RealGM

Should be a very interesting debate.

I'm not including Jokic because he's going to win out of this.

I'm estimating Giannis is probably going to win out here

Picked between '20 LeBron, who I think is best in a vacuum, and '19 kawhi, who I think was most impressive for a team that needed every bit of it with massive volume scoring against Philly and guarding giannis in the ECF.


Giannis was an inch from losing to a team without 2 stars and won a title without facing any other healthy top 5 team, or in the case of Phoenix any team that beat a healthy top 5 team (which is basically unprecedented).

Would roughly rank it like

0. 2023 Jokic
1. 2020 LeBron
2. 2021 Giannis
3. 2019 Kawhi
4. 2025 Shai
5. 2022 Curry
6. 2020 Davis
7. 2024 Tatum

2020 LeBron and 2021 Giannis the only ones I could see myself taking #1, was never the highest on 2019 Kawhi. Nor was I actually all *that* impressed with 2021 Giannis' postseason run, which leaves me wanting to take LeBron in terms of who I'd trust the most in the playoffs. Sizeable gap after Shai, he's in the mix for a crazy RS and still great postseason but enough of a dropoff for me to have pause.

I would trust 2020 LeBron the most but partly because the Lakers won so easily, I don't really think he turned on the afterburners until game 5 of the finals, content to basically be the "break glass in case of emergency guy" with AD shooting 97% on mid range shots. Then he finally got serious when Miami made a series of it.

It great that you didn't include Jokic cause he would win the polls easily.

My take is either 2020 Lebron final or 2021 Giannis final

But if I had to choose it will be GIANNIS

1. LeBron
2. Kawhi
3. Giannis
4. AD
5. Curry
6. SGA
7. Tatum

jalengreen wrote:Would roughly rank it like

0. 2023 Jokic
1. 2020 LeBron
2. 2021 Giannis
3. 2019 Kawhi
4. 2025 Shai
5. 2022 Curry
6. 2020 Davis
7. 2024 Tatum

2020 LeBron and 2021 Giannis the only ones I could see myself taking #1, was never the highest on 2019 Kawhi. Nor was I actually all *that* impressed with 2021 Giannis' postseason run, which leaves me wanting to take LeBron in terms of who I'd trust the most in the playoffs. Sizeable gap after Shai, he's in the mix for a crazy RS and still great postseason but enough of a dropoff for me to have pause.

That's my list except I'd swap Giannis and Lebron. I just think at that point, Giannis' defensive impact is much larger than Lebron's that is tilts the comparison in his favor. Davis' two-way impact also makes him a toughie to compare to others here. I could see him right behind Giannis too tbh in a virtual tie with Lebron. The two were pretty much 1a/1b in that 2020 title run.

I’m really low on ‘19 Kawhi’s Finals form but he genuinely was the best pre-Finals even better than Jokic. Obviously that matters less than Finals but still.

1. Lebron - Highest assist of his career with 25ppg, two way player

2. Curry - Would be lower in regular season rank, but playoffs proved still the most valuable offensive skillset here and spending some effort on D. Won with a supporting cast not really better than a team like 23 Nuggets.

3. Giannis - Needs a specific build around him, but had a huge playoffs with had Shaq 00-02 type finals stats along with strong game 7 against Brooklyn, and is one of the higher defensive impact players on this list overall.

4. SGA - Other than Lebron and Curry seems the best offensive skillset as primary playmaker and 30ppg, while being above average defender. Quite possibly the best regular season here. To his credit I don't believe on offense he has "the perfect build" for him.

5. Kawhi - Excellent scorer that was consistent across all four series, average playmaking hurts his offensive impact a big, while his defensive impact is matchup dependent such as against Giannis.

6. Davis - Huge playoffs overall and is a good fit off ball on offense, while being great defender. Playing with Lebron made things a bit easier.

7. Tatum - Defense, passing and good scoring is nice, Brown winning CF and Finals MVP (with not even that awesome stats for the latter?) though is telling.

8. Holiday
9. Brown
10. Middleton
11. Draymond
12. JDub
13. Lowry
14. Siakam

'20 LeBron
'21 Giannis
'25 Shai
'22 Steph
'19 Kawhi
'20 AD
'24 Tatum

Shai had the best RS + PS.

So you're saying if Jokic wasn't so legendary, LeBron would arguably have the greatest prime across 3 different decades - 09, 13, 20.

It's still Lebron.

2021 Giannis had the best finals performance since 2016 LeBron