LeBron James’ Athleticism During His First Cleveland Stint
One of the best athletes in any sport
For sure. He is a perfect combination of size, speed, explosiveness, and basketball IQ!
The only thing I can think of was that he was not a great shooter early on. He only developed his 3 late in his career.
What is ‘late’ in this man’s timeline?
I mean surely, fathertime will *eventually* win, right? right?!
Yes, but we’re only reaching the halfway point in his career
60yr old 9th prime James, got it.
This fuckery can’t go on for much longer
The fuckery will continue until entropy consumes us all
Honestly he really only became a “good” 3 point shooter once he got to the lakers imo. So like year 14 or 15 lol?
His last 3yrs in MIA he shot 36%, 40% and 38% from three. Then in his 2nd CLE stint he was basically a league-average 3pt shooter.
This is the kind of thing that suggests to me that past a certain point, the issue probably wasn’t about his raw shooting skill, but about his minutes played, role on the team, maybe conditioning regime and nagging injuries, etc.
For example, his first stint with CLE he was averaging 40+MPG, but he never had to do that again wherever he went. He also arguably didn’t become a ‘complete player’ until his 2nd year in Miami, mastering and dominating every single aspect of the game. Something like that, anyway.
Shot selection play a part too. His shot diet in Miami was conservative from 3 compared to him creating his own looks from 2015 on.
Took him a good 10 years to get a good 3 - and turns out that was less then half his career to get it going. Absolutely mental.
Give it another 10 years.
Don’t disagree on the 3 pt shot. But to be fair tho, the it was less of a focus when he was starting out.
He was never a bad shooter though
I think his shot just looked pale in comparison to everything else like in this vid
It was one of those things where, if he was your opponent, you’d have much rather seen him shooting pull-up threes rather than attacking the basket.
It was weird being a fan of his back in the day. You’d watch him and be like “TAKE OVER, SHOOT THE DAMN BALL WHAT YOU DOING???” Then he’d end the game with like 34 / 11 / 7 or something and you’re like oh, that was him not going all out. So many games I watched of his I considered to be “bad” games and he still put up insanely good insanely efficient numbers.
It definitely wasn’t a strength of his early, however when it was falling; it was literally no answer.
At to that longevity cause at this point I think it’s the single most impressive thing about him. There have been a lot of super fast or super strong or super explosive people in sports, but very few last as long as he has. It’s honestly insane how he’s avoided major injury and stayed at a high level for as long as he has.
If we’re talking pure freakish athleticism he’s the best of all time in any sport in my opinion. The blend of size, speed, explosiveness and strength is something you just don’t see anywhere. Wilt could definitely be in the mix but I don’t know how much of what you hear about him is fact or fable.
I frequently say that LeBron is the most physically gifted human being that has ever lived.
Hard to argue against that, especially when you add in lack of major injuries and longevity. The dude is literally a 1 of 1 athlete.
I think LeBron’s greatness has come in three distinct parts. First, his extraordinary athleticism, which in his prime almost no one could match. Later, his understanding of the game, with a mastery of in-game tactics and series-wide strategy that again very few have equaled. And last, his incredible longevity to still play at an all-star level into his 40s, which no one has ever done before.
Any one of these three would have made for a great career, and any two would lock up a Hall of Fame selection.
he was known as a basketball mind in high school already, and he knew he had that intellectual capability.
I think he had the bball IQ when he got in the league. Our team was just so bad surrounding him lol
I mean he was turning Donyell Marshall and Sasha Pavlovic into legitimate playoff beasts
Any one of the first two at LeBron’s level will put you in the HoF. Dwight Howard will make the HOF on the first factor. Chris Paul on the second. The third is different of course
I am 100% dead serious when i say I think there is at least a 50% chance that lebron is a genetically modified human being and in turn, has no father.
I am dead serious. I believe lebron was grown in a test tube and then artificially implanted into gloria james and carried to term. no human being should possess his combination of size, strength and athleticism. AND to book it all out, he’s very intelligent too. (besides the decision) remember how much poise he had just coming into the league at 18 years old? it’s un-natural. how often have TV analysts described him as a “freak of nature” …..maybe it’s truer than we know.
