What is the most impressive carry job by a star?

[Onlytimewilltel]

Hakeem in 94 was a spectacular carry job. That’s numero uno.

Then you have the rest of ‘em.


Oh, and I can’t believe there’s an idiot in this thread trying to argue for including Jordan for all time carry jobs

You must be an absolute moron to say something like that.

Or just young. Jordan carried harder in his young career than anyone on this list.
If you actually knew basketball, this would be a given. But I get it, you don't like him. That's fine.

Now, you probably haven't heard of him, but here's a quote from an all time great and contemporary of Jordan, Larry Bird

"Early on, people were saying Michael didn't have a team mentality. That's because he didn't have a team." - Larry Bird

Pippen wasn't even a star until 1990 so Jordan had to carry all the way through 1989 and did plenty of offensive carry jobs afterwards, including some of the greatest (and arguable greatest) of all time.

1989 playoffs -
Jordan
34.8, 7, 7.6 on 51% fg 80% FT
Pippen
13.1, 7.6, 3.9 on 46% FG and 64% FT
Cartwright
11.8, 7.1, 1.2 on 49% FG% and 70% FT

Watch on YouTube

Look at all of those double teams! Unlike many players on this list, such as Lebron, who Popovich left open in the finals as a strategy, Jordan was constantly getting double teamed and teams like the Pistons focused specifically on Jordan. That's how dominant he was and how hard he carried the offense.

So why didn't Jordan participate in some of the best carry jobs of all time?
Maybe because you don't know anything about young Jordan and like your favorite player more?

Go ahead and give me actual stats and evidence instead of your ignorant generalities

Hey sorry man didn’t mean to cause you to get your panties in a bunch

I’m not gonna read all you blabbered about but I agree that Jordan did his fair share of “carrying”. I should have clarified my statement (I just revised it). In my own mind when I think of carry jobs I always include a title as a prerequisite. And Jordan’s teams were always favored to win the finals and hence I see that as a non starter for “carry jobs resulting in an NBA title”

But Jordan is an all time great player! I’d never argue otherwise

[madmaxmedia]

LeBron 2018

I got tired and sore watching Lebron carrying that entire team on his back during the playoffs. It was so obvious he was responsible for the team's offensive creation, it seemed like every time down the floor in half-court offense. But such was the nature of his gravity at the offensive end when he was younger.

[The Servant]

Gotta be Jordan Poole any time he's on the court. Ja is really bad for carrying as well.

[One_and_Done]

LeBron 2018

I got tired and sore watching Lebron carrying that entire team on his back during the playoffs. It was so obvious he was responsible for the team's offensive creation, it seemed like every time down the floor in half-court offense. But such was the nature of his gravity at the offensive end when he was younger.

It's definitely tough to pick which Lebron carry job was the most impressive.

[MavsDirk41]

What’s impressive to me is what Dirk, Magic, Bird, and Duncan did for their respective franchises. Other than 88/89 when Bird only played a handful of games, Boston won 50 plus games. Same with Magic in LA and Duncan in San Antonio. The Mavs had 11 straight 50 plus win seasons with Dirk. Consistency like this is the most impressive thing to me. The organization has a building block franchise player that will pretty much guarantee them a playoff spot.

[Hoopstar23]

as more time passed, the 2022 Finals Stephen Curry's performance became more impressive and praised for me as one of the best carry jobs ever

[SportsGuru08]

Unlike Hakeem in '94, Duncan in '03, or Dirk in '11, LeBron never did a "carry job" in any season where he won a championship. Even the supposedly "washed up" Dwyane Wade in 2013 outscored every Spur and was a much better player than Vernon Maxwell, Stephen Jackson or Jason Terry ever were and about on par with second-threepeat Pippen in terms of Finals performances.

Wade averaged 12.6 ppg in ECS against Chicago and 15.4 ppg in ECF against Indiana, both times outscored by THREE players on the opposing team. I guess only the Finals count to carry jobs - not how you get there in the first place.

Miami didn't face anyone in their conference that postseason who was even as good as the '89 Knicks, so that isn't saying much.

In the end, Wade stepped it up against their strongest opponent, better than Maxwell, Jackson, or Terry and Pippen in '96 and '98.

[Jamaaliver]

Iverson took a team full of roles players and specialists to the NBA Finals in 2001.

It was a wonder to behold in real time.

Read on Twitter

[JJ_PR]

LeBron getting the Cavs to the 2018 NBA finals is the most impressive carry job in the league history.

[Handlez]

Kobe. Pick a year.

Plenty of them.

Should be on the list, but obviously a biased OP.

What happened to all the players Kobe took to the finals 3 years in a row? I swear they fell off the map completely, but maybe I'm mistaken.

Same for the Smush/Kwame teams. What the hell happened to all those players after Kobe?

Not saying Kobe had the biggest carry job, but leaving his name off the list is a joke.

[cocktailswith_2short]

Iverson 2001 . Second best guy was a washed mutombo.

[canada_dry]

Hakeem 94
Duncan 03
Dirk 2011

Championship teams only considered.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

[zero rings]

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.

That Raptors team went from 59 wins to 58 wins when he left.

[dolphinatik]

Wade 2006 watch the games

[Onlytimewilltel]

Kobe. Pick a year.

Plenty of them.

Should be on the list, but obviously a biased OP.

What happened to all the players Kobe took to the finals 3 years in a row? I swear they fell off the map completely, but maybe I'm mistaken.

Same for the Smush/Kwame teams. What the hell happened to all those players after Kobe?

Not saying Kobe had the biggest carry job, but leaving his name off the list is a joke.

I only count the title winning years. And Kobe’s Lakers were title favorites going into the season both years in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. (2008-2009 they were tied with Celtics and 2009 they were favorites). So I don’t really see that as a carry job those Lakers and Celtics teams were clearly recognized as the best in the league overall.

[Knightro]

Hot take... 2018 LeBron was a more impressive carry job than 2007 LeBron.

The 2007 Cavs certainly weren't great, but they were still 7th in the league in NET rating and 4th in DRTG. And back in 2007 the overall pace of the league was so much slower and the 3PT rates were so much lower than they were in 2018 that teams like the LeBron 1.0 era Cavs could grind out these super low possession wins by playing great defense and making each possession matter more and simply having the best individual player in the series.

But the 2018 Cavs were legitimately not a good basketball team. Just 14th in NET rating. They were 29th in defensive rating for goodness sake and still made the finals. They had 22 different players play minutes that season.

[Knightro]

An underrated answer is Jimmy Butler with the 2023 Heat.

They were the 7th seed in the East and just 21st overall in NET rating that year. Not a good team at all.

Butler averaged 27-6-6-2 in 22 playoff games.

[Kawaii Leonard]

Easily Hakeem repeat. Just use SRS

[NoStatsGuy]

Dirk 11 and early lebron days. I still dont know who i would give the top pick. The mavs were clicking, chandler, kidd and terry played huge roles. while lebron played in the inferiour conference. but he did more on the court than dirk did. so its kinda hard to pick.

[JoseRizal]

Dirk at 32, not only carried a team of role players, but also beaten a super team in their prime...