What is the most impressive carry job by a star?

[aminiaturebuddha]

Kawhi 2019 not being here feels criminal.

The way he willed his team against Embiid-Butler Sixers and Giannis Bucks were exceptional, and then going up 3-1 against the Warriors core trio with Cousins.

The 58 win Raptors team that won 59 before and 53 after Kawhi left? That's one of the deepest team customized for him and adding to that they were playing Warriors without Durant.

That Warriors without Durant was still an all-time great team

Of course they were, but jumping out to that 3-1 series lead wasn't about Kawhi carrying the team.

Siakam went 14-17 for 32 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists in Game 1 compared to Kawhi's 5-14 23 point performance. In the Game 3 win, Lowry went 23-4-9 and the Raptors had 5 players with 17 points or more. And in the Game 4 win, the Raptors got a massive 20 point 9-12 performance off the bench from Ibaka.

[The Explorer]

Jordan in 1998
- oldest championship roster
- Pippen missing nearly half the season
- Rodman missing a big chunk of the season
- Krause telling the team he will break them up after this season
- scored 38% of team's points in the finals, which no one has done before or after

Hakeem in 1995 playoffs
- carried 6th seed rockets passed the 60 win Jazz, 62 win Spurs, 59 win Suns, and 57 win Magic

LeBron James doesn't belong anywhere in this discussion.

Lebron 2007
- didn't carry his team to a title like others in the discussion have. Swept.
- beat a 41 win wizards, team, a 41 win nets team, and a 53 win pistons team who took a step back after losing Ben Wallace the offseason before
- shot 35% in 4 straight finals losses to the Spurs. How is this a carry job?

Lebron 2018
- Swept again
- Poor overtime game 1 showing, going 0-4 and horrible body language
- +/- of -21 in an elimination game

[Lalouie]

Weird that neither Harden or Westbrook made the list considering they both won MVP's based solely on the perception of carrying teams on their backs like no one before them

Looking at Russel's 16-17 season and team mates, and yeah he belongs on the list

OKC lost their best player in KD, we all know about the Harden trade, and Serge was gone. People will look at that roster and forget where these dudes were in their career. OKC had a lot of young talent, but it was considered mediocre at the time. Adams wasn't there yet. Olidipo was and is considered a bust by most and didn't fit well. Sabonis was just a shoe in player in a trade, and no one knew what he would be and played the same position of their 2nd and 3rd best player. Grant was a nobody only 22 years old. OKC was giving monster minutes to nobody Andre Roberson (3rd on the team) had a top 10 defense with Enes Kanter (6th in minutes) and Sabonis (5th in minutes) in the rotation. I don't even remember who Alex Abrines, Jeff Lauverne, or Semaj Christon are, and they were heavy minute getters in a rotation that won 47 games in what many consider the modern Golden Era of basketball.


Wesbrook did something historic and gave that team 32/11/10 on a nightly basis. Truly the biggest carry job I've ever seen, even if it was kind of forced.

also considering that westbrook's mvp was based on a TRIPLE-DOUBLE season
,,,,and that okc was over .800 when he had a triple double

[Lalouie]

Jordan in 1998
- oldest championship roster
- Pippen missing nearly half the season
- Rodman missing a big chunk of the season
- Krause telling the team he will break them up after this season
- scored 38% of team's points in the finals, which no one has done before or after

Hakeem in 1995 playoffs
- carried 6th seed rockets passed the 60 win Jazz, 62 win Spurs, 59 win Suns, and 57 win Magic

LeBron James doesn't belong anywhere in this discussion.

Lebron 2007
- didn't carry his team to a title like others in the discussion have. Swept.
- beat a 41 win wizards, team, a 41 win nets team, and a 53 win pistons team who had lost Ben Wallace the season before
- shot 35% in 4 straight finals losses to the Spurs. How is this a carry job?

Lebron 2018
- Swept again
- Poor overtime game 1 showing, going 0-4 and horrible body language
- +/- of -21 in an elimination game

beat a very very young okc team that beat the best team(sas) in the nba that year (sas was 2-0 vs. miami that year)
beat another young miami team that ALSO beat the best team(mil) in the nba that year(mil was 2-0 vs lal that year)
i'd say FATE gave lebrob plenty of help those years....and the other two years too, if i wanted to get picky

[HomoSapien]

Hakeem in 1994. The guy did it as the only star on the team.

[Primedeion]

People listing Kawhi when his team went 17-5 without him. Really?

[NYPiston]

'07 Lebron should be on this list.

Edit: Sorry, I didn't see the "Lebron, pick any year" option. Still, I stick with '07 Lebron. His top support players were Larry Hughes and old Big Z. That Pistons series alone should earn him the accolade of "most impressive carry job by a star". That Cavs team was probably a 20 win team without Lebron.

