How tainted would any future LeBron rings be with Luka as the main man?

[One Last Shot]

I don't think anyone judges LeBron as the GOAT due to amount of rings, at least I don't. Amount of rings says nothing about a player's greatness. LeBron is judged off what he did 03-20 not what he's doing right now.

LeBron is absolutely judged off of what he's doing now but that's a boon to his legacy, not a deficit. How can anyone criticize what LeBron is doing at 40 years old? It's beyond me.

No matter how often this is being repeated it never ends to be the dumbest contribution to the topic ever.

This is a sports league not a stage for expired divas who cant let go of the attention. He ruins his teams chances and the only excuse his shills keep bringing up is "but...but...but...hes 40!".

I mean...i could start for the lakers. I could probably play okay for a 50+ guy who is short and overweight. But we would still keep losing because 4 other guys would have to carry whatever i cant do. Who cares about the "he's so good...for a 40 year old!"? This is so dumb and perverted and noone seems to notice that an entire team, actually the entire league is being abused as a stage instead of a competitive contest.

What are you talking about? Expired diva? How did he ruined his team's chances? You think they are losing? Lakers won 11 of their last 13 games when LeBron played and averaged 26.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 9.5 apg in 63% TS without AD for like half of games, Lakers are now in the 4th seed of the West and virtually tied with the Nuggets in loss column. They are playing the best basketball I've seen in a long time especially after the Luka trade they all look energize that it might extend LeBron's career for 2-3 years more instead of retiring next season.

[Birth of the Cool]

oh so this is just another silly post trying to discredit any potential GOAT talks about LeBron. It's not even subtle. Try better next time.

[ScrantonBulls]

The amount of angst and hate James generates from grown men simply because he’s good at basketball is a GOATworthy accomplishment.

He deserves the hate with all of the teams that he’s had to form to trail kobe by one, and his overhyping fans.

Saying someone “deserves hate” is a really messed up perspective on basketball and life in general.

The funny part is guys like MrPainfulTruth are satirical and trying to make LeBron haters look dumb. Bledredwine is completely serious and is consumed by his hate for LeBron. I truly cannot imagine being so insecure about my favorite player's legacy (MJ) that it devolves into a true disdain for another NBA player who hasn't done anything terrible (LeBron).

[MrPainfulTruth]

oh so this is just another silly post trying to discredit any potential GOAT talks about LeBron. It's not even subtle. Try better next time.

how so? Since we have had 1,000 "who is the goat" debates here going on, why wouldnt we discuss wether a ring earned by Luka mainly would have to be considered as part of LBJ's goat case? Some of you guys are so defensive man, so sensitive. THis is a discussion board. Noone forces you to read those discussions. Go out, get some fresh air my man.

[Dan33185]

If you asked some people here, every ring in the last 20 years is tainted by something.

[Wingy]

oh so this is just another silly post trying to discredit any potential GOAT talks about LeBron. It's not even subtle. Try better next time.

how so? Since we have had 1,000 "who is the goat" debates here going on, why wouldnt we discuss wether a ring earned by Luka mainly would have to be considered as part of LBJ's goat case? Some of you guys are so defensive man, so sensitive. THis is a discussion board. Noone forces you to read those discussions. Go out, get some fresh air my man.

Cause…there’s a thread for that.

It’s stickied.

I’m a Jordan guy all day, every day, and I don’t need to see this incessant crap from all the Identity GOATers.

They crave validation and attention from the rest of the community since no one else cares about the subject as much as they do, and most don’t go into the stickied thread.

So a thread like this is just an “angle” and excuse to get out into the main public eye.
These threads are created from “both sides” to get the attention for their guy.

Unfortunately by some serious repeat offenders, and those people should seriously have new thread limits imposed on them.

[Catchall]

I don't have a problem with it. For one thing, he's 40 years old. I don't think less of Shaq for winning a ring with DWade as the main guy.

[bledredwine]

The amount of angst and hate James generates from grown men simply because he’s good at basketball is a GOATworthy accomplishment.

He deserves the hate with all of the teams that he’s had to form to trail kobe by one, and his overhyping fans.

Saying someone “deserves hate” is a really messed up perspective on basketball and life in general.

Well, you guys are using the term “hate” loosely, so I’m just going by your definition. We don’t spend time thinking about our hate. We’re just tired of hearing about him and find him overrrated by you guys. It’s fairly simple and it’s just annoying to constantly be around, just like kobe hype back in the day.

I had a talk with a friend from another state who doesn’t even follow basketball and in a football talk he brought up lebron stating, “He just seems like a guy who keeps playing with some of the best players and hasn’t done much with it. I’m sick of hearing about him *laugh*”

To us, he and his fans are annoying and anti competitive. To you, it’s “hating”

to which I then gave my two cents and agreed, of course.

[ghillphx]

As tainted as this post.

[ScrantonBulls]

He deserves the hate with all of the teams that he’s had to form to trail kobe by one, and his overhyping fans.

Saying someone “deserves hate” is a really messed up perspective on basketball and life in general.

Well, you guys are using the term “hate” loosely, so I’m just going by your definition. We don’t spend time thinking about our hate. We’re just tired of hearing about him and find him overrrated by you guys. It’s fairly simple and it’s just annoying to constantly be around, just like kobe hype back in the day.

