Curry and the Warriors failing to enter that season. Though with Curry recently winning his fourth NBA Finals championship in 2022, we can add that as another comparison point between each other.
66	** In terms of player profiles that compare more to [=LeBron=] by comparison, Kevin Durant is a more noteworthy comparison. Both players are forwards that have similar heights (6'9" for [=LeBron=], 6'10" for Durant, though the latter claims he's 7'0" in shoes), similar career averages, and similar builds and playing structures. In each NBA Finals appearance Kevin Durant was in before [=LeBron=] moved to the Western Conference for the 2018-19 season, he had to go through James and whatever team he was on at the time in order to get what he wanted, with Durant failing to lead the very young Oklahoma City Thunder to a championship in 2012 over the more experienced Big 3 that the Miami Heat had, but easily being able to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers' Big 3 in 2017 and the remnants of that squad in 2018 while with the star-studded Golden State Warriors. When Durant left the Warriors to join the Brooklyn Nets in the 2019-20 season, the rivalry between them was more limited in terms of productivity, with the closest competition between them outside of Lakers Vs. Nets matches being All-Star matches where each player was the team captain of their respective teams in that time. However, with Durant being traded to the division rivaling Phoenix Suns in 2023, it's very likely this particular rivalry will become a very heated one once more going forward.
67	* SelfDeprecation: He will sometimes take jabs at himself for his absolutely dismal performance in the 2011 NBA Finals. Most notable is his suggestion to use footage of his play from that series to put a crying baby to sleep.
68	* SpotlightStealingSquad: Almost every article, analysis or discussion even remotely related to the Cleveland Cavaliers during [=LeBron=]'s time playing with them had [=LeBron=] as the main subject (Like: "How will the Celtics beat [=LeBron=]?").
69	** 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.
70	* TemptingFate: Infamously announced that the new-look 2010–11 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.
71	* TookALevelInBadass: During the 2011 NBA Finals with the Heat taking on the Dallas Mavericks, [=LeBron=] had an absolutely dismal performance in Game 4, as the Heat ultimately lost the finals to the Mavs. Given that he had proclaimed a desire to win multiple championships with the Heat almost immediately after he signed with them, fans took this game and piled on the criticism on James. James took this loss pretty hard and used the summer as a period of self-reflection, before redeeming himself in 2012 and 2013, winning Finals MVP both times.
72	** 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.

Context UsefulNotes / LeBronJames