Over the past twenty years, LeBron James has been the face of the NBA, winning two championships with the Miami Heat, one with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and one with the Los Angeles Lakers and four finals Most Valuable Player Awards.
Growing up watching the NBA, Lebron James has always been one of my favorite players in all of sports.
The off-court activities that he has participated in, such as causes for voting rights and helping communities around the world, has also inspired me to become a better person.
LeBron has become one of the centerpieces of having a championship-caliber team and many teams build the roster around his talents.
Since entering the league in 2003, LeBron has carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Many people were rooting for him to succeed, and others patiently waited for his downfall.
There really is no real reason for people to hate or dislike LeBron James.He literally does not mess with anyone and keeps his personal business very private.
The jersey collection that I have is literally filled with all of the teams that Lebron James has played for throughout his career. Guess that you could say that I’m a pretty big supporter of him.
LeBron’s first Sports Illustrated front-page feature, with the title “The Chosen One” let the world know there was potential for LeBron to become the second coming of the next Michael Jordan.
When this Sports Illustrated issue came out, I was 12 months old. That is how long LeBron James has been dominating the NBA.
After spending seven years with the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron grew tired of not achieving his ultimate goal of winning a championship, even after winning his first regular season Most Valuable Player Award in 2008.
On July 8, 2010, ESPN aired a special called “The Decision,” which showed LeBron’s decision to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers or go to another team.
LeBron decided to join the Miami Heat with two other NBA All-Star players, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
LeBron received tons of criticism and backlash from fans and the media for leaving, but he did not let it affect his ultimate goal, which was a championship.
The Miami Heat era consisted of four NBA Finals appearances and two championship wins in 2012 and 2013.
LeBron felt he had unfinished business with the Cleveland Cavaliers and returned to the franchise in 2015.
In the 2016 NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers were down 3-1 to the Golden State Warriors led by NBA All-Stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
The Cavaliers crawled back into the series, forcing a game seven and winning the championship.
I remember watching that Game 7 with my brother and could not believe that the Warriors actually blew a 3-1 lead in the series.
That explains why they needed to go get Kevin Durant to stop LeBron and the Cavaliers in 2017 and 2018.
This championship would be the first one in the franchise’s history and gave LeBron his third championship and third Most Valuable Player Award.
After leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to four straight NBA Finals, LeBron set his next destination on joining the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018.
My family has always been Lakers fans, so we all were overjoyed that we finally got a superstar to build a team around after spending the last few years watching our team not make the playoffs.
The Lakers organization and fans were ecstatic that they finally had a superstar player to build a championship team around after Kobe Bryant retired in 2016.
In 2020, the Lakers were the number one seed in the Western Conference and were on an easy path to the championship.
All of this momentum would unfortunately be disrupted by the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant on Jan. 26, 2020, and the NBA season pausing due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March.
The NBA season resumed in July 2020, giving teams a chance to finish the season.
LeBron and the Lakers entered the playoffs, beating the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets, reaching the NBA Finals to play the Miami Heat.
LeBron and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat in six games, giving the franchise its 17th championship and giving LeBron his fourth championship and fourth NBA Most Valuable Player award.
After passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and becoming the player with the most points in the history of the NBA, LeBron enters his 21st year in the NBA, hoping to add another ring to his collection and give the Lakers banner number 18 to hang on the rafters.
Let’s hope that LeBron James has a healthy season and can become the first player to play with his son, Bronny James, in the NBA.
Let’s go, Lakers.