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Who do you think is LeBron biggest rival during his playing days

Golden State is the pick, San Antonio vs Boston for slot #2, CHI/IND never beat him.

Gotta be Steph/Dray for players. '15/'16/'23 easily outweigh '12. No idea why Kobe is here.

1. Warriors
2. Spurs
3. Boston

1. Curry
2. Durant
3. Duncan

Well, maybe Boston #2 due to frequency of matchups. 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018 were all big series, 2017 was ECF as well, so I'd give them 2nd slot after all.

Boston easily.

The team that made him make the Decision in the first place. The team that took Kyrie from him. The team that inherited the East from him.


For player I'm going with Jimmy Butler(was on the team that ended the 27 game win streak), played in many playoff games. Played against the main coach who schemed against LeBron in Thibodeau. Played for the same coach and team in Miami. Has the same free agent vibe.

The Warriors

I think his legacy is seen quite a bit differently if he is going up against a typical title contender from 15-18, rather than an ATG one. I think people are looking for sheer ring volume more than incredible moments, so even in a hypothetical universe when there is no comeback from 3-1, having potentially an extra 2 rings would be more beneficial.

2 extra rings aren't guaranteed but it was virtually impossible to get to that with the Warriors looming.

Warriors are pretty clearly his biggest 'team' rival and overall his greatest rival. Other teams such as the Celtics or Spurs or even Pistons early on have been significant rivals over a short period.

With regards to 'player' rivals, Durant is perhaps the most notable rivalry throughout his career. However, I'd argue that his biggest rival has long been Jordan. LeBron has been playing against history for a good deal of his career and so his key rivals weren't on the court but in the history books.

You can’t really get deny playing the same team 4 straight finals, plus one more series last year. Boston edges out San Antonio for 2nd. They’re the early biggest rival like how 76ers were Bird’s until replaced by Lakers.

warriors def. 4 finals and they play 2 other times too

Narigo wrote:Who do you think is LeBron biggest rival during his playing days

Haha - The ghost of MJ!

Celtics for me! If it wasn't for them, we'd have never seen the greatest recruiting/team-up in league history.

Steph Curry and Warriors.


4 Finals with Cleveland

1 play in game and one second round series with the Lakers


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Draymond Green

For team rival it's clearly Golden State.

For player rival it's been a rotating cast due to Lebron's incredible longevity. I'd say Kobe vs Lebron was by far the most heated debate so I'd argue that was his most noteworthy rival on the court. I still hate that we didn't get that Finals matchup in 09, the hype surrounding it would have been insane (Kobe playing for 1st ring without Shaq, Lebron playing for first title, both vying to be viewed as mainstream best player in the world). Durant and Curry never got the general public arguing in their favor over Lebron the way Kobe did.

MJ is obviously the final boss for Lebron reaching GOAT status, but I don't really view it as a rivalry so much as a debate for historians.

Hornet Mania wrote:For team rival it's clearly Golden State.

For player rival it's been a rotating cast due to Lebron's incredible longevity. I'd say Kobe vs Lebron was by far the most heated debate so I'd argue that was his most noteworthy rival on the court. I still hate that we didn't get that Finals matchup in 09, the hype surrounding it would have been insane (Kobe playing for 1st ring without Shaq, Lebron playing for first title, both vying to be viewed as mainstream best player in the world).

There was also the 2012 All-Star game where Wade gave Kobe a bloody nose.

The late 2000's and early 2010's was a very clear "passing of the torch" for the face of the NBA while neither Kobe nor LeBron were great at passing/receiving the torch [Kobe's narcissism and LeBron's villain role are both cringe in retrospect and at the time].

Durant and Curry never got the general public arguing in their favor over Lebron the way Kobe did.

Durant sort of did in 2014. "He is LeBron's equal, it will be his league in the future" which is hilarious in hindsight--how many seasons was Durant legitimately better than LeBron after winning MVP in 2014? 0-1 seasons

Curry seems like the clear answer here while Duncan is the other dark horse for me.

MJ is obviously the final boss for Lebron reaching GOAT status, but I don't really view it as a rivalry so much as a debate for historians.

Jordan never had a real rival in the NBA and LeBron is similar--both were so dominant and the clear "Player of Decade" that their biggest rival is the GOAT from the previous/next generation.

Colbinii wrote:Durant sort of did in 2014. "He is LeBron's equal, it will be his league in the future" which is hilarious in hindsight--how many seasons was Durant legitimately better than LeBron after winning MVP in 2014? 0-1 seasons

Personally I never saw the 'Durant is Lebron's equal' as anything more than media narratives. He had a fantastic 2014 season and they wanted to give someone other than Lebron MVP, it was all rationalizing after that.

Purely anecdotal, but I never met a single person in real life at any point who put Durant over Lebron. I personally know many basketball fans who argued Kobe was better from 08-10, some still do. The Kobe fan zeal, plus Laker success and Cav disappointment, gave that rivalry much more life imo.

I'd also put Curry and Duncan over Durant as rivals, I know a few people who favored them over Lebron either in past seasons or to this day.

So for me I guess it'd be:

1. Kobe
2. Curry
3. Duncan
4. Durant (but mostly astroturfed)

Anyone except Curry is the wrong answer as far as player rivals go. As far as teams go, maybe you could argue the 2008-2012 Big 3 Celtics but I'd still go Warriors because the matchups happened in the FInals with titles on the line.