Who’s The King Of Basketball?

Patrick Mauer of Conroe, Texas writes: Is “The King” Michael or LeBron? But wait! Maybe The G.O.A.T. isn’t a player. Perhaps it’s the Warriors.  

Your name is Steph Curry. You’ve just completed one of the greatest individual performances in NBA history–on a team that just set the regular season record with 73 wins.

Courtesy – SI.com

After losing just two home games–and surviving the entire year without back-to-back losses–your team is up 3-1 in the NBA Finals. You then lose two consecutive home games — three straight overall — and fall to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In the off-season your great team gets even better by acquiring the best player in the NBA who’s not named LeBron James.

You now have the second best point guard in the league (after Lebron James).

You have the best shooting guard, save for LeBron James.

You have the second best small forward, trailing only LeBron James.

And you have the best power forward … well … taking into consideration “The LeBron James Exception Clause.”*

The Golden State Warriors have the perfect team.

Courtesy: hiphopwired.com

But we’ve seen this team before … and not so long ago … a collection that consisted of the best coach, the best rebounder, the best defensive specialist and, of course, the best playmaker.

That team–the Bulls–won 6 championships.

The lone difference between that team and this year’s Warriors is that Michael Jordan and the Bulls never had to face LeBron James in the Finals.

Here’s the thing: Lebron is not Michael and should not be measured as such. The Golden State Warriors, on the other hand, are Michael Jordan.

A reporter once asked James what still motivates him now that the accursed Cavs have won a long-awaited championship. He replied, “I’m chasing a ghost.” He has been chasing that ghost for years, aware there’s a jury out there that needs convincing evidence to make that final call.

We’re all familiar with the case. The question: Is LeBron James the best basketball player to ever play the game?

Some began to think so after LeBron took an atrocious Cavaliers team to the Finals at age 22. But, at the very same time,. others probably thought otherwise when Cleveland was swept in those Finals.

Courtesy: hoopshabit.com

As the years and Finals appearances have come and gone, conclusive evidence is elusive–hindering every attempt to decipher “The Truth.”

Perhaps this decade-long discussion will be put to rest when it goes to court in a few short weeks. That’s if LeBron and his hometown Cavaliers once again face the Golden Boys in the 2017 NBA Finals.

James will get that coveted match-up with the ghost of Michael–a seven-game series that will decide – once and for all – who is “The King of Basketball.”

And we’ll all be witnesses.

____________________________

*Lebron James Exception Clause

1. the unwritten law (NBA) upholding LeBron James as the best player, coach, and general manager on-and off- the-court at all times; 2. (common use) the admission that LeBron James is the NBA’s Most Valuable Player each and every year he’s in the League in unanimous, though tacit, fashion; and 3. (slang) a derogative term used by Vegas odds-makers to convey enmity towards LeBron James due to a team change and the consequent shift in League-wide championship odds.