LeBron’s new title: Athlete of the decade
A game-changer in NBA and beyond sports
James voted king of the 2010s by USA TODAY Sports. Top 50 athletes.
From the minute LeBron James decided in 2010 to play for the Heat, it was inevitable that nobody would have a bigger impact on the NBA in the following 10 years.
James, now playing for the Lakers, won championships, MVPs, a gold medal, dominated the Eastern Conference and became a fixture in the NBA Finals in the decade.
He empowered players, spoke out on basketball and nonbasketball issues, created avenues to expand his brand and business in Hollywood and turned his charitable work into meaningful projects that will continue to have an impact long after James is finished playing basketball.
For all of this and more, James has been voted the athlete of the decade by USA TODAY
Sports. Here are five of the ways in which James changed the NBA in the 2010s:
Finals and titles
James played in eight consecutive Finals, joining a handful of Celtics from the 1950s and 1960s as the only players to accomplish that feat. He won three titles (2012, 2013 and 2016) and delivered memorable performances: a triple-double in a Game 7 victory over Golden State in which the Cavs came back from a 3-1 series deficit, an overtime triple-double in Game 6 against San Antonio to save the Heat from elimination and a 37-point, 12-rebound performance in Game 7 against the Spurs to clinch a title. He won three Finals MVPs,
two regular-season MVPs, a gold medal in 2012 and prevented several teams – the Bulls, the Pacers, the Celtics, the Hawks and the Raptors – from reaching the Finals. All five of those teams changed coaches after failing to beat James in the playoffs. When he want to Los Angeles, the East exhaled.
Big 3/player empowerment movement
James pioneered modern-day player empowerment, starting with his decision to form a Big 3 in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Players play with whom they want and where they want even if that means forcing their way via trade. At the time, James’ move was criticized, but it’s commonplace now and other teams view it as a way to build a championship contender. When James went back to Cleveland in 2014, he joined Kyrie Irving, and the
Cavaliers traded for Kevin Love. It happened more organically with Golden State’s Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, but the Warriors still added Kevin Durant in 2016. This past summer, Kawhi Leonard teamed up with Paul George with the Clippers, a move Leonard wouldn’t have made had George not been traded to the Clippers, and Irving and Kevin Durant decided to join up with the Nets.
Mastery of media
James hasn’t always been perfect – his much-maligned “The Decision” announcement on ESPN in 2010 being his biggest gaffe. But since then, James has mastered the media landscape, knowing how to use social media, traditional media and his own platform “Uninterrupted” to spread his message. His entertainment company, SpringHill Entertainment, has worked with TV and movie studios to create shows, including “The Shop” on HBO and “Space Jam 2” with Warner Bros. Today, almost every NBA star uses a form of alternative media (YouTube, Instagram, The Players
Tribune) to deliver content to consumers or join large companies on multimedia projects. Durant is an executive producer on ESPN’s “The Boardroom,” has a YouTube channel and interacts on Twitter. Curry is developing comedies for TV and the big screen.
Philanthropy
Athletes have been involved in philanthropy long before James, but he took it to another level with his LeBron James Family Foundation. Starting out as a charitable organization that provided free bikes to students who accomplished educational goals, the foundation has grown into something larger than James could’ve even imagined a decade ago. His first major initiative was creating a program in which students who met academic standards would receive free tuition to the University of Akron. His biggest achievement is the I Promise School, a public elementary school for at-risk students in Akron. It opened in 2018 and will continue to grow until it houses grades 3-8 by 2022. James needed basketball to make this happen, but this is much more significant than the game.
Social and political issues
The NBA has a history of addressing social issues, dating to the civil rights movement. But there was a bit of a lull in player activism through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. But then Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012 in Florida, and James and his Heat teammates wore hoodies for a photo with James tweeting the #WeAreTrayvonMartin hashtag. It marked the beginning of a new era of social and political activism for the NBA. Derrick Rose wore an “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirt during warm-ups in support of Eric Garner, an unarmed man who died after an incident with New York police. James also wore one of those shirts and has criticized President Donald Trump on several occasions. With his voice so prominent, his missteps are amplified such as his comments that came off as pro-China just before the start of this season. Even with that, James’ willingness to speak out has helped other athletes do the same.