NBA Finals: LeBron James Says Winning Championship Against Miami Heat Has 'No Extra Meaning'

Winning an NBA title against a former team won’t serve a special type of satisfaction for LeBron James.

While most fans are thrilled to watch him fight for his fourth ring against the Miami Heat – the team he led to four Finals trips and two championships – the Los Angeles Lakers superstar shrugged off the storyline, saying that magnitude of success in the Finals would be the same regardless of the opponent.

"It's no extra meaning to winning a championship, no matter who you're playing against," James said Tuesday at NBA Finals media day, ESPN reported. "It's already hard enough to even reach the Finals, to be in this position. If you're able to become victorious out of the Finals, it doesn't matter who it's against."

James won his first NBA title in his second season with the Heat in 2012. He seized back-to-back titles in 2013, the same year he won his fourth MVP award. He then brought Miami back to the Finals for the fourth-straight time the following season before deciding to leave the team after their bid for a three-peat was stalled by the San Antonio Spurs.

Entering his 10th NBA Finals appearance, James, 35, has made it clear that he does not want to make the series about him and the Heat. But Anthony Davis does not appear to agree, saying that a championship joust against Miami has to be ranked ahead in James’ long list of Finals trips.

"To be back in the Finals against Miami, I think, means a lot more to him winning this than anyone else," Davis said. "I think this championship is probably second behind Cleveland, being able to get this one for him."

James will be facing an entirely different Heat squad with Udonis Haslem being the only member left from the team he once led. But while the players have changed, the culture did not.

Having experienced it firsthand, it was imperative that James would heap praise on the organization, which has continued its tradition of success led by team president Pat Riley.

"When I hear Pat Riley, I think about one of the greatest minds probably this game has ever had," James said. "He's won at every level. I saw the stat the other day that he's been part of a championship in four decades."

“This league is not the same without Riley," he continued. "He's a great guy, great motivator, someone that just knows what it takes to win, and he's shown that over the course of -- what -- 40 years."