ANTHONY GETTINO
Sports Editor
In his 17th season in the NBA, Lebron James is still trying to forge his path among the all time greats.
With four MVPs, 16 All NBA awards, an assist and scoring title and three Finals MVPs in three championships, he is one of the most decorated players of all time. He also has six other Finals appearances where his team didn’t come out on top.
There are many different viewpoints on what makes someone the “G.O.A.T.” (Greatest of all time), and one of the most brought up reasons that Lebron isn’t there yet is his lack of rings.
That’s what makes this Finals so important to his legacy.
With a win here, James will get his fourth ring at age 35, and a team that has some cap space to make some moves and a top five player in the league in Anthony Davis, meaning he has the next few years to go for one more ring to get to that elusive five.
If the Lakers lose this Finals — which could happen even though the Miami Heat seemed down and out after the first two games, but have since clawed their way back to a 3-2 series — things get much murkier.
Lebron would need to win two more rings in the twilight of his career in order to get to five. Now, the reason I keep saying that he has to get to five rings is that he already has been to the Finals so many times in his career that Lebron doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt anymore.
Many players who are in that G.O.A.T. discussion got eliminated early in the playoffs many times, but when they got to the biggest stage, their teams delivered and they got rings.
Michael Jordan never lost a Finals appearance in six attempts, but his team was eliminated from the playoffs seven other times before reaching the final round.
Kobe Bryant has five rings in seven Finals appearances, but also didn’t make it to the promised land in nine other playoff appearances.
This is also a year that Lebron James doesn’t have an excuse to lose.
In his first Finals appearance with the Cavaliers, that was a team that he willed through the playoffs before being swept by the Spurs. James had one more year in Cleveland where his team didn’t make the Finals before leaving for the Heat.
With the Miami Heat the next four years, he had the hiccup against the Mavericks, then the back to back wins, followed by the loss to the still dynasty-esque Spurs once again.
James then returned home to Cleveland to try to lead the Cavaliers to the promised land for the first time as a franchise. This turned out to be quite difficult, as he had the Golden State Warriors to deal with for the next four years, a new dynasty of their own.
James was able to lead the first 3-1 series comeback in the history of the NBA Finals to beat them once, but also lost the other three times. Once due to injuries to his team, the other two times because of Kevin Durant joining the Warriors and a poorly made roster during his last two seasons in Cleveland.
What isn’t lost here is that there were no years without James in the Finals starting at his time with Miami in 2010 until he left Cleveland in 2018. Lebron had a streak of eight straight seasons going to the Finals, a streak that none of the other greats come close to matching.
There’s a chance that Lebron becomes the games all time leader in points and in the top five all time in assists.
Even if that’s the case, losing the Finals against a statistically inferior team will cement him outside of the greatest of all time debate.
But a win?
The debate may just be beginning if that’s the case.