James ties record with fourth honor
LeBron James told the world in 2020 that Black Lives Matter. He helped convince many who had never voted to finally head to the polls. He found more ways to continue elevating the lives of people in his hometown.
If that weren’t enough, he won another NBA championship.
James’ on-court performance this year was spectacular again. A fourth NBA title and fourth NBA Finals MVP trophy were his as he lifted the Los Angeles Lakers back atop the basketball world. And after a year when he was brilliant on the court and off, James was announced Saturday by The Associated Press as the winner of its male athlete of the year award for a record-tying fourth time.
“I still know what I do on the floor, and obviously I give everything to the game,” James, who turns 36 on Wednesday, told the AP. “But I can make a greater impact off the floor right now, more than I can on the floor. And I want to continue to inspire people with the way I play the game of basketball. But there’s so many more things that I can do off the floor to help cultivate people, inspire people, bring people together, empower them.”
The award was first given out in 1931. James’ fourth win matched cyclist Lance Armstrong and golfer Tiger Woods for the most by men.
Three women have won the female athlete of the year award at least four times; multisport star Babe Didrikson was a six-time winner, with the other two tennis players Serena Williams (five) and Chris Evert (four). This year’s award will be announced today.
No NBA player scored more points or provided more assists in 2020 than James. The only other player in his lifetime to lead the league in points and assists in the same calendar year was also James, in 2018.
This year, James became the first player to be NBA Finals MVP for three franchises, with the earlier honors coming with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat. He moved past Kobe Bryant for No. 3 on the alltime scoring list, doing so less
“I still know what I do on the floor, and obviously I give everything to the game. But I can make a greater impact off the floor right now, more than I can on the floor.” — LEBRON JAMES
than 24 hours before the former Lakers star died in a helicopter crash in late January; the last tweet Bryant sent was a congratulatory message to James.
“He’s the greatest player the basketball universe has ever seen,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said of James in October. “And if you think you know, you don’t know until you’re around him every day, you’re coaching him, you’re seeing his mind, you’re seeing his adjustments, seeing
the way he leads the group. You think you know. You don’t know.”
James finished with 78 points in voting by a panel of 35 AP customers and editors. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes was a close second with 71 points. Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, who this year set the series record for career wins and tied the mark for season championships with his seventh, was a distant third with 14 points.
James, announced last year as the AP’s male athlete of this past decade, previously won the yearly AP award in 2013, 2016 and 2018. Michael Jordan, a threetime winner, is the only other basketball player to receive the honor more than once.
“He’s one of the greatest leaders in sports,” Lakers guard Kyle Kuzma said of James.
That applies on and off the court. James’ More Than A Vote organization drew more than 42,000 volunteers to work at polling stations for the November election, helped some earn back their voting rights and pushed for turnout among Black and young voters.
“The tragic death of George Floyd, everyone getting a chance to see that, and also hearing the story of Breonna Taylor, her tragic story, and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia … my people have had enough, and I have had enough,” James said. “That’s why I called for action, and with my platform, I believed I could get people to join me.”
He also focused, as always, on his hometown of Akron, Ohio.
The I Promise School he opened in 2018 now has more than 450 students in third through sixth grades. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the school, James and his team ensured students had hot food delivered to their homes, including complete Thanksgiving meals. An affordable housing project for 50 families broke ground this year. And this month, plans for House Three Thirty (a nod to Akron’s area code) were announced, detailing how James is going to offer things such as accessible family financial health programming, job training and a community gathering space.
“The pandemic has been rough on all of us,” James said. “No matter your situation, no matter where you are in life, it’s been rough. And the first thing I thought about, besides the stoppage of the season, when the pandemic hit was ‘What am I going to do for my kids back in my school?’”