Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James has been one of the greatest athletes to every walk the Earth’s surface. James has been extremely successful throughout his illustrious 13-year career. The amount of scrutiny and pressure he has faced over that time is also through the roof. One could say that since 2003 no athlete in the world has had more pressure on them than James has. In fact, I don’t think there is an argument to be had.
Take a look into the past. James was deemed ‘The Chosen One’ by himself, Sports Illustrated, and just about every other outlet imaginable. That was at the age of 18. The sports world tasked an 18-year-old with becoming the best basketball player since Michael Jordan in the late 90s. While taking that into account, remind yourself that he was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, a franchise that had never won a championship, in a city that had not won a championship of any kind in nearly 40 years at that point.
Oh, I forgot to mention that his hometown of Akron, OH sits less than 40 miles away from the city he wanted to “light up like Las Vegas.” Talk about pressure.
As his game evolved and his career inched further and further along, the pressure grew. James played in Cleveland from 2003 until 2010. In that time, he failed to win a title, and only reached the NBA Finals once. The Chosen One could not deliver. He couldn’t handle the pressure of winning in Cleveland.
Everyone knows the story. James decided to go to Miami and join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to form a ‘Big 3’ where they were supposed to deliver ‘Not one, not two, not three, not four, and so on’ titles to the Heat.
James formed a super team and promised to build an absolute dynasty in Miami. There was more pressure on him to come through than any one in sports. The league’s best player was not yet a champion. James took criticism from all over the country, especially Cleveland, and rightfully so.
After James finally won his first title in the 2011-2012 season one would expect a little bit of pressure to be lifted. That wasn’t the case. Instead of ‘okay, LeBron can be carefree, he finally won a title’ the narrative was now ‘LeBron needs to repeat, he said he was going to win multiple championships and build a dynasty.’
Those are true, James did say those things. While under even more pressure to repeat he did just that. The weight of the world wasn’t lifted then. There was pressure to win a third in a row in Miami. As we know how the story goes, that wasn’t the case.
Instead of sticking around in Miami where he had already learned how to win and continue to thrive, James famously returned home to Cleveland and the Cavaliers.
In 2014 James titled his letter ‘I’m Coming Home,’ that same year, the anniversary of Cleveland’s last sports championship also reached a staggering 50 years, longer than any other city in the country.
James was tasked with breaking that drought. In his first year, he reached his fifth consecutive NBA Finals, and sixth overall, but lost to the Golden State Warriors and fell to 2-4 in his NBA Finals appearances. The next season would set the stage for a rematch, only for the Warriors to take a 3-1 series lead.
Games 5, 6, and 7 were arguably the most pressure filled games in James’ career, and he delivered his best performance.
The Cavs won the title, what happened to the pressure?
This summer, the pressure jumped off of LeBron’s back and landed in the Bay Area. For the first time in his career, James does not carry more pressure than everyone else, and neither does his team. That title belongs to the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors won the most games in NBA history last season, only to fall in the Finals. In order to ensure that doesn’t happen again, they added Kevin Durant to play with the NBA’s first ever unanimous Most Valuable Player. Talk about pressure.
Over the next five seasons, every season the Warriors don’t win a championship has to be considered a massive failure.
James has already cemented his status as one of the best basketball players to ever play. Nothing more needs to be done for his career to be deemed successful. He can now talk openly about chasing Michael Jordan. He can relax and just play basketball. That has been evident since the end of June. James has spoken more freely, and seemed much more relaxed. That may be a trend, and one that the rest of the NBA should fear.
For the first time ever, the pressure is not on LeBron James, and that could mean the best basketball of his career is coming soon.
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