Does LeBron James Think That Super Teams Exist in the NBA?

LeBron James in 2010 parted ways with his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, taking his talents to the Miami Heat reinforcing the “super team” concept. James left his Cleveland home to team up with superstars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, surrounding himself with what eventually proved to be enough firepower to win an NBA title finally. But is every team James joined with a “super team”?

James himself thinks that he has never been a part of a juggernaut squad of guys who were considered guaranteed title contenders. After the Cavaliers had fallen to the Golden State Warriors on Monday, James was asked by a reporter in a press conference if he thought stacked teams, like the ones he’d been on, were good or bad for the NBA. James replied that he felt he was never a part of a super team. He doesn’t “believe in that” and stated his current Cavs team doesn’t fall into such a category.

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“I don’t believe I’ve played for a super team,” James said in response to a question. “I don’t believe in that.”

James’ former Miami Heat team failed to land a championship upon the first year of their inception, they went on to win back to back titles, both in 2012 and 2013, a feat rarely achieved by NBA teams.

When James left his Miami Heat team to sign with the Cavilers again in 2014, he was joining another team that analysts felt would go on to subsequently win a championship, which they did in 2016. That team, consisting of all-stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, was said to be a super team with the addition of James.

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The teams he joined were comparable to “superteams,” with three star players banning together with a set aspiration of a title run — similar to what Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett accomplished with the Boston Celtics championship squad in 2008.

Notably, James has been to the NBA finals a total of eight times.

2007: San Antonio Spurs vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

2011: Dallas Mavericks vs. Miami Heat

2012: Miami Heat vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

2013: Miami Heat vs. San Antonio Spurs

2014: San Antonio Spurs vs. Miami Heat

2015: Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

2016: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors

2017: Cleveland Cavalier vs. Golden State Warriors

Some would argue that Kevin Durant took James’s super team strategy when the superstar forward left his initial NBA squad, the Oklahoma City Thunder and signed with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson’s stacked Golden State Warriors team. A team that had an earth shattering 73-9 record in 2016.

James career up until this point has been nothing short of incredible. With career averages of 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 1.6 steals per game, 3 NBA Finals MVP (2012, 2013, 2016) 4 NBA Most Valuable Player awards (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013) and 13 NBA All-Star (2005–2017) appearances, he probably has nothing to be ashamed of.

“I left everything on the floor every game, all five games,” James said. “So for me personally I have nothing to be — I have no reason to put my head down. I have no reason to look back at what I could have done or what I shouldn’t have done or what I could have done better for the team. I left everything I had out on the floor every single game for five games in this Finals, and you come up short.”

Though Twitter had a little bit of fun regarding James super team denial.

James felt he gave his all in the finals, and his record breaking stats can back that up. He averaged a triple-double throughout with 33.6 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists — the only player to ever do so.