LeBron James keeps on climbing the ladder of modern basketball and has once again put his name on the Greatest Player of All Time conversation after completely embarrassing the Toronto Raptors in the 2nd round.
James has always been one of the best all-around players ever since entering the league in 2003, almost single-handedly leading his lousy Cleveland Cavaliers all the way in the postseason regardless of who he plays with.
More often than not, he beats all the odds and winds up defeating teams that looked way more stacked than his, earning a lot of detractors among his colleagues, naturally. Today, we’re going to let you know about 10 players that have never been able to get past LeBron in the playoffs.
Interesting Fact: LeBron James never played against John Wall and Bradley Beal in the NBA Playoffs.
Honorable Mention: Danny Granger, Jeff Teague
10. Joakim Noah
2010 First Round (4-1), 2011 Conference Finals (4-1), 2013 Conference Semifinals (4-1), 2015 Conference Semifinals (4-2)
Joakim Noah is one of LeBron James’ biggest rivals and it’s always been pretty obvious that they just don’t get along. As a matter of fact, Noah has constantly taken shots at him and even the city of Cleveland, stating nobody would ever like to spend a vacation there and getting booed every time he plays there.
Obviously, the Knicks are unlikely to make the playoffs and even if they do, Noah may not even play, so this rivalry from his Bulls era seems over right now.
9. Luol Deng
2010 First Round (4-1), 2011 Conference Finals (4-1), 2013 Conference Semifinals (4-1)
Like Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, Luol Deng was a former Chicago Bulls member and he lost 3 NBA Playoffs series against LeBron James.
He had a great career playing for the Bulls but after that he never found his role with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers. We’ll see where he will play next season because he is 33-year old forward and maybe the best option will be to return to the Chicago and play a few more years.
8. Kyle Lowry
2016 Conference Semifinals (4-2), 2017 Conference Finals (4-0), 2018 Conference Semifinals (4-0)
Kyle Lowry has been known for choking during the playoffs throughout his entire career, and LeBron seems to have his number for sure, completely dominating the Raptor son both ends of the floor and making Lowry look like an overweight and slow average scorer.
Lowry has struggled to make an offensive impact every time he’s faced the King, and that’s unlikely to change any time soon.
7. Paul Millsap
2015 Conference Finals (4-0), 2016 Conference Semifinals (4-0)
Paul Millsap led the Atlanta Hawks to the 1st seed in the East a couple of seasons ago, but was never able to find any kind of success against the King, either with Miami or the Cavs; mostly because the Hawks never had the kind of top-notch talent and go-to-guy able to lead them all the way beyond the regular season.
Now, he’s even had to switch conferences to try and find the promised land but didn’t even make the playoffs.
6. Al Horford
2009 Conference Semifinals (4-0), 2015 Conference Finals (4-0), 2016 Conference Semifinals (4-0)
Al Horford had the same tough luck as Millsap during his Hawks stint, just to lose against LeBron again during his first year as the main guy down low for the Boston Celtics.
Horford will have another shot at revenge, though, as the Celtics are on the verge of knocking down the Philadelphia 76ers and are set to square off against LeBron and his Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.
5. Carmelo Anthony
2012 First Round (4-1)
Carmelo Anthony played only 3 seasons in the NBA Playoffs with the New York Knicks and (unbelievable fact) he played against LeBron James only once (against Miami Heat) in the 2012 First Round when he lost 4-1.
And that is it. He never had an opportunity to play against LeBron in the Playoffs anymore. We will see where he will play next season, but maybe he will never have chance to compete against one of the best players in NBA history.
4. Jimmy Butler
2013 Conference Semifinals (4-1), 2015 Conference Semifinals (4-2)
Jimmy Butler did a terrific job trying to contain James and is one of the few guys that actually know how to properly guard him due to all the times they had to face off when Butler was still a part of the Bulls, but James always got the last laugh on every series.
Now, it’s very unlikely that they square off again, as the Timberwolves aren’t likely to make the Finals and James is set to stay put in the East.
3. DeMar DeRozan
2016 Conference Semifinals (4-2), 2017 Conference Finals (4-0), 2018 Conference Semifinals (4-0)
DeMar DeRozan just made a fool of himself throughout the whole series, even getting ejected due to a cheap shot on Jordan Clarkson out of mere frustration.
DeRozan has also choked against King James during the playoffs, and LeBron has just beat them for the 3rd straight postseason, including back to back sweeps despite the Raptors being the 1st seed in the East this season.
2. Paul George
2012 Conference Semifinals (4-2), 2013 Conference Finals (4-3), 2014 Conference Finals (4-2), 2017 First Round (4-0)
Paul George was pretty close to knocking King James out during his Indiana Pacers playoff run, but he’s always been a no-show during crunch time and even though he’s got a very similar skill set, LeBron has always known how to slow him down when it matters the most.
Now, his best shot at the ring is to actually play next to him, assuming they actually wind up playing for the Los Angeles Lakers next season, which is quite unlikely.
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1. Derrick Rose
2010 First Round (4-1), 2011 Conference Finals (4-1), 2013 Conference Semifinals (4-1), 2015 Conference Semifinals (4-2)
Derrick Rose was supposed to be the one destined to end LeBron’s domination in the Eastern Conference, but following his season-ending injury against the Philadelphia 76ers, he was never able to fulfill such expectations.
Rose played a huge part in a Bulls push against James, even banking a game-winning shot on the Kings face, but he was never able to beat him on a best of 7 series.
