Superteams soon became the norm. “It was a turning point for the league,” says five-time All-Star Kevin Love, who played with James and Kyrie Irving during James’ second tour with the Cavs. “You know who has the power here. In the past, it was always ownership and the front office. LeBron completely flipped that on its axis.”
James’ move proved prescient, but he was villainized at the time. He embraced the black hat during his first year in Miami. The low point came in the 2011 NBA Finals, where the Heat dropped Game 6 at home, giving the Dallas Mavericks the title. Johnson had four championships in his first eight seasons, Bird three, Jordan two. James zilch.
After the series, James, who scored nearly 9 points per game below his regular-season average in those Finals, seemed to take solace in the misery of others. “All the people that was rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they got to wake up tomorrow, have the same life that they had before they woke up today,” he said at a press conference. “They got the same personal problems they had today.”
While James now admits he could have been more diplomatic, he regrets nothing—those comments, making The Decision a TV show, none of it. “The best teacher in life is experience,” he says. “I learned from that moment. I see how that could have been taken. But f-ck, I was angry. I was mad. I was sad. I got stomped on all year. And I let the media get the best of me.”
James transformed his arc that offseason. “That’s not you, bro,” he says. “Get back to who you are.” He traveled to Houston to train with Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, who taught him footwork tricks. In 2012 and 2013, James won back-to-back MVPs, and the Heat back-to-back NBA titles.
He made strides as a human too. James pushed his foundation to do more than host one-off events, like his annual bike-a-thon. “That loss was the best thing that ever happened to the LeBron James Family Foundation,” says Michele Campbell, executive director of James’ nonprofit. “We had some deep conversations about what we were doing and frankly, where we were missing the mark.” Since then, the organization has started the I Promise School in Akron, for grades 3 through 8, and funded college scholarships for 25 community members who’ve earned degrees. It’s built affordable housing, provided job training and health care services, and, in April, opened a restaurant, Buckets, which employs more than 70 locals and serves, among other items, “The GOAT” smashburger.
