Steve Mitchell- USA Today Sports
Few players in NBA history have ever won back-to-back titles. By achieving this rare success, a player of LeBron James caliber elevates himself into an NBA legend.
James has always been one of the most dominant players of his generation, but it took winning his first title with the Miami Heat to really define who he was in terms of an all-time great. With James winning his second title, he has raised the bar even higher for his playing career.
A player’s worth is not only based on his regular season numbers, but how he performs in clutch moments in the postseason. When talking about players like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson and many others, not only does ring count come into the conversation, but also how they took over the game when a championship was on the line.
James has already done this numerous times, but in order to climb the mountain that is the NBA’s all-time Greats, he will need to continue to win championships. That’s all there is to it.
With James being only 29-years old, there is plenty of time for him to add to his accolades. At the pace he is going, he will arguably crack the top-five by the time his career is over. As of right now though, even with his second championship in tow, there are many players who have achieved much more success throughout their NBA careers.
It is always difficult to rank players throughout any sport’s history because of one simple fact: we haven’t watched a lot of these players actually play. In fact, we don’t even have consistent footage of performances like Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game. With James playing at a ridiculous level right now in front of our eyes, it is hard to say he isn’t one of the greatest to ever touch a basketball, but we have to think rationally here.
Until his career is done, who is to say where he will ultimately end up?
One thing is for certain though, James still has a lot more to achieve in terms of basketball accolades if he wants to come close to being mentioned in the same breath as players like Jordan. Even with this second championship placing him into the conversation, it remains to be seen what he will do with the rest of his NBA career.
