LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are looking to get back to the Finals for the first time since defeating Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. Unfortunately for the Lakers, they have already found themselves in a hole, dropping game one of their first-round series against the Minnesota Heat on Saturday.
However, if it’s any consolation for James and his fans, a Finals win this season still wouldn’t be enough to draw him even with the late-great Kobe Bryant, who has not one but two separate jerseys retired by the Lakers.
One thing working against James’s legacy when it comes to measuring his rings against Kobe’s is that LeBron has only been able to secure one championship with the team that drafted him, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Instead, James created the superteam era in the NBA by joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat, where he won two championships before an alleged falling out with Heat executive Pat Riley, one of the most respected figures in the NBA, led to his return to Cleveland.
James was able to get his fourth ring with the Lakers, but it was in the NBA bubble, after the COVID-19 pandemic allowed James to get extra rest at his advanced age relative to the rest of the league.
But, for the sake of argument, let’s say that James’s four previous championship rings were all worth the same as Kobe’s five rings. The sad fact of the matter is that the Lakers had to make a major move for Luka Doncic this season to give the aging James a chance to compete again.
It’s as if LeBron has managed a way to ring chase without changing teams as he plays second fiddle to the younger and much more exciting Doncic, while an aging Kobe was doing his best to drag the Lakers to the playoffs as the best player on the team before his Achilles gave out.
There’s no denying that James has had a great career, but it’ll just never live up to the career of the Lakers star that preceded him.