I am serious. we all know (and I swear I am not saying this to be insulting or mean) that lebron’s mom was a crack whore (is drug addicted prostitute better?) it’s just a fact, it happened. I am NOT saying this to be mean, in fact I am a heroin addict and know a few woman who have sold themselves for dope, it happens. they are not bad people.
and the government has a history of using prostitutes and impoverished people in “experiments.” read about MK-ULTRA. it happened. the CIA used to have prostitutes slip LSD to johns and then the agents would watch what happened thru 2-way mirrors. the government helped start and continue the crack epidemic of the 80s.
I believe that lebron was a precursor experiment to create super soldiers. something where they were just like “well let’s test it out on some poor people that no one will notice and see if we can get any results before we sink more billions into this.” it’s not all that crazy. you don’t think the government has interest in creating genetically modified super human soldiers? we know for a FACT it does. it’s been documented. you don’t think russia or china has interest in such a thing? you know they do. and anything russia or china is or would be doing we are doing. to do it first and do it better.
he’s some kind of experiment that they just monitored from a distance and let keep growing. and i mean this was probably initially started with just a few people who believed it could be done and that’s why it started small and covert using regular civilians. until they could show the results to the higher ups and say “look at this, you don’t wanna fund this on a larger scale?”
and where else would such a person end up besides in a professional sports league?
I think there is probably some secret base(s) out there that are now filled with people like lebron, younger than him probably. if they couldn’t see how well the experiment worked until he was about 16-18 years old (he was pretty much a full grown man at 16 and could have came off the bench for any NBA team if not started) than maybe there are a bunch of 9-15 year old super humans like lebron (not copies of him but given the same genetic boost that he was) eating chow in some secret barracks right now…..
until someone comes forth and the DNA test shows him to be his father (and a bunch have come forward and been shown not to be) than I will believe this is AT LEAST possible..
edit: something I’d like to add in case someone says “well if this is true why wouldn’t lebron’s mom come forward and admit it, just say I participated in a government experiment and lebron was the result.” well she doesn’t know. it’s simple, she goes to a hotel with a john, he slips something in a drink and she gets knocked out-cold. they take her and do whatever they did. give her some amnesiacs or anesthesia (probably benzos too) so when she wakes up she’s in a haze and doesn’t remember anything. not even the john. she finds out she’s pregnant later and just assumes she got knocked up by any random john. has lebron. shit even if she participated willingly, got paid, and knows everything, no one would believe her crazy ass.
I busted this one out recently, this is one of my favorite old school pastas of all time.
I can tell how serious you are because you keep saying how serious you are
Wilt coming back from the Achilles injury in the same season is pure absurdity to me.
Especialy back in the 60s, bro probably got aspirin and some cocaine infused cough syrup to patch it up
Especially when you add in the longevity. There have been a lot of freak athletes that have had been a flash in the pan, or never even made it to the pan (this is a crap analogy), because the body isn’t designed to do the things they can do.
I know the last few years of his career have been plagued by these nagging injuries, but he really avoided anything even moderate in nearly 20 years.
Honestly his injury resistance while being that athletic and explosive might be the most incredible part.
Of all time. Proven by the fact that even now he’s still often physically dominant - barely any players who are both faster and stronger than him.
He’s obviously declined, but his athleticism has been falling from such a high peak that he still has advantages
So let me get this straight a 6,9 forward with elite speed and power combined with a computer-made brain for bball wasnt created in a lab ?
Oh i forgot, he never suffered any type of long lasting injuries.
Watching this man play at 42 is a blessing.
Removing the whole GOAT conversation, from a purely physical standpoint, LeBron’s career is bonkers. The only other person with similar longevity and who started of supremely athletic was Vince Carter and the end of his career he was largely a 3-point shooter off the bench. LeBron is still arguably the most explosive guy on the Lakers
Lebron was arguably the best and most explosive guy on either team in the playoff round that he just got bounced from. Which included the reigning champion, 2x mvp and finals MVP.
