I saw the beginning of the end of LeBron James being the best player in the NBA. Maybe some people have made this observation and conclusion before me. But it became evident to me in the last two minutes of the game against the Rockets.
What I saw was a LeBron James who wasn’t able to close out the game after only being down one point to his opponent. I saw a player who wasn’t able to consistently able to get pass his defender and finish at the rim. I noticed LBJ pleading to the refs a little too much when he wasn’t able to get a basket. I noticed the most dominant player not being dominant.
Like I said, some people might have made this observation a couple seasons ago. Particularly in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Not only has Kevin Durant team won the last two championship, but he has won the NBA Finals MVP the last two years. You can tell that Durant has been trying to come at the throne. He takes on the challenge of guarding LeBron when they face off and makes it his business to try to dominate on the defensive end. Despite all of that, I haven’t been buying the KD over LeBron story. I believe then and now that KD benefits tremendously by having Draymond Green, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson on his team. It gives him the luxury of being able to step up whenever he chooses. Besides that, he has never had a bum team and put them on his back and won. In OKC, he had Westbrook, not to mention James Harden and Jeff Green.
With this decline I see in LeBron, I have to pick Anthony Davis has the most dominate player in the league. He is younger, and he dominates on both ends of the floor. Now, don’t get me wrong, LeBron is still a top two player. I only give Davis a slight edge over him and I put KD at three. LeBron still can lift up and elevate his teammates. He can still dominate, but not consistently and definitely without help. This is natural though, all good things come to an end. Back in the 2009-10 season, I declared LeBron the best player over Kobe Bryant. This was prior to Kobe getting hurt and in the midst of him winning a championship. I saw the writing on the wall then and I see it now with LeBron.
Now it is quite possible in the next two seasons, with the addition of another star player, LeBrom may win a championship. It is still possible that he may win another MVP trophy. However it is at the end of the line for LeBron. I just want to be ahead of the curve and point out before it becomes obvious. It has been a nice run though. He has been the undisputed king for the last eight or nine years. But this season is my declaration that LeBron reign is over.