What is the most impressive carry job by a star?

[TheGOATRises007]

People saying 2007 for LeBron and not 2018 is wild. He was much better in 2018 and faced better teams + actually played much better on the road to the finals. His 2007 run is extremely overrated.

[maverick_41]

People saying 2007 for LeBron and not 2018 is wild. He was much better in 2018 and faced better teams + actually played much better on the road to the finals. His 2007 run is extremely overrated.

Don't think anyone in 2018 was better than the Pistons in 2007.
Tatum and Rozie, Oladipo, LeBronto - they all at least a tier below Detroit that made the Conference Finals before and after 2007 season. Billups, Wallace, Hamilton, Prince - pretty dangerous opposition.

[Lalouie]

walton - only 2yrs in the league - so lemme ask,,,any of the candidates other than bird only in their second year?,,,, any of the candidates only playing with 8yrs TOTAL of nba experience?
gross - 1yr
lucas - 2yrs
twardzik - 4yrs
hollins - 1yr

THAT'S THE TOTAL SUM OF THE STARTERS' EXPERIENCE. youngest starting team ever to win a ring. portland's 6th year in the nba. and they started 50-10 and headed for another ring before walton was injured - they were 8-14 after walton's injury, so the previous year ring was no fluke

[The Explorer]

Jordan 1998

[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.

[FreeBird23]

Jordan 1991

[dygaction]

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.

[rapstarter]

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

I see what you are saying but at least Dirk had some quality role players, guys like Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, JJ, and Tyson Chandler. But those 06-07 teams, 17-18 Cavs teams were truly crap teams that truly had no business in the finals if it wasn't for Lebron.

He also played in the East. Most of the Cavs teams are not going to the Finals in the West.

[One_and_Done]

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

I see what you are saying but at least Dirk had some quality role players, guys like Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, JJ, and Tyson Chandler. But those 06-07 teams, 17-18 Cavs teams were truly crap teams that truly had no business in the finals if it wasn't for Lebron.

He also played in the East. Most of the Cavs teams are not going to the Finals in the West.

Cavs record vs West teams was as good or better as against East teams in 09 and 10.

[Calvin Klein]

Jordan 1998.

[rapstarter]

I see what you are saying but at least Dirk had some quality role players, guys like Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, JJ, and Tyson Chandler. But those 06-07 teams, 17-18 Cavs teams were truly crap teams that truly had no business in the finals if it wasn't for Lebron.

He also played in the East. Most of the Cavs teams are not going to the Finals in the West.

Cavs record vs West teams was as good or better as against East teams in 09 and 10.

And neither made the Finals in the East, and I don't think they make the Finals in the West either.

[Roger Murdock]

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

Leaving aside the 07 finals run, the 09 and 10 Cavs won over 60 games with a support cast so bad they were the among the worst teams in the league the next year. Yeh, Gilbert eventually tanked, but only after his team tried to win games and was putrid.

The players who were 9th and 10th in MPG on the 2010 Cavs team led the team in minutes the next year. The Miami Heat team actually had more carry over minutes from the prior season even though they added Bron and Bosh and traded half their roster.

That ‘11 Cavs team wasn’t even close to ‘10 or ‘09 teams which lacked star power but had lots of talent overall. Those teams were top of the league in shooting, passing, rebounding, and defense.

[hauntedcomputer]

Rick Barry, 1975 Warriors

[CodeBreaker]

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

[WarriorGM]

Stephen Curry. 2013, 2015, 2021, 2022, this year, next year, and the year after that.

[shi-woo]

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.

[Swish1906]

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

[shi-woo]

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

LeBron really is a master of controlling his own narrative. In this thread you have people arguing for both 2007 and 2018 saying he had no help. I'll give these people 07, no doubt, but 2017? Come on...

What Dirk did in 2011 would have been like if the Cavs actually won in 2017-18 against the KD Warriors. Similar teams too full of old vets who were past their prime.

People also forget that Dirk did all that with his 2nd option sitting on the bench in street clothes in Caron Butler.

It just blows my mind that people will bring up LeBron when Dirk in on the list.

Chander- Thompson
Dirk- Love
Marrion- LeBron
Stevenson- Smith
Kidd- Hill

Terry- Clarkson
Barrea- Uncle Jeff
Hayward- Korver/Nance

Just keep it to 2007 LeBron fans. You can't carry a team you hand picked for a decade

[Lockdown504090]

Lebronto is genuinely the most helpless ive felt as a sports fan. The 2018 raptors were a great basketball team, i promise. Lebron James just didnt care.

I remember celebrating him leaving the east almost as much as i did wining the title the title. lebron is the greatest floor raiser in league history and second place is quite a distance away.

[Yoshun]

05-06 Kobe was pretty good. I don't know how a team starting Odom, Smush, Kwame, and Luke Walton with no bench to speak of took the Suns to 7 games.