Which tells me if he were to physically decline to the point of other players in the last seasons of their career I think he could legit play to his late 40s.
He won’t tho. He’s got another 20 years in the tank, easy.
I think he wants to play with Bronny III and then retire
It was so bittersweet seeing the LeBron look THAT ready for the playoffs. Don’t think LA beats OKC regardless, but people said he looked finished as a big contributor. Only for him and the role players to give everything and gut out a series win, keep up with OKC until they always gassed out in the 4th. The most tired, technically lacking LeBron I’ve ever seen but he just knows how to win.
Would’ve just liked the full squad healthy, Luka and AR completely shift everything. Though every team would feel like that lol
And mind you, LeBron is still explosive despite the Solomon Hill injury. If it wasn’t for that, he would probably still be posterizing players consistently.
God, I forgot about that. Fuck Solomon Hill.
Solomon Hill injury?
When Hill had rolled into Bron’s knee
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/m9f94n/highlight_solomon_hill_goes_for_a_steal_collides/
You can easily make 2, maybe even 3 first ballot HoF careers out of LeBrons full career, depending on how you divide it. It’s actually fucking nuts to think about
Brady-esque
Tbf, there aren’t many super athletic guys on the Lakers right now
Hayes is really explosive, Thiero is as well
Bronny deadass top 5 athletic Laker rn
Jax, bron, adou, bronny, and dalton knecht?😭 fuck youre right
Surely this fuckery can’t go on for much longer.
He led the league in fastbreak points in regular season at 41 , unreal guy.
The lack of injuries is almost the most amazing part. Being that big, you’re usually prone to injuries. He played 82 games + playoffs every year for 20+ years without ever being seriously injured. That’s unheard of.
A big part of it is how coordinated and controlled he was. Lebron basically has perfect jumping and landing mechanics. Watch how he lands on all of these chase down blocks and dunks in traffic.
His feet are almost always shoulder width apart and his knees are slightly bent. If he does land on one leg, it’s never at a weird angle or with a straight leg. He also basically never lands on a foot.
Compare that to someone like Rose or Ja Morant, and it’s easy to see why they weren’t durable and Lebron was.
Yup this video from 12 years ago discusses Lebron’s landing technique and how it played a part in his longevity.
Freak athlete + ~$1million a year on your body is fucking unfair
6’9, 250 lbs as heavy as a center, as fast as a point guard. He was a monster
I’m pretty sure 250 was a lie at some point. Lot of business decisions made when this dude got the fast break.
Lot of wiggle room.. There were reports during his career that he was upwards of 270lbs
2013 LeBron had to be his heaviest. He carried SO much weight on his frame. I genuinely think he could have been 280 that year
I am serious. we all know (and I swear I am not saying this to be insulting or mean) that lebron’s mom was an amazing women (is hottest woman on the plant better better?) it’s just a fact, it happened. I am NOT saying this to be mean, in fact I am a heroin addict and know a few woman who have sold themselves for dope, it happens. they are not bad people.
It warms my hear that this pasta is still alive.
EDIT wait wait wait, something changed. You’re not allowed to change it!
Lebron actually said that the Solomon Hill ankle injury he suffered in 2021 has permanently damaged his ankle and it’s “never been the same”. Which is to say that it makes his play all the more impressive since he is still a plus player.
Cue for LeBron alien pasta
Best at the chase down block ever
The JRich 360 block is so funny (and incredible). I forgot all about that one.
I’m surprised I’ve never seen that one. That was filthy.
That shit ran on sportscenter daily for so long. Such a sick block
I remember watching that game with a bunch of friends, mostly Suns fans, when DVR was pretty new. We must have re-watched it two dozen times.
that’s my favorite because JRich was showboating
And he even does the “aw, c’mon man!” while laying on the ground afterwards.
I think he was begging for a foul to make him look less bad
100% wanting the foul there.
you can’t even really blame JRich from that one because it’s actually insane he was able to block that
you can definitely blame him, close game, causes a 5 point swing
Hearing him talk about it was hilarious.
The JRich 360 block
The fan reactions are priceless - like wet gore just happened on the court.
