LeBron James has been a bit of a nomad over the course of his 17-year career. With stints in Cleveland, Miami, Cleveland again, and Los Angeles, he has called three different NBA teams his home, and has won a title with all three.
While this hasn’t earned him any loyalty points, it has resulted in a pretty long list of players having been made Champions for their first time.
(Credit: u/IcyKyrie)
Miami: Juwan Howard, Joel Anthony, Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, Eddy Curry, Terrel Harris, James Jones, Mike Miller, Dexter Pittman, Ronny Turiaf, Chris Andersen, Rashard Lewis, Jarvis Varnado.
Cleveland: Matthew Dellavedova, Channing Frye, Kyrie Irving, Richard Jefferson, Dahntay Jones, Sasha Kaun, Kevin Love, Jordan McRae, Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert, J. R. Smith, Tristan Thompson, Mo Williams.
Los Angeles: Kostas Antetokounmpo, Avery Bradley, Devontae Cacok, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso, Anthony Davis, Jared Dudley, Talen Horton-Tucker, Dwight Howard, Kyle Kuzma, Markieff Morris, Dion Waiters, DeMarcus Cousins.
In Miami, with Dwyane Wade, he won his first two titles, but also led a lot of others (both young guys and veterans) to rings as well. Some of the most notable names include Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier, and Mike Miller.
Nobody on the Cleveland Cavaliers team he led to the title in 2016 had Championship experience, including his co-stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. In fact, the franchise hadn’t won a single ring up to that point either.
This year, only Rajon Rondo and JaVale McGee are the only ones who had a title to their name on the Lakers roster. Once again, James helped turn his teammates into Champions — and this time, he did so at 35-years-of-age.
So, with all these different players, in all different situations, it’s clear that LeBron is, among other things, adaptable. Environmental consistency isn’t something that seems to be particularly important to him.
The question is, can he add more names to his list next year, or will it stop at 40? Only time will tell, but when has it ever been wise to bet against him before?
