“LeBron James did this in 2019 too?”: Fans roast David Griffin for saying Lakers star’s presence alone makes any team a Finals contender

David Griffin said recently that LeBron James is the only NBA player whose presence alone makes any team Finals contenders. Fans are not having it.

Former Cavaliers GM David Griffin knows LeBron James amazingly well at both a personal and professional level. He worked with James for 3 seasons in Cleveland, helping him build a roster that made it to 4 straight Finals. Griffin knows James’s tendencies on and off the court inside out.

The executive recently said James is the only player in the NBA whose presence alone launches a team into the NBA Finals zone.

“I’ve never really been able to say unequivocally ‘go flip the switch. LeBron is the only player in the NBA whose presence alone makes you a Finals contender. So when LeBron came back to Cleveland, it was time to rock and roll.”

David Griffin says LeBron is the only player in the NBA whose presence alone makes you a Finals contenderhttps://t.co/4AiRHZ4uQi

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) January 26, 2021

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Fans react to David Griffin’s statement on LeBron James and Finals contention

If you were to ask a serious basketball fan, they’d hurry to tell you that Griffin is about as correct as you can get. Getting the best player in the world in a star-dominated league like the NBA tends to tip the scales heavily in your favor. Not everyone views it this way, however.

Some fans point out the obvious thing: without team depth, even LeBron James isn’t Superman to get you where you want. They expressed this in their own not-so-sweet ways:

Or maybe because the man was in the East his whole career with superteams and his only competition was demar DeRozan

— (@FlamesNBA21) January 26, 2021

This DeMar DeRozan criticism is among the more common and valid ones James faces. He did play in the East while it was at its lowest ebb through 74 seasons of NBA basketball. Others have pointed out another thing – James failed to make the playoffs in his first season out West.

Especially when you gift him someone like AD. Btw what happened when he didn’t have a superstar like in 2019 when he missed the playoffs?

— Took 3 from your King (@CosmixE24) January 27, 2021

KD, Kawhi and harden. but i would say thats it

— NBA Expert. (@WhatSeperatesU) January 26, 2021

Great Joke pic.twitter.com/yzzzX3tZzE

— $Dom$ (@ddelliponti8) January 27, 2021

Did the 2019 season just not happen?

— XAVIER (@ThisDudeXavier) January 26, 2021

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It goes without saying that James has not guaranteed a Finals berth every time. But that isn’t necessarily a full-on counter-criticism of Griffin’s take – one can definitely see where he’s coming from.