LeBron James is regarded as one of the best basketball players of all time. He brought championships to two teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat, and is trying to bring one to a third team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
He has been extremely dominant on every team he played with, but as soon as he leaves one team, their success immediately declines. This is called the LeBron Effect. Many people speculate that this is not real, but I am here to prove it.
Let’s start with the team that drafted LeBron, his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron joined this team in 2003 and brought them increasing success in making the playoffs every year since the 2005-06 season. He even took them to the Finals in 2007.
James ended this streak in 2010 when he decided to take his talents to South Beach to play for the Miami Heat. Once he left the Cavs, they went 19-63 in the next season, and they never made the playoffs until he returned to Cleveland. This shows that as soon as LeBron left the team, they collapsed.
As for the Heat, LeBron had a four-year tenure in Miami, and took them to the finals four years straight, winning two out of the four. The Heat were a dominating force throughout the league, and they looked like they would establish a dynasty that would be rivaled to none. Then the inevitable happened.
LeBron promised that he would bring a championship to Cleveland when he started playing in the league. He left Miami to go fulfill his promise to the ‘Land and rejoined the Cavaliers. This triggered the LeBron Effect to take place in Miami.
The Heat started to decline. They made it to the playoffs two out of the next four years, but they never reached the conference finals. They also lost all three of their superstars after 5 seasons. They had to rebuild due to LeBron leaving in 2014. This is a prime example of the LeBron Effect.
LeBron went back to the Cavaliers and sent them through the LeBron Effect again, but not before leading them to four straight Finals appearances. He also brought Cleveland their first championship in 52 years.
James then joined the Lakers in 2018, and the Cavs have once again been nowhere near what they were when he was in Cleveland. The team went 19-63 the season after he left again.
The LeBron Effect is prevalent in the entire history of him playing in the NBA, and I believe that there’s visible proof that it exists.