Most NBA players have one or two defining attributes — things they do better than anyone else. For instance, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has his midrange efficiency, Jalen Brunson is celebrated for his clutch shot-making, and Giannis Antetokounmpo has freakish athleticism. And then there’s LeBron James.
Advertisement
It’s never been easy to pin down what LeBron’s go-to ‘superpower’ is. For a long time, many would have pointed out his explosiveness and physicality. Some would say his playmaking and vision. By now, it might be his unmatched longevity.
Any of the above qualities is enough on its own to make LeBron a Hall of Fame lock. But they all fall under a larger attribute, which is not physical. The King has a basketball IQ that’s simply off the charts.
LeBron’s former teammate Kevin Love knows for sure that the 4-time NBA champion’s basketball brain is the biggest in the room… That’s any room, at any given time. When asked by The Old Man and the Three host Tommy Alter asked Love about who the smartest players he’s ever played with were, he quickly responded, “Easy, LeBron.”
Love then joked that this may no longer be the case since LeBron spends so much time on the golf course. But jokes apart, he elaborated on how James went about his business.
“He was the type of guy that could, in shootaround, or even out there on the floor, he could do every team’s scout. He knew every team’s play, he knew every guy’s tendency, he watched [an] endless amount of basketball,” said Love, who played four seasons with LeBron in Cleveland from 2014 to 2018.
That’s more than enough time to make Love confident in his assessment. He didn’t name the kid from Akron as the biggest savant he’s played with, though. That honor goes to Kyrie Irving.
“If we’re talking like [a] savant, like basketball savant,” he said, “somebody that we gotta be very happy that they’re not 6’5″ or 6’6″, again, I tell people all the time, Kyrie. He’s a freak.”
Irving has always had the respect of everyone in basketball for being a true hooper. Love believes he deserves even more credit for just how talented he is. “If you ask me [to name] top five post scorers in the league, I’m putting Kyrie right up there,” he said of the 6’2″ point guard.
“That’s such an art form — all the Kobe [Bryant] footwork and the shots, and shooting over a hand … I tell people all the time, you talk about below-the-rim finishing, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. In practice, nobody [is] watching, no cameras on, we’re running 5s, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better player. It’s insane,” added Love.
Between LeBron’s brain and Kyrie’s natural skill, it’s no wonder the Cavs during their time together were such a nightmare to play against. No team in the East could touch them, no matter how good they might have been against the rest of the league. That includes the Raptors, who the Cavs knocked out of the playoffs three years in a row when LeBron, Kyrie, and Love were in Cleveland.
“We’ve done at minimum, episodes with three different guys from those Raptors teams,” Alter said.
“And all of them in their own way talked about how demoralizing it was, where it was like the third quarter of Game 5, and they’re coming down, and [LeBron’s] calling everything out, and they’re basically just like, ‘We already have to deal with you guys and your talent as a group, now we also have to deal with him knowing exactly what we’re gonna do.’ That just feels like such a luxury to be around that, because it’s just a gift,” he explained.
Love said that LeBron had “a photographic memory” when it comes to basketball. He also cited some of LeBron’s press conferences where he could recall exactly what happened in detail about any sequence of play in the game. “That’s not normal,” he added.
One day, if we don’t already, we’ll look back on those Finals matchups between the Cavs and Warriors as some of the most high-level sports ever put on display. Those Warriors teams were all-time greats, and it took two transcendent basketball souls just to hang with them, let alone conquer them once.