[Rapcity_11]

Lebron 2018
- Swept again
- Poor overtime game 1 showing, going 0-4 and horrible body language
- +/- of -21 in an elimination game

Yes, that is definitely the best way to summarize a 51/8/8 game 1.

[NYPiston]

Jordan in 1998


Lebron 2007
- didn't carry his team to a title like others in the discussion have. Swept.
- beat a 41 win wizards, team, a 41 win nets team, and a 53 win pistons team who took a step back after losing Ben Wallace the offseason before
- shot 35% in 4 straight finals losses to the Spurs. How is this a carry job?

The fact that the '07 Cavs were even in the playoffs in the first place with that roster is a testament to how dominant Lebron was. Dragging them to the finals no matter the opponent was a damn miracle.
As I said before, Larry Hughes and old Big Z was his supporting cast. I can't ever remember such a weak supporting cast being carried to a finals, even in a weak NBA at that time.

[ShootersShoot]

Kawhi 2019 not being here feels criminal.

The way he willed his team against Embiid-Butler Sixers and Giannis Bucks were exceptional, and then going up 3-1 against the Warriors core trio with Cousins.

Kawhi was definitely The Guy but the team was stacked with three point shooters, a former DPOY as well as several former all-defense guys, plus two other all-star calibre players...

It was one of those teams that at the time looked like a major carry job, until you actually looked at the roster. Then you go "waitaminnit...this team is really stacked..."

Also very good bench: Ibaka, FVV, Powell

[VanWest82]

Interesting that OPer left MJ off the list so people couldn't vote for him. Gee, I wonder why.

I'd submit 93 Jordan. Bulls supporting cast was done. Scottie and Horace basically played that year in open rebellion because Jordan had gone to another level as a worldwide star and was getting all the credit. It was a total carry job start to finish.

RE 07 Lebron, Cavs won 50 games in the weakest conference in league history, and did so on the back of their defense.
RE 18 Lebron, how can we classify it as a carry job when your team is middling at best and they're basically performing at the same level with you on the bench as you on the court?

[ShootersShoot]

Dirk. LeBron never had to carry his teams through more than half of the All NBA team selection without having even an allstar himself as help

Dirk had alot of good players on his team, including several players with all-star talent regardless of whether they technically made the team. I listed him for a reason, but I'm much more impressed by Duncan's carry jobs tbh. His support casts were rubbish, and he still took down the Shaq/Kobe Lakers.

Mavs roleplayer were ooooooold.

Also going through the west to reach the finals were completely different from the „Leastern conference“ back then. I don’t think Cavs would make the finals in any of those years

They beat a 57 win laker team with Kobe defending champs, 55 win OKC team with KD, and the heatles... With jason terry as a second option and a 38 year old Jason Kidd as probably the 2nd best player on the team overall. Were they a good supporting cast? Yes, but I would say most people would not have expected them to win that year and Dirk was the biggest reason why they did.

[Profound23]

Butler last year was so impressive, but he coasted the entire regular season and carried that team as far as he could until he literally broke down.

[ropjhk]

1998 Jordan deserves a mention. First two playoff rounds were easy but the team was really showing their age in the last two rounds and they barely won. They needed Jordan that year more than perhaps any other championship run.

[Quattro]

Kawhi 2019 not being here feels criminal.

The way he willed his team against Embiid-Butler Sixers and Giannis Bucks were exceptional, and then going up 3-1 against the Warriors core trio with Cousins.

Kawhi joined a 59-win-team within a 5-year 50+ win span that was on a 63-win pace while he was sitting out >1/4 of the season (vs. a 56-win pace when he was playing).

This is a guy who went from the stacked Spurs, to stacked Raptors to stacked Clippers while averaging around 50 games per season for his career in which he averaged around 32 minutes/game. Hard to think of any star in NBA history who has done less carrying in his career.

He won DPOY when he played 32min/game for 64 games and had less defensive win shares than his own teammate.
He won a finals MVP playing 33min/game putting up 18-6-2 where his team was also winning when he was on the bench, supposedly for holding his direct opponent to 28-8-4 on 68% TS (and >2x the game score of any other guy on the opposing team).

Hard to think of someone who got handed more accolades for doing less than Kawhi, but calling winning with a 60-win supporting cast the most impressive carry job in NBA history takes it a bit too far.
His playoff stats were great that year though - pretty much exactly what LeBron averaged over his entire career.

Easy to just look at numbers and miss context. Does the word Lebronto mean anything to you? The Raptors choked in the playoffs every single year before he came. Go back and watch that sixers series again particularly game 7. Everyone not named Leonard (or Ibaka) looked like a deer in the headlights in the offensive zone. No way they get through Philly that year without Leonard

Sure he had a lot of talent around him but make no mistake he dragged that team to the finals on his back.

