NBA: LeBron James’ Lack Of Individual Competition Throughout His Career

All the past NBA greats have had that one opponent that they’ve had to forge through. LeBron James really hasn’t had that in his career

All great professional athletes have certain rivals that push them mentally and physically to become better and search for greatness within themselves. It’s the adversaries that make the story much more compelling to tell, and the battles worth more in value to watch. Through history there have been great competitors battling it out such as The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi and Tom Brady against Peyon Manning, etc.

Legacies are built off of whom an athlete has faced and defeated throughout their career. Some sports, more than others, weigh a career based on opponents faced more than others. It just adds to one’s legend and list of achievements. The NBA is no stranger from such a thing as rivalries are constantly brought up in debate when talking about what had to overcome against to get where he is.

All greats have gone through it. All greats except maybe one: LeBron James. He’s never had that rivalry with someone such as the one Bill Russell had with Wilt Chamberlain during the 1960’s or the glitz and glamor of Magic Johnson dueling against the hard-nosed Larry Bird during the 1980’s as they revived the NBA.

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James has never had that special adversary consistently be a legitimate cog in his trek to the NBA Finals in five consecutive years, and most likely six in 2016 if the Cleveland Cavaliers remain healthy.

LeBron is the turning point of individual rivalries. Prior to James’ steady walk to his throne, the NBA was dominated and fascinated by players that consistently met in big-time games such as the playoffs. With James though, instead of having that one special person that he can’t stand seeing the same face of every game, he instead has teams.

The two teams that come to mind that have posed as serious threats on a yearly basis to James are the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs. James’ battles with the Celtics were epic, and more specifically with Paul Pierce. Both Hall of Fame forwards would bring the best out of each other as if they were soulmates. James fell to the Celtics in 2008 and 2010, which led to him joining the Miami Heat that summer. Boston was too much of a hurdle for James to get over himself, but would go on to accomplish it twice in 2011 and 2012 with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Boston was an obstacle James couldn’t overcome himself, which is the complete opposite of how Michael Jordan handled his greatest team obstacle: The Bad Boy Pistons. Jordan dedicated an entire summer to improve his skill-set and body to compete with Detroit, while James teamed up with his fellow draft-mates. He was a free-agent and free to do whatever he wanted and made an astute decision of what any player this generation would’ve made…time to digress and get back to the main point.

James’ first encounter with the Spurs in the playoffs was in 2007. At the age of 22, yeah, that age students typically graduate from college, he led Cleveland to The NBA Finals. That team was eventually swept. James next two playoff dates with San Antonio came in 2013 and 2014. 2013 was his year, thanks to a Ray Allen three-pointer in Game 6, but then San Antonio’s postseason dominance returned to reality by decimating him and the Heat in five games.

Rivalries can’t be one-sided, either. Right now James is alone with nobody to make yearly memories with

Boston and San Antonio both posed as important educational tools for James in his career, and are the only teams to have faced James and have a legitimate opportunity to send him home. In between his tussles with those two teams, there have been two forced and media driven rivalries that standout in particular: Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant.

Bryant and James meeting in June back in 2009 was something the NBA and fans worldwide wanted to see. It would’ve been the battle of the league’s elite talents on the biggest stage for the Larry O’Brien trophy. 2009 was the year it looked like the stars would align for them to meet, as their respective teams were No. 1 in their respective conferences, and Nike hyping it up with two hilarious puppets in a bevy of commercials. Their meeting never panned out, nor did a possible historically great Finals matchup.

After Bryant in 2009, there was the rising star in Durant. James and Durant met in the 2012 Finals. Their meeting was short as James’ Heat eliminates the Thunder in five games. Despite the fans and media wanting it to be a rivalry, the storylines just wouldn’t matchup. It was the veteran James on the brink of his championship vs. the young Durant leading a very young Thunder team to late basketball in June. It was assumed the two would meet regularly in June, but injuries and opposing West teams evolving have thwarted that from happening.

What people don’t understand is a rivalry in sports is typically a yearly playoff battle between stars and teams, not a one-and-done matchup. Rivalries can’t be one-sided, either. Right now James is alone with nobody to make yearly memories with.

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In the East, James has nobody stopping him like the Celtics once did. He has dominated an entire conference by himself for almost a decade. James had a a sip of coffee with Paul George and the Indiana Pacers from 2012 to 2014, but that wasn’t a rivalry due to himself and his team completely dominating. James’ playoff bouts with George though did put Indy’s star on the map.

Going forward with the thinking James stays with the Cavs for the foreseeable future, his only competition in the East will most likely be the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat if both teams are healthy. If not those two organizations in which James has past with, then possibly, the Washington Wizards if Kevin Durant decides to spurn Oklahoma City this summer.

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The legacy of James won’t be tarnished in any way, because his talent level is one of a kind and it’s not his fault he’s overcome the talent level in which the Eastern Conference, which typically has one to three contenders in comparison to maybe four or five in the Western Conference.

He’s done what he’s expected to do: defeat the competition in your way. The only problem is the consistency of legitimate competition he’s had to face. All that could change starting this season, but just like everyone else in the world, we’ll have to wait and see.