How wild is it that the NBA’s all time leading scorer is actually a better passer than scorer and his undisputed signature move is neither lmfao built in a lab
Right “blocked by James” is his greatest play in his career lmao
I agree but to me his signature move will always be the fastbreak straight arm single hand dunk.
He’s been around so long he has multiple for me. I think of his tomahawk dunk like you said, his post-fade turnaround that destroyed the Raptors and also what he broke the scoring record with, the chasedown block, and the LeFuckYou 3. Specifically the funny ass move where he looks down at the ball then quickly looks up and pulls it.
Totally agreed. You could even throw in the no look rocket pass off the dribble and the and-1 finish with a guy draped all over him
most disrespectul thing i have ever seen (considering playoffs) was lebron spinning the fucking ball in his hands while ibaka guarded him, just to nail the three right after…
with no regard for human life
the most athletic player ever
You can have your GOAT debates but I really don’t think it’s arguable that he’s the best pure athlete to ever play in the NBA.
If you were building a basketball player from a physical talent standpoint, you’d build LeBron.
If you have Lebron, Jordan, Wilt & Bill Russell on your mount rushmore – you’d have 4 of the most athletic basketball players to ever play the game.
Wilt was not only super strong (Arnold said he’s the strongest guy he’s ever worked out with), but he also had both incredible speed and endurance. He ran the equivalent of 1:58 800m (something that neither Jordan nor Lebron would have the speed and endurance to do). That’s the kind of ability you only seen among track runners (and for someone 7’2” this time is bananas). There’s a reason he averaged 48.5 min/game for a season.
Bill Russell qualified for the Olympic High jump. Think about that. He was ranked #2 in the US, and #7 in the world (at the time). He not only set the University of San Fransisco record – but it STILL the school record.
(https://usfdons.com/documents/2018/1/29/TF_History_Records_18_129.pdf)
This isn’t just good for the NBA good. This is incredible – especially when you consider that neither had the modern knowledge of training, technique etc. This was at a time where black men would be killed for looking at someone in a way some people didn’t like (i.e. training would have been harder to do for them, they couldn’t just go to the local gym). And both were Centres. There’s a reason we say “this is a record… except for Wilt” and everyone knows no one will win like Russell did.
Is Lebron the most athletic? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s fair to say, that in terms of athleticism, all 4 of these guys should be considered lab grown specimens.
Idk, you have to wonder how much what we know about Wilt was true.
His “1:58 800m” is widely questioned and there’s no verification that it ever happened.
“Most historians believe the 1:58.3 figure, along with his 49.0-second 440-yard dash, came from self-reported numbers or informal, unmapped practice times relayed by Wilt or his early coaches to reporters. Because Wilt was an extraordinary physical specimen, reporters of the 1950s and 60s frequently printed his training anecdotes as official athletic gospel without verifying box scores.”
Beyond basketball, Wilt is most well known for bragging and exaggerating, so when something is so crazy that it’s hard to believe and it’s coming from a renowned liar…it’s probably not true.
No doubt he was an unbelievable athlete, but if we want to talk about it, we need to only include things that we know are true.
Yeah, most of Wilt’s stories are pretty clearly untrue. His weightlifting stuff is almost certainly exaggerated (his reported number would have made him the second-strongest weightlifter in the world while casually doing reps without a warmup), and most of his track and field stuff is completely unverified. Hell, we’ve got records of college and highschool track for the time, and Wilt isn’t anywhere to be found, despite most of his claimed numbers winning events.
There’s tons of full game footage of Wilt and there’s a reason we don’t see videos of him performing in the impossible way people talk about him
there should really be no debate at this point. People were taken by what a sensation MJ was, and he was inarguably the goat for a time, but objectively speaking he was a pure scorer who played in an era where help defense was illegal and the game was much less developed. Just imagine if Lebron had played his career against defenses that couldn’t help against him. Lebron has him beat in basically every metric other than ppg and championships. It’s only a reluctance to change opinions that makes it a “debate”.
