LeBron James has played with a long line of distinguished teammates over his 22 years and counting in the NBA. From Cleveland to Miami and back, now in Los Angeles, he’s crossed paths with some of the other best players of the past couple decades.
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The kid from Akron may be the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, but he’s never been your typical ‘give me the ball and let me go to work’ kind of isolation player. LeBron has a genius-level basketball IQ, and he’s thrived whenever he’s been able to be a playmaker for others. That’s been true at every stop in his career.
In the latest episode of his Mind the Game podcast, LeBron spoke about how he adapted his game to suit his environment and the surrounding personnel.
“My first seven years in Cleveland … I was the playmaker, I was the decision-maker, I made all the plays with the ball in my hand, and got the ball to the guys in the right spots,” he said.
“But when I made the transition to Miami, I knew I was going down there and I knew I had to adapt my game, because I was also going to a team with a guy who also handles the ball and made the plays and things of that nature in D-Wade,” he explained.
LeBron and Wade eventually made beautiful music together, but their on-court chemistry didn’t happen overnight. Their upset NBA Finals loss to the Mavericks in their first year remains a sore spot for both. Over time though, they figured it out and won two rings together.
After losing a Finals rematch to the Spurs in his fourth year with the Heat, LeBron went back to Cleveland, where he hooked up with another elite guard in Kyrie Irving. “Another guy who obviously we know his majesty with the ball, he’s a magician with the ball,” LeBron said, “so how can I be effective with him with the ball in his hand?”
LeBron employed some of the same tactics he used in Miami to thrive alongside Kyrie. “Quick drag, quick ghost screen, quick flip screen, things of that nature,” he said. He and Kyrie toppled the seemingly unbeatable Warriors in a classic seven-game series in 2016, coming back from a 3-1 deficit and combining for 53 points in Game 7 to do it.
That was over nine years ago, and LeBron has had to reach even deeper into his bag of tricks since joining the Lakers, first to complement do-everything big man Anthony Davis, and more recently to quickly assimilate Luka Doncic onto the team. The fact that he’s won a championship with three different franchises proves how effectively he’s been able to adapt.
That adaptability will be tested this year, as for the first time ever, LeBron enters a season as the clear No. 2 option on a team. Luka is a top-five player in the league, and while LeBron’s status after this year is unknown, Luka just signed a contract to remain a Laker through at least 2028.
How LeBron is able to handle being Robin instead of Batman will be critical to the Lakers’ success. With the season just around the corner, we won’t have to wait long to see how it goes.
