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Most people have heard of LeBron James even if they don’t follow sports at all. With the superstar making headlines daily for his acheivements, there’s no way he could be underrated, right?
The Los Angeles Lakers star, who’s currently in his 20th NBA season, has put together one of the greatest careers in sports history. His resume includes four NBA championships, four Finals MVP awards, four regular-season MVPs, three All-Star Game MVPs and 13 All-NBA First Team selections.
James has also been named an All-Star 19 times, which ties Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most in league history. Speaking of Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron is only 63 points shy of breaking his record of 38,387 points and becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
The legendary record has stood for almost 39 years. Abdul-Jabbar passed Wilt Chamberlain for the top spot on April 5, 1984, which was eight months before James was even born.
James has been mentioned in the G.O.A.T. conversation for several years now. While some people believe Michael Jordan is the greatest ever, there are plenty of fans who would give that honor to the guy known as “King James.”
LeBron James has a smorgasbord of accolades and is one of the most well-known athletes of all time. But here are two reasons why he's actually underrated:
LeBron James was unfairly criticized for being swept in the 2007 NBA Finals
LeBron's Cleveland Cavaliers were swept 4-0 by Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs during the 2007 Finals.
Pundits immediately said, "Well, Michael Jordan was never swept in the Finals." While that's a true statement, you have to give James a lot of credit for even getting the Cavs to the Finals that year.
The 2006-07 Cavaliers are easily one of the worst teams to ever reach the NBA Finals. James, who was 22 years old and in his fourth season at the time, was one of the league's best players. However, he wasn't surrounded by a ton of talent. Who was thee second-best player on the team: Larry Hughes or Zydrunas Ilgauskas? Sorry, but neither of those guys were Hall of Famers.
A 4-6 NBA Finals record is actually decent, all things considered
James is often criticized for his 4-6 Finals record. People always ask, "How can he be considered the greatest of all time if he has a losing record?" Jordan, of course, went a perfect 6-0 with the Chicago Bulls during the '90s.
LeBron James' 4-6 record is extremely underrated, though. His Cavs lost to the Golden State Warriors in 2015, but it's pretty difficult to win a series if your second and third-best players (Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love) are both out with injuries.
Cleveland lost to the Warriors in both 2017 and 2018 as well. However, that Golden State squad was absolutely stacked with Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green leading the way.
If Prime Jordan was there instead of LeBron James, would the Cavs have beaten those Warriors teams? Probably not.
Guess the Lakers players!
