Not to take away his rings in Miami and LA, but it seems to be accepted by most people that the 2016 championship was the most important title that LeBron won (legacy wise), since Cleveland was a much smaller market and it was his hometown team. My question is, if the Cavs lost 4 years in a row to the Warriors, and LeBron left Cleveland again ringless, would there still be a strong argument for him to be 2nd all time?
Obviously not, losing your greatest achievement is going to damage your resume in some way or form. Although, he would still be widely considered top 5 purely off his stats/longevity.
That title made him the goat. Coming back from 3-1 against the greatest team of all time (record wise) is the biggest accomplishment in NBA history.
He’s easily #1 rn but without that title he’d be #2
He has no case
That might be a reason to consider him second all time, but it didn’t happen that way, so he’s not second