If Lebron had done half the things MJ did then MJ fans would disqualify Bron from the GOAT discussion immediately. Imagine if Lebron only made the finals for the first time at 28 and had to add the player with the most undervalued contract in history to be able to do so, or if Lebron retired in the middle of his prime and his team still managed to finish as the second seed without him
They wouldn’t even put Lebron ahead of Boogie Cousins
Wilt was 4 inches taller, an Olympic level track athlete who outlifted professional body builders, and averaged more than a game per game over a season while traveling by bus and playing in converses. To say there’s no argument is comical levels of glazing
Every time I hear about Wilt’s max bench press, 100lbs gets added
I hate how sports conversations always devolve into rankings.
Don’t get me wrong I’m all for giving LeBron his flowers. He’s the GOAT for me and an absolutely freak athlete, but the man said it’s not arguable and I draw the line there
I don’t disagree one bit.
Some latent cultural autism drives us to make - and get emotionally invested in - fairly useless lists. Like, does it really matter for anything if our favorite player is Top 11 instead of Top 10?
Wilt is bigger and probably stronger but LeBron tops him in every mobility metric
How does one average more than a game per game lol
There was a season he played every single minute of every game he played, including some OT games. If memory serves it was something like 48.3 minutes per game or something silly.
Every Wilt stat is so insane and I understand why people think it’s either just made up or the league had to be full of absolute garbage talent lol, but he was really like that.
He played more than 48 minutes per game (due to overtime games and playing almost all of every game he played in)
The most video game player to ever be real.
Wemby?
Couldn’t build either in 2k.
His otherworldly longevity has made many casuals forget what his play style looked like at this point in his career.
This happens to a lot of greats who have a long career. The public memory focuses more on the end of their careers than the beginning .
Ronaldo dealing with the same thing right now
I don’t think so dude. People will never forget prime Ronaldo. He’s just very fun to roast because he’s so unlikable lmfao
And this is how Dame and AD got on the 75 at 75 team over Dwight
The public memory or the memory of young people who largely use social media?
I only started watching him closely the last 10 years, and kind of took him for granted as an overhyped opponent the first 10….
It’s hilarious seeing these clips again because so many of the trademark moves are there…. but his strides are so much longer and faster it’s dizzying.
He just made everyone look so slow in the first decade of his career.
People have been saying LeBron hasn’t lost a step, as a compliment, for a decade, but that is a disservice to Lebron’s younger self.
Crazy thought: a lot of these fans didn’t just forget, they never actually saw it. A 22 year old basketball junkie watching NBA religiously since he was 10 years old has been obsessed with ball long enough to watch most of LeBron’s career and yet has no recollection of Cavs 1.o LeBron and never even saw him play for the Heat.
The documentary will be 100 hours long and still not be enough
They can do an 20-part series on his 2016 playoff run alone lmao
and I would watch it repeatedly.
I still randomly watch highlights of his 07 detroit series, the moment all of us cleveland fans knew it was for real for real.
the 16 highlights are nice but they can’t match the excitement from the early days.
legit would float yet still body people regularly, i wish i was into basketball heavy during this time smh
I was into basketball then. My regret is that I wish I didn’t hate him. I stopped hating him after what he did in 2016. I was late. I had no real reason to hate him.
The East remembers. I’ve never hated a player more than I hated LeBron, genuinely fuck him, I had plenty of reason. Having said that 2016 was the turning point for me too, and I think most other Lebron haters.
Thats when it went from hate to admiration. It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I realised there was nothing we could’ve done against him. At that point you just have to give the credit that was long overdue
This reads like Paul and DeMar talking about Bron on that podcast clip
Same! I think a common reason was being a fan of one of the other MVP caliber players and not accepting that LeBron was the one. Kinda like how MJ was treated by some fans and players in the late 80s.
I was a huge Kobe fan and I regret not appreciating this era of LeBron’s career more
I was that way with Tom Brady til 28-3 finally made me give up lol
some so called fans have this hilarious take that LeBron would fail in a physical era
The thing is, I’m not sure if people appreciated him enough. Idiots and literal NBA legends calling him a choke artist in public when he played with a bunch of scrubs
He’s so good that despite being the all-time leading scorer in NBA history, his ‘signature’ move has to be the chase down block.
