With his record-breaking 23rd season in the NBA well underway after recovering from a sciatica injury in his lower back, 21-time All-NBA Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has faced a laundry list of current and future Hall of Famers throughout his lengthy career.
James faced all-time greats Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and the rest of the San Antonio Spurs three times. While with the Cleveland Cavaliers, James was swept by that trio in the 2007 NBA Finals. He enacted his revenge with the Miami Heat six years later, defeating that superstar trio plus a young Kawhi Leonard in 2013. That quartet rallied back the next season to take down Miami in a five-game 2014 NBA Finals obliteration.
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James and the Miami Heat also fell to Hall of Fame center Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 before securing his first NBA championship over the dynamic Oklahoma City Thunder trio of James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
Throw in four straight epic clashes against two-time MVP Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors (Durant was present for two of those series), and James’ list of Hall of Fame opponents in the NBA Finals alone is hard to top.
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However, when asked about the all-time great players he’s faced in his career, James gave a somewhat surprising answer, telling “Mind the Game” podcast co-host Steve Nash that Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is the most dominant and most complete player he’s faced since joining the NBA.
“I will say this. There has not been a more dominant, complete player that I’ve played against, in the sense of all the attributes,” James said of the three-time MVP. “From the passing, to the shooting, to the rebounding, to the attention. There’s nothing he cannot do on the offensive end. Like, nothing at all. Nothing. You try to double him, he’s going to make you pay. You try to play him single coverage, he’s going to make you pay. He even brings the ball up the floor, they outlet the ball to him.”
Jokic, who led the Nuggets to an NBA championship in the 2022-23 season, has locked up a Hall of Fame resume himself, redefining how the center position is viewed with his ability to create offense from the five. His Nuggets swept James and Anthony Davis’ Lakers out of the Western Conference Finals in 2023 and took them down in five games during the first round of the ’24 playoffs.
Despite playing in the same conference, the Lakers won’t face the Nuggets until Jan. 20., giving James a chance to get fully back into basketball shape before facing Jokic.
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