We are all potentially 24 hours away from witnessing history unfold right before our eyes. LeBron James is on the brink of shattering Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s long-standing all-time scoring record. For his part, former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Kevin Love could not be more proud of what his buddy is about to achieve.
Love went out of his way to pen a heartfelt editorial speaking about LeBron’s greatness. Love started out by describing his experience as James’ teammate during their time together with the Cavs. In particular, he cherishes their majestic title run in 2016, which was capped off by a historic come-from-behind series win against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors during the ’16 NBA Finals:
“Those years LeBron had here in Cleveland, capped by a winning a championship, cemented his legacy. Naturally, the first one he got in Miami was a weight off his shoulders. The back-to-back titles solidified him and the Heat. It showed they were a dynasty before we saw those guys out in San Francisco, that’s a real powerful team. I feel that, and I think he would say the same, that 2016, especially in the manner that we won, and against the 73-9 team we beat and him being from Akron, it was definitely the most important one for him.”
It’s hard to argue against Kevin Love’s statement here. After all, when LeBron won the title with the Cavs, it just felt like a gargantuan burden was taken off his shoulders. A clear testament to this fact is how Cleveland fans (somewhat) willingly accepted his decision to leave the team again in 2018 to join the Los Angeles Lakers. At that point, LeBron had already accomplished what he set out to do when he returned to the Cavs.
One of the things that have impressed Love the most about LeBron James is the latter’s ability to overcome adversity. James was well on his way to becoming a global superstar even before he played a single minute in the NBA, and there’s no denying that the expectations were enormous. Nevertheless, LeBron passed each test with flying colors:
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“It will be very tough to eclipse or surpass him as a better face for the NBA and what he has meant for the league. He had all the pressure in the world on him and people were touting him and projecting him to be Jordan-esque or the next Jordan. The man has ‘Chosen One’ tattooed across his back and he goes out and exceeds expectations. And at every juncture, every fork in the road, anything that came up — adversity, any lump that he took. People wanted to tear him down, buy he always found a way. Like he says, strive for greatness,” Love wrote.