LeBron James has shown unreal longevity to play 20 NBA seasons in the league and still remains one of the best players on the planet. With James turning 38 years old soon, he has changed his playing style a lot. He still has his athleticism, but it’s nowhere close to how athletic he was during the early days of his career.
Apart from that nuclear athleticism during his younger days, LBJ also had the power to carry ordinary teams to the playoffs. Obviously, that’s why James is among the players who have the most NBA Finals appearances in their careers.
We can talk all day about James’ achievements in the NBA playoffs. For example, he also has the most NBA playoff wins in the history of the league. James’ journey of breaking records in the postseason began in the 2006 NBA playoffs when he ended a 7-year playoff drought for the Cavs.
Former NBA Player On Playing Against Young LeBron James
The first three times James qualified for the playoffs, he ended up facing the Washington Wizards each season. Former NBA player Caron Butler, who was part of those Wizards teams, recently revealed his experience of facing a young LBJ three times in a row in the playoffs.
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“This is when I knew LeBron was special. This all happened in one playoff series, we played them three years in a row in the playoff series, but this is when I knew he was special. We tried to go under on pick and rolls, that didn’t work. We tried to go over, try to bully over, we tried to shoot the gaps, we tried to stay connected, we tried to meet him in transition. … We showed him literally every coverage in the playoffs series and he dissected it. And I was just like he different. That’s when I knew I was like as long as he stay available and durable, like he’s gonna probably shatter just about every record.”
As Butler predicted, James has broken a plethora of records in his NBA career so far. The next record that he’s on the verge of breaking is surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the top scorer in the history of the NBA. Once he breaks that record, many believe that he will officially reach the GOAT status.