Maybe it’s just me, but LeBron’s signature move to me has always been his tomahawk dunk
At least on offense. Even just as a Cav, so many calls of the L Train or the Akron Hammer are iconic
Same - that dunk is a thing of beauty
He’s been playing so long most fans born after his arrival in the league will probably think his signature move is the LeFuckyou3.
All time leading scorer and his best quality might be his passing
With his 7 assists a game
The fact you could argue his signature move is either a chase down block, tomahawk slam or step-back le-fuck you 3, is mental.
People say that Miami Lebron was the most athletic version of him but don’t remember his first stint with Cleveland. He was genuinely the strongest guy out there while moving lightening quick. I’ve never seen anything like that since.
He was just more muscular in Miami. First stint in cleveland Bron was fast af with bounce
2012 LeBron was a legit 260 lbs. I don’t know how anyone would want to stand in front and guard that
he was genuinely 270+ for most of the second half oh his heat stint, windhorst reported it years later
Yeah. When he came out with the defined shoulders and arms…. That man was walking around at 275+ fully clothed.
He’s not just tall, he is long and wide and just physically “big” in a way wemby isn’t.
He didn’t like playing that way, but there was a reason he could go down into the post and bang with Timmy D. Mofo was a twin car nuclear powered locomotive.
People say that because it was the most athletic version of himself. He has the same speed and athleticism as his OG Cleveland days with the added benefit of being MUCH stronger. He has also added much more to his game at that point as well.
He was literally unguardable and became one of a very, very small handful of players all time that could legitimately guard 1-5… not talking on a switch, but could guard that position all game of he really needed to.
And he shot 40% from three-point range for a season in Miami. Guy was unguardable.
He has the same speed and athleticism as his OG Cleveland days
Except he didn’t. He was close enough that it didn’t really usually matter, because he was still the best athlete in the league. But he was quicker and faster in Cleveland. You watch him in 2009, and his first step is unstoppable and he pretty much couldn’t be contested at the rim. That’s why the 2009 playoffs were the most efficient he was as a scorer until much later in his career when his 3 point shot improved, despite the fact that he had worse teammates with worse spacing so teams were able to pay more attention to him.
He was playing with worse spacing and still dunked as many times in 14 games in the 2009 playoffs as he did in 21+ games in the 2011-2013 playoff runs.
he absolutely did not have the same speed, thats ludicrous
he didn’t have the same speed. he bulked up and wasn’t quite as much of a blur in the open court while maintaining pretty much the same bounce. i don’t think one version is more athletic than the other necessarily, just a little different.
I think he was more athletic in Miami probably too. He moved similarly to this but was just so damn big. I’ve never been able to find a legit number, but he had to have been at least 260 minimum. Even the freakiest of the freaky athletes do not have that explosiveness at 20lbs less than that
The quickness was really what he lost bulking up in Miami. He moved like Tony Parker out there during his first Cleveland stint.
He’s still so athletic is makes people forget how much less athletic he is than his prime
imagine being there for this in real time
As a guy from Northern Ohio, there are plenty of people who watched LeBron in high school as an NBA-caliber player. It was madness.
I watched his high school games on ESPN
Saw him play a local high school at the Schott in Columbus way back during his senior year. I’ve never seen an 18 year old move like he did. It looked like what I imagine Usain Bolt racing middle schoolers would look.
I got really into basketball around 2005-2006 or so.
I was immediately given two amazing gifts, the We Believe season as a warriors fan, and then watching LeBron enter the league and take no prisoners. The man was mythological, like Curry in 2016.
Every game would leave you with this weird tired sensation in your forehead, because your eyebrows were continually raised as you were thinking what the fuck that’s not possible
Jay Rich was mad as hell on that blocked dunk.