I had a talk with a friend from another state who doesn’t even follow basketball and in a football talk he brought up lebron stating, “He just seems like a guy who keeps playing with some of the best players and hasn’t done much with it. I’m sick of hearing about him *laugh*”

To us, he and his fans are annoying and anti competitive. To you, it’s “hating”

to which I then gave my two cents and agreed, of course.

First off, anybody that has read your posts knows that isn't true. Secondly, you regularly update your signature which is dedicated to hating LeBron, so by definition you DO spend time thinking about your hate

[Lalouie]

the TAINT is it's not lebron' ring

so it would be a 100% fully tainted ring

that being said i can GUARANTEE the media will play it up as "Lebron's rings"

[NyKnicks1714]

They’d be tainted in the sense that they wouldn’t mean much.

Imagine getting so wrapped up in your online debates that you now think a championship only means something for the single best player on a team.

[Sweet Meat Lew]

From Wade/Bosh to Kyrie/Love to peak AD and now to soon to be peak Luka, no top 10 player in league history has benefitted more from ‘stacking the deck’ so to speak and playing with such a variety of superstars/stars in league history as LeBron James. Even despite that he was incapable of matching Michael Jordan’s far more impressive 6 titles, including two 3-peats, in vastly less amount of time and with less star power and help.

LeBron’s title count seemed sealed at 4 until the most nonsensical trade in NBA history went down last week, gifting him a top 2-3 player who has yet to enter his prime even.

So the question is - how little value / how much taint should one assign to any future title(s) a 40+ year old LeBron who is clearly 2nd fiddle racks up? To me these would essentially be emptier than Durant’s 2 Warriors rings, and that’s saying a lot. Everyone knows LeBron is incapable of winning 6 titles the real way, thereby disqualifying him from true GOAT status forever.

Your inability to credit Lebron for winning because he had teammates is actually a testament to his greatness. No one puts an asterisk on MJ's rings because they went out and grabbed Rodman and Kukoc even though he already had a top 50 all time talent on his team. MJ went into every finals with the best team and as a heavy favorite. There is an argument to be made the each one of Bron's finals wins were against teams significantly better than any team MJ ever faced. If Bron is able win in an era where vs OKC/Mem/Den and then Boston/NYK/or Cle at 40 yrs old can we really say he stacked the deck? It's crazy to think Bron's rings only count if he is able to win without any other good players. That is a standard that only gets placed on him.

[Forbes]

Won’t be tainted. Lebrons legacy is cemented already. Winning the chip as the #2 won’t take away from his legacy, it’s just another notch on his long list of accomplishment.

I don’t think there anything else he can do to overtake Jordan. The consensus is Jordan is GOAT#1 and it’s going be very hard to for the consensus to change their mind and LeBron has been the closest. Wemby may have a chance depending how marketable he is and how great he becomes.

[ShootersShoot]

OP, you sound like a tool.

[Homer38]

Even though LeBron is dominant at 40 years old and wins the title (even though the Lakers are far from being favorites right now in the west because of OKC), his haters will always find random stats or arguments to downplay his accomplishments, as always

LeBron had one of the best finals of all-time back in 2016 against a 73-9 team but some still refuse to give credit for that

[hugepatsfan]

It wouldn't be "tainted", it would have a different context to it, depending on how Lebron, Luka and their teammates actually played in earning it.

Nothing Lebron does or doesn't do takes away from what he has or hasn't done. He's 40. Everything he does from here on out can only be additive to his career and legacy.

[OriginalRed]

They wouldn't be tainted at all lol. Are Kareem's rings tainted when he played with Magic near the end of his career? Of course not.

Lebron winning a ring or two with Luka would do nothing but add to his legacy, not hurt it. As for his debate against Jordan, at this point we've seen both at their best so unless you already have Lebron as the GOAT, him winning another two as the second guy to Luka probably won't change that.

[RHODEY]

From Wade/Bosh to Kyrie/Love to peak AD and now to soon to be peak Luka, no top 10 player in league history has benefitted more from ‘stacking the deck’ so to speak and playing with such a variety of superstars/stars in league history as LeBron James. Even despite that he was incapable of matching Michael Jordan’s far more impressive 6 titles, including two 3-peats, in vastly less amount of time and with less star power and help.

LeBron’s title count seemed sealed at 4 until the most nonsensical trade in NBA history went down last week, gifting him a top 2-3 player who has yet to enter his prime even.

So the question is - how little value / how much taint should one assign to any future title(s) a 40+ year old LeBron who is clearly 2nd fiddle racks up? To me these would essentially be emptier than Durant’s 2 Warriors rings, and that’s saying a lot. Everyone knows LeBron is incapable of winning 6 titles the real way, thereby disqualifying him from true GOAT status forever.

Equally tainted, but it wont matter since he's not getting another ring with Luka.

[MrPainfulTruth]

I don't have a problem with it. For one thing, he's 40 years old. I don't think less of Shaq for winning a ring with DWade as the main guy.

Its not about less respect, its about wether the ring as second fiddle should hold the same weight. There were so many guys who played in the league and won a lot of rings, but noone talks about them as all time best, because they were on a team with a clear #1 and it wasnt them.

So, LeBron having the career he had, and the aspiration to end up near the very top, i think its valid to discuss how much value this ring should hold for his particular legacy. By no means could it lower his status, it just wouldnt up him as much as his fanboys would like us to believe.