Ranking LeBron James' Five Most Impressive On-Court Accomplishments so far
The three-time NBA champion and four-time league MVP will go down as one of the all-time greats in NBA history
LeBron James is a household name and a global icon.
Back when he was getting hyped up as the next big thing while he was still playing high school basketball at St. Vincent-St. Mary, it all seemed a bit much to put on a teenager, but as he has shown throughout his career, he is more than capable of handling anything that's thrown at him.
Even as a 33-year-old and with 15 NBA regular seasons under his belt, James is still humming along as if Father Time and fatigue have no effect on him
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James will still likely tally more accomplishments as his career continues, but even now, it's worth taking stock of what he's already done to get a clearer idea of just how special of a player he truly is.
Listed below are James' five most impressive on-court accomplishments.
(The accomplishments have been ranked in descending order, meaning number one is the most impressive feat.)
5. James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2007
Somehow, the fact that a 22-year-old James led a deeply flawed Cleveland Cavaliers team to the NBA Finals way back in 2007 has been overlooked when evaluating his most impressive accomplishments.
Fans can remember for a moment that the next best player on that team may have been an already-past-his-prime Zydrunas Ilgauskas and that the likes of Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes were getting heavy minutes back then.
This isn't to slight Ilgauskas, Gooden, Hughes or any of the other members of the 2006–07 Cavaliers, but the reality is that James had to do just about everything for that team and they still somehow managed to topple a way better balanced Detroit Pistons squad.
Ultimately, that 2007 trip to the Finals goes down as a series loss for James, but the fact that he and his teammates were even in a position to win the title at that point is remarkable.
4. Winning two titles and making four trips to the Finals with the Miami Heat
When James first took his talents to South Beach, the reaction many fans had was one that featured anger and disappointment.
They saw it as James bailing on his hometown team in order to take an easier path to the NBA Finals while playing with his good friends.
Eventually, though, many fans belatedly applauded James for the move as it was an example of a player exercising full control over his career.
James also began to win fans over again with his stellar play.
Leading the only team to defeat the Tim Duncan-era San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals is another feather in James' cap.
By the end of his stint with the Miami Heat, James had won two titles and added two MVP awards to his trophy case.
That's not bad, for a four-year stay in Miami.
3. Piling up the accomplishments in 2012
It's worth taking a closer look at what James accomplished in 2012 because it can be considered as the greatest year of his basketball career.
In the NBA regular season ending that year, James averaged 27.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists, while posting an effective field goal percentage over 55, per Basketball Reference. Those numbers enabled James to take home the third MVP award of his career.
He also went on to win his first NBA title that year, and he was unsurprisingly named as the Finals MVP.
That's not all though, as James also went to London with the other members of Team USA in the summer of 2012, and by the time the tournament ended, he had an Olympic gold medal in his possession.
2012 was certainly a good year for James.
2. Winning a championship for Cleveland
After years of bad luck and memorably crushing losses, it began to seem as though the sports teams based in Cleveland were, for lack of a better word, cursed.
Even the Ohio kid who was supposed to bring a title to Cleveland left in 2010.
James ultimately returned, of course, and after coming up short in 2015, he, along with fellow All-Stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, finally put an end to the so-called Cleveland curse.
The final moments of the Cavaliers' Game 7 triumph over the Golden State Warriors will remain in the minds of many Cleveland residents for as long as they live, and for James, it was the crowning achievement for the man they call King.