LeBron James is simply formidable. The best player to have ever graced a basketball has been a regular on the court this season, averaging 25.8 points per game. Only recently has an ankle injury forced him to miss his first game of the season. 

Before then, basketball’s biggest star had led the Lakers to a win against his old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, earlier in the year. The Cavaliers themselves had put on one of their best performances, despite the result going against them. After three quarters, they’d been leading the Lakers 89-87, but then James stepped things up in the fourth quarter.

Can the Lakers win the NBA title this season? It’s a big question now that their main man has been side lined by injury. The Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks have both been tipped to give the Lakers a hard time this season, which will make the league extra exciting for anyone looking at this year’s NBA betting lines. 

This post looks at some of the career highlights of the best player of all time: LeBron James.

NBA debut

James was but a teenager when he made his debut in the NBA. The Cavaliers didn’t achieve the win that night, but James kept his cool on basketball’s biggest stage and scored 28 points and chalked up six rebounds and nine assists. 

All eyes were going to be on him from then. Everyone realized the NBA had unearthed a new superstar, and in his era with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he’d go on to win the Rookie of the Year.

NBA playoff debut

Not only was James’s NBA debut a game to remember, but his playoffs debut was one as well. The forward was in blistering form against the Washington Wizards and posted 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. The Cavaliers won, and it was the first time anyone had posted a triple double in their NBA playoff debut since Magic Johnson.

Game-winning shot on the buzzer against the Orlando Magic

James has been part of some big moments, but no one will forget the drama of the game against the Orlando Magic. In the finals in the Eastern Conference in 2009, the two teams were deadlocked before James broke it right on the buzzer and clinched the Cavaliers the game. The Magic may have won the series, but the score was another big playoff moment for James.

2009 MVP

In 2010, James received his first MVP, for the 2009 season. He’s received a nomination for MVP every year since then, and when he was with the Cavaliers at the time of the award it was an honor for him to accept the award. It was in the state he called home and where his dream of being a basketball player began.

“The Decision”

The year 2010 opened with a shock announcement from James, on TV, that he would be leaving the Cavaliers and joining the Miami Heat. He would spend four years with the Heat and take them to the NBA finals each year. Finally, the team won the NBA title in 2012. The glory may have come, but this original decision to part company with the Cavaliers attracted a lot of criticism. 

The Heat win 27 straight games

Some might have loathed James’s decision to join the Heat, but Miami certainly weren’t complaining, and in 2013, the team had a sublime season. With James on the team, the Heat won 27 consecutive games, an unbeaten run which lasted 53 days. Only the 71-72 LA Lakers had a longer record: 33 games unbeaten.

The return to Cleveland

In 2014, it was smiles all around in Cleveland as James returned to the Cavaliers. In his second stint with the team, he’d take them to finals. In 2016, the Cavaliers would take the title, but game seven of the finals would be especially remembered for James’s chase-down of Andre Iguodala. 

The Golden State Warriors were about to break the 89-89 tie — or so they thought. James chased Iguodala down and smacked the ball against the backboard, enabling the Cavaliers to gain possession and put themselves in a position to take the title. It was one of many memorable blocks by James.

Game 4 buzzer beater vs the Bulls

In game 4 versus the Bulls, the Cavs were a few seconds from being 3-1 down. The coach at the time, David Blatt, designed a play that required someone other than James to take the final shot. James wasn’t having any of it. 

Talk about putting pressure on yourself. Anyway, he took the shot, sinking a three pointer to enable the Cavs to take victory in game 4 — and James to show why he’s the greatest player in the world. It was a masterclass in self-belief.

2020 Passing Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan on the all-time scorers list

The years have rolled by and still James is writing history on the courts. During the NBA restart last year, he led the Lakers to a championship. But in this prolonged season, it has also been the year he passed Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list, and a little later, he passed the late Kobe Bryant too.

LeBron James has cemented himself into the annals of basketball history as the greatest player of all time. Whether anyone will come to trump him is anyone’s guess, but anything can happen in the NBA. We’ll just have to wait and see and enjoy the journey along the way.

We can’t tell you how much we love this.

The Cincinnati Bengals have announced the creation of the Bengals Ring of Honor, which will have four names in their inaugural class, two of which, they have already named.  Those two are Paul Brown and Anthony Munoz.

Brown, who built the Cleveland Browns decades earlier and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967, became the inaugural Head Coach of the Bengals in 1968.  Serving in that capacity until 1975, Brown brought Cincinnati to the playoffs in 1970, the earliest at that time that an expansion team made the playoffs.

Munoz is considered to be one of the best Offensive Linemen of all time, and he played all 13 of his NFL seasons (1980-92) with the Bengals.  He was an 11-time All-Pro, and was a first-ballot inductee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

The other two names will be decided by the Bengals season ticket holders and suite owners.  In May, the Bengals will put forth a ballot for them to vote on.

We have said often and loudly that the Bengals have done an awful job in celebrating their past stars and their history.  

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Detroit Wings. 

An Original Six franchise, the Detroit Red Wings have been a “streaky” team as they have had periods of either feast or famine.

Beginning in 1926 as the Cougars, the team was renamed the Falcons before adopting the Red Wings moniker in 1932.  Detroit would win two Stanley Cups that decade (1936 & 1937), with another in 1943, then after a drop, would rebound in the 1950s led by Gordie Howe. The Red Wings won Cups in 1950, 1952, 1954 & 1955, and were arguably a league-dynasty.

After years of heartache, it was not until the arrival of Steve Yzerman, Niklas Lidstrom and the “Russian Five” where their fortunes turned.  They won Cups 8 through 11 in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008.

Our Top 50 lists in baseball look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.

3. Playoff accomplishments.

4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2019/20 Season.

The complete list can be found here,but as always, we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Gordie Howe

2. Niklas Lidstrom

3. Steve Yzerman

4. Terry Sawchuk

5. Ted Lindsay

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.  

Look for our more material coming soon!

As always, we thank you for your support.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity. As such, we are very happy to present our pre-2021 revision of our top 50 Baltimore Ravens of all-time.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the NFL. 

3. Playoff accomplishments.

4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

There are two new additions in the Top 50, and some jumps by active Ravens, but nothing affecting our top five.  As always, we announce them below

They are:

1. Ray Lewis

2. Ed Reed

3. Jonathan Ogden

4. Terrell Suggs

5. Haloti Ngata

You can find the entire list here.

The changes are:

Justin Tucker, the best Place Kicker of the last decade has moved up from #16 to #13.  

Lamar Jackson, the enigmatic Quarterback and former MVP rocketed from #30 to #19.

Cornerback, Jimmy Smith, moved up one spot to #40.

Linebacker, Matt Judon, who signed with the New England Patriots on the offseason, climbed up six spots to #42.

The new entries are Cornerback,Marlon Humphreyand Offensive Lineman, Orlando Brown Jr., who debut at #48 and #49 respectively.

We welcome your input and commentsand as always, we thank you for your support.