What is Fantasy Basketball?
Fantasy Basketball is a fantasy sport for basketball that lets you live out your dream of owning your own professional sports team. Players act as the GMs (general managers) of the fantasy teams they create from drafting real NBA (National Basketball Association) players based mainly on their season or career statistics. Players will get points on the basis of the performance of the actual players in league every matchday. The sum of the points gained by the actual players will be the total points of the players and the one with the most points is declared the winner at the end of the season. Players can also create custom tournaments and compete with their friends. In the end, the player who has a good knowledge of selecting the most valuable players will be the winner.
Who is LeBron James?
LeBron James is a professional player in the field of Basketball, currently playing for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA (National Basketball Association). At 6 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing at 250lb, combined with his high basketball IQ, skillset, longevity and almost no weakness in the game, this freak of nature is often considered as the best player in the world and is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time. Over the course of his career, LeBron has managed to achieve so much that an average NBA player can probably not even dream of. His accomplishments include three NBA championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, three NBA Finals MVP Awards (also one of the three players in NBA history to win it with multiple teams with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Kawhi Leonard), and two Olympic gold medals. LeBron has appeared in fifteen NBA All-Star Games and has been named NBA All-Star MVP three times. He is the all-time NBA playoffs scoring leader, is fourth in all-time NBA points scored, is eighth in all-time NBA assists and 5th in all-time NBA triple doubles with 90. He has also made it to the All-NBA Team fifteen times (NBA record, First Team twelve times, Second Team 2 times and Third Team one time) and the All-Defensive First Team five times.
Early life and High school career
Born in Akron, Ohio to his 16 year old mother, LeBron led a childhood full of struggles with his mother struggling to find a decent job and no father to guide him. He was introduced to the game of Basketball at the age of nine and it did not take him long to make a name for himself as he quickly succeeded at local and national level playing the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU).
As a freshman for the St. Vincent-St. Mary varsity basketball team, a private Catholic school with mostly white students, LeBron averaged the best numbers for any freshman high school player with 21 points and 6 rebounds per game and ended the season with the Division title, setting a record 27-0, becoming the only high school team in Ohio to finish the season undefeated. He then averaged 25.2 points and 7.2 rebounds with 5.8 assists and 3.8 steals per game in his sophomore year and again went on to win the Division title again. LeBron eventually became a big name among the NBA scouts and in the high school basketball scene. Many even regarded him as the best high school basketballer in the world and possibly the greatest high school player of all time considering his out of the world statistics and other accolades. During the final years of his high school career, LeBron also started featuring in various sports magazines and newspapers, notably in Slam and on the cover of Sports Illustrated, making him the first high school basketball player and also the youngest person to appear on the cover.
By the end of his high school career, it was clear he was eligible to be in the 2003 NBA Draft and was hot favourite to be the round 1, number 1 pick overall. LeBron had possibly the greatest high school basketball career by any player in the history of the game, setting not only individual records but also with his team from St. Vincent–St. Mary, hence, successfully cementing his legacy. LeBron also signed a $90 million deal with Nike after coming out of high school.
The Chosen One
The 2003 NBA Draft was a historic one as it saw many of today’s greats get drafted into the league. It had some of the greatest individual talents the basketball world had ever seen in not only LeBron James but also in Dwayne Wade (3 time NBA Champion), Carmelo Anthony (one of the most lethal scorers of all time), Chris Bosh (also a 3 time NBA champion and then future teammate of LeBron and Dwayne Wade), Kyle Korver (NBA Champion and also one of the greatest shooters ever). It was never going to be a surprise and rightfully so, LeBron was the round 1, number 1 pick overall, selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers, from his hometown.
In his rookie season, on his debut, LeBron scored 25 points against the Sacramento Kings, breaking the record for most points scored on debut by a high school draftee. By the end of his rookie season, LeBron averaged 20.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game and then also became just the third player in the history of NBA to average some astonishing numbers in 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game as a rookie. He went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, making him the first ever Cavalier to do so. Despite failing to make it to the playoffs, LeBron’s first season was deemed a success in the sense that the Cleveland Cavaliers improved by 18 games as compared to the previous season.
The 2008-09 season was by far his greatest season up until that point as he finished the season as the second best defender in the league by finishing second in the voting for Defensive Player of the Year Award, posting 23 chase-down blocks and 93 total blocks, his career high. Cleveland set a franchise record 66-16 and LeBron ended his season with 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game and hence becoming the first ever Cavalier to win the Most Valuable Player Award (MVP).
