LeBron James Claims 'GOAT' Title, Reveals Key Moment

LeBron James has pointed to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ win over the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals as the moment where he thought of himself as the greatest player in the history of the game.

The Cavaliers had fallen 3-1 behind after four games in the 2016 finals and it looked like Warriors will win their second consecutive title after they had beaten the same opponents 4-2 in 2015. But James and his team had other plans as they turned it around by winning the next three games.

The three-time NBA champion led his team to consecutive wins which include two on the road to record an unlikely but historic win for the Cleveland franchise. James was unanimously voted the finals MVP – the third of his career.

James admitted that the achievement in Cleveland made him feel like the “greatest player of all time”. He brought Cleveland’s first pro-sports title in 52 years, which all made him his hometown’s hero just a few years after he was criticized for leaving and joining the Miami Heat.

"That's what I felt," James said during the airing of episode 7 of the eight-part ESPN+ Series “More Than An Athlete” recently, as quoted on ESPN. "I was super, super ecstatic to win one for Cleveland because of the 52-year drought.

“The first wave of emotion was when everyone saw me crying, like, that was all for 52 years of everything in sports that's gone on in Cleveland. And then after I stopped I was like -- that one right there made you the greatest player of all time,” he added.

James revealed that the accomplishment was even sweeter as they had beaten the Warriors, who at that time and actually even today are being hailed as one of the greatest basketball teams ever assembled. The Bay Area team have gone on to win the NBA championship in 2017 and 2018 – beating James’ Cavaliers on both occasions.

"Everybody was just talking -- how (the Warriors) were the greatest team of all time, like it was the greatest team ever assembled," James explained. "And for us to come back, you know, the way we came back in that fashion I was like, 'You did, you did something special.' That's probably one of the only times in my career I felt like, oh s---, like you did something special. I haven't had, really had time, to really, like, sit back and think but that...that was a moment."

The debate about the greatest player in the history of the game – James or Michael Jordan - has raged on for a number of years and it is unlikely to be settled until James hangs up his sneakers. Jordan statistically still has the upper hand – having won six titles to James’ three, he also has more MVP awards while the Los Angeles Lakers star is on his way to overtaking Jordan in the all-time scoring chart.