[Duke4life831]

I think Jokic has one of the better carry jobs. You can probably count the amount of championships in say the last 30-40 years with only 1 all star, on one hand.

With that said, I still have Dirk's run as the #1 run in my book. It wasnt just the fact he was the only all star on the team, but that dude went up against some real stiff competition. Dallas went through the back 2 back champion Lakers who still won 57 games that year. Then you had the OKC team with KD/Russ/Hardon who really started to put things together (made the finals the next year). And then they faced the Heatles.

Then you toss on the narrative that Dirk had gotten in his career by then, that he was just some finesse player who couldnt get it done in the playoffs. Ya Dirk is my choice.

[SSUBluesman]

The myopic view of what constitutes a "carry job", combined with recency bias and ringzzz culture is how you end up with Bird getting a handful of votes while Dirk and Hakeem get dozens.

As a rookie Bird doubled the Celtics win total from the previous season en route to the ECF. Outside of Kareem and maybe LeBron there is no other player named here who raised the floor of a team this much. No one, not Hakeem, not Duncan, not Kobe, not Dirk, not any other player in the poll. And Bird did it as a rookie.

Unfortunately discussion on this topic is stunted by the decision to constrain "carry job" as nothing more than "won an NBA title without a clear #2". Atypical title winning teams such as the 2011 Mavs and 94 Rockets then become "carry jobs" as posters ignore/downplay roster construction, supporting player contributions, and extenuating circumstances such as Starks shooting 2 for 18 (0 for 11 from 3) in game 7 or the disappearing act performed by LBJ in the finals.

[One_and_Done]

Kawhi 2019 not being here feels criminal.

The way he willed his team against Embiid-Butler Sixers and Giannis Bucks were exceptional, and then going up 3-1 against the Warriors core trio with Cousins.

Kawhi was definitely The Guy but the team was stacked with three point shooters, a former DPOY as well as several former all-defense guys, plus two other all-star calibre players...

It was one of those teams that at the time looked like a major carry job, until you actually looked at the roster. Then you go "waitaminnit...this team is really stacked..."

Also very good bench: Ibaka, FVV, Powell

And OG till he got hurt.

[Special_Puppy]

Its not on here, but the 2008-09 Hornets might have legit been a 23-25 win team without Chris Paul.

[parapooper]

Kawhi 2019 not being here feels criminal.

The way he willed his team against Embiid-Butler Sixers and Giannis Bucks were exceptional, and then going up 3-1 against the Warriors core trio with Cousins.

Kawhi joined a 59-win-team within a 5-year 50+ win span that was on a 63-win pace while he was sitting out >1/4 of the season (vs. a 56-win pace when he was playing).

This is a guy who went from the stacked Spurs, to stacked Raptors to stacked Clippers while averaging around 50 games per season for his career in which he averaged around 32 minutes/game. Hard to think of any star in NBA history who has done less carrying in his career.

He won DPOY when he played 32min/game for 64 games and had less defensive win shares than his own teammate.
He won a finals MVP playing 33min/game putting up 18-6-2 where his team was also winning when he was on the bench, supposedly for holding his direct opponent to 28-8-4 on 68% TS (and >2x the game score of any other guy on the opposing team).

Hard to think of someone who got handed more accolades for doing less than Kawhi, but calling winning with a 60-win supporting cast the most impressive carry job in NBA history takes it a bit too far.
His playoff stats were great that year though - pretty much exactly what LeBron averaged over his entire career.

Easy to just look at numbers and miss context. Does the word Lebronto mean anything to you? The Raptors choked in the playoffs every single year before he came. Go back and watch that sixers series again particularly game 7. Everyone not named Leonard (or Ibaka) looked like a deer in the headlights in the offensive zone. No way they get through Philly that year without Leonard

Sure he had a lot of talent around him but make no mistake he dragged that team to the finals on his back.

No finals team would have made the finals without their best player.
A lot of talent around him = not the most impressive carry job.

And speaking of Lebronto:

2019 Kawhi, with a cast that's on a 63-win-pace without him (won 17 of 22):
beats 42, 51, 60 and 57-win teams
-> on average beats a 53-win opponent with a 63-win supporting cast (support was 10 wins better than opponents)
--> greatest carry job of all time!!!!!

2015-18 Lebron, with a cast that's on a 12-win-pace without him (won 4 of 27):
beats 40, 50, 60-win teams - loses to 67-win team
beats 44, 48, 56, 73-win teams
beats 42, 51, 53-win teams - loses to 67-win team
beats 48, 59, 55-win teams - loses to 58-win team
-> on average beats a 53-win opponent with a 12-win supporting cast = (support was 40 wins worse than opponents)
on average loses to 64-win opponent with a 12-win supporting cast = (support was 52 wins worse than opponents)
--> what a failure to only make all 4 finals and win one ring with such a stacked team!!!!