The Decision
After single handedly carrying the Cleveland Cavaliers for 7 straight seasons, leading his team in points, assists and rebounds, basically in every aspect of the game, and yet failing to bring a championship home because of the poor supporting cast, it seemed as if it was time for a change. In the summer of 2010, LeBron became an unrestricted free agent and was being chased by many of the top NBA organizations such as the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks and the Miami Heat. On July 8, on live television with ESPN, he announced that he would be taking his talents to South Beach, joining the Miami Heat and teaming up with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. This decision was possibly the biggest move in the history of NBA as Miami Heat became one of the most powerful teams the league had ever seen and brought a lot of criticism for LeBron from the fans, analysts, executives and former players.
Despite all the criticisms, LeBron, along with Wade and Bosh, managed to take his team to the 2011 NBA finals where they faced Dallas Mavericks. This was LeBron’s second NBA finals appearance and after the disappointing loss in his first NBA Finals with the Cavs, many people thought this would be LeBron’s time to finally lift the championship as the Miami Heat were huge favourites to win the finals. However that was not the case as the Mavericks, led by the great Dirk Novitzki, managed to beat the Heat in 6 games. The Chosen One had become the “frozen one” and his game 4 performance was considered by many as the biggest meltdown by any superstar in sports history where he only managed to score 8 points the entire game.
After being humbled by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA finals, LeBron changed several aspects not only in his game but also improved mentally, started dealing with the fans, the media and criticism in the right way. In the end, his hard work proved to be fruitful as he lifted his first ever NBA Championship in 2012, delivering some all time great playoffs and finals performances against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and against Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals and also won his 4th NBA MVP award. He went on to win another Championship in 2013, becoming one of the few players in NBA history to win it back to back, this time defeating the Spurs and winning his 2nd consecutive NBA Finals MVP.
Return Home
In the summer of 2014, LeBron became an unrestricted free agent once again and decided to fulfil his promise of bringing a Championship home, by returning to the city of Cleveland and forming a trio with All-Stars in Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. This led to a fierce rivalry between two teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors that was led by Steph Curry (the first ever unanimous MVP in NBA history). While the Golden State Warriors and Steph Curry kept breaking and setting crazy records, the Cavs kept struggling to find their right players and chemistry with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving constantly being injured and eventually lost the 2015 NBA finals to the 73 win Warriors team led by Steph Curry.
It was however the year 2016 and the 2016 finals that changed LeBron’s legacy forever when he brought back the Cavs from 3-1 down to beat the warriors in the finals, delivering some of the greatest performances ever, mainly the game 7 triple double in which he chased down Andre Iguodala to block the shot, which is widely considered to be his greatest play ever. In the 2016 finals LeBron averaged 26, 9 and 7, cementing his legacy as the greatest Cavs player of all time.
Lakers Nation
After a disappointing loss to the Warriors in the 2018 finals, the rivalry came to an end once and for all when LeBron decided to leave the Cavs for the Los Angeles Lakers, making it one of the biggest moves in terms of hype and challenge because the Lakers, even though they’re the most successful organization in NBA history, had failed to qualify for the playoffs for consecutive years. His first season with the Lakers was probably his worst of his entire career as he only managed to play 55 games because of an injury. His 9-year run also came to an end as he failed to qualify for the playoffs and the finals.
However, 2019 saw the Lakers change the squad drastically as they traded many of their starters for the superstar Anthony Davis for LeBron’s 17th season. This started a rivalry between the Clippers and Lakers as the Clippers also traded for the 2019 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and superstar Paul George.
LeBron James vs Michael Jordan
The debate is never going to end and at the end of the day, it will be down to the opinions of the fans with no proper conclusion. Much like Messi vs Ronaldo, LeBron and Jordan are not only compared on the basis of their basketball abilities, both have the highest selling Nike Lebron 12 and Lebron 17 signature shoes in the world with Jordan 1st and LeBron 2nd. This comparison has drawn massive media attention and has been a topic of debate for top sports analysts. While many of the top analysts such as Chris Broussard, Skip Bayless and Steven A. Smith consider Michael Jordan as the greatest player of all time and have said in the past that LeBron lacks the “clutch gene” of Michael Jordan or even Kobe Bryant, we cannot ignore the records and statistics that LeBron has set over the course of his career and his dominance in all aspects of the game.