Imagine trying to do a 360 in the middle of a NBA fast break and then getting mad when your shit gets stuffed
Attempting that when it’s a 2pt 4Q game sure is something
anger almost always follows embarassment
In the replays he clearly got fouled but IDC you have to be extremely stupid to try that shit and deserve to get hacked w no call
Lmao the hype he must’ve felt expecting to get a highlight 360 dunk and then immediately getting blocked and crashing to the hardwood. Dude must’ve been as embarrassed as he was pissed
Tbf on replay you can see LeBron clearly got his wrist first
Young Bron still the alien among aliens for me.
Wemby does stuff all the time that you don’t think should be possible, but then you look at how tall he is and go….I guess.. if I was that tall I could probably do stuff like that
Young LeBron was like watching this animal that at times would be a cheetah, at other times would be a lion, and at other times would look like an 800 lb gorilla. It just didn’t make sense. People that big DON’T MOVE LIKE THAT
I said young shaq was the closest freak athlete to LeBron I’ve ever seen live, and the amount of comments and downvotes saying shaq was a bigger freak is staggering. Most upvoted comments being because he broke backboards. I’m not a nephew, I’ve watched both in their athletic prime, and LeBron is on a different level.
shaq was/is lazy af. he would’ve had double digit championships if his ego wasn’t bigger than his height.
It was him and pretty much corpses on those Cleveland teams and he still willed them into the playoffs
LeCromancer
That is actually terrifying
Some of these clips don’t even make sense..absolutely mind blowing
Never seen a talent like him before or after.
Are zoomers going to be saying LeBron played with plumbers because they can’t name anyone on these highlights
Yes
the plumbers were all on his own team lmao
I’m going to sound like Jordan Stans but f it. Prime LeBron averages a 30 triple double if he plays in the live ball era we’re in now.
He averaged 30.3 at 37 years old. Prime LeBron is probably averaging 34-35 in this era.
Jokic was 2 points away from that this year
Imagine this guy also being the smartest guy on the court 9⁄10 times lol. All time draft, LeBron is still one. Over, Kareem, Jordan,Shaq whoever.
He doesn’t even make a movie sometimes. He just goes right and that’s it
The most athletic human I’ve ever seen and it’s not close. Like if you were rating humans 1-10 on overall athleticism and you got to LeBron you either call him a 13 or have to reorder everyone that came before. There are faster guys, quicker guys, stronger guys, bigger guys, guys with higher verts… but he was like 95% of what they were all in ONE GUY. Ridiculous.
Always crazy to think that his career tape includes highlights against both fathers and their sons
Still have his rookie bobblehead from my first NBA game
Most of these plays would be your average player’s career highlight. It’s not comprehensible how good LeBron was. Can hardly be put into words.
In 2009 he was listed at 6’9 250. That’s the average weight of an NFL linebacker.
Was still the fastest, highest flying player on the floor and did it for 39 minutes a night.
Honestly what’s even more impressive is that his wasn’t even his peak.
Jason Richardson going for the 360 on the breakaway always cracks me up
Every few years we have some advanced metrics battle about the current MVP and how they are the most dominant player of all time or most efficient player of all time but unless you saw prime LeBron you don’t know. Dude is the most dominant force I have ever seen on a court. If he wanted to score it was going in the basket. He single handedly turned the cavaliers from a lottery team to a ECF squad. Like actually when he left they went from the finals to last place in the league. SGA, Jokic, Giannis… They just never hit that.
Sad you nephews will never know
Man those blue Cavs jerseys were gorgeous
I miss Fred McLeod.
This needs to be stickied to the top of r_NBATalk so I can stop seeing posts like “do you think prime LeBron could dunk on Wemby?”
The answer is an emphatic yes.
And people still think he wouldn’t survive the 80s…
He was an infant
Literally survived most of the 80s. That’s how he got here.
The best to ever do it
He was the most electrifying rookie I saw.
He is also still the most electrifying 40 year I’ve ever seen.
He was electric in between.
What a privilege to watch MJ, Kobe and him in one lifetime. We are lucky.
He’s the greatest pure athlete this sport has ever seen
Once he built up speed it was a wrap
Every time I see this I always think: “how much of a fucking MORON do you have to be to attempt a 360 dunk in front of LeBron James?!?!?” Lol
& people say bron didn’t play defense.
Yo don’t see em like that anymore