LeBron James Not “King” Quite Yet

Before LeBron James ever set foot on an NBA court he was already considered royalty by fans and media alike having been given the nickname King.  It is undisputed that James has had lots of success since coming into the league out of high school in 2003. He has clearly cemented himself as a person who has a chance to be in the discussion of all-time greats before his story is written.  Despite all that he has accomplished in six years, he has yet to reach the status of "King" as an NBA player. 

If you want to talk NBA royalty, players such as Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Magic Johnson are just a few who come to mind.  These men are legends in the league with all of them having been winners on the court with their play and winners in the locker room with their teammates by making them better.  

As leaders all of them were the first to stand up and take both the praise and the criticism whether it was warranted or not.  As the kings of their respective teams, they knew the responsibilities that went with the position. 

A king takes both the glory and the criticism.  LeBron James failed to do the latter after his team was eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals by Orlando.

James is the undisputed leader of the Cavaliers and without him they don’t even come close to reaching the level of success that they experienced this year.  All year long he was the first person the media came to when they were on their way to winning 66 games in the regular season and you knew he would be the first person they came to when the Cavs came up short in the playoffs. 

When it came time to answer questions from the media this past Saturday night, James was nowhere to be found in the press conference area.  He was instead hiding on the team bus, leaving his team high and dry.  To use an analogy, James failure to face the blame showed that he ranks right around “Prince” on the royal totem pole. 

Let this serve as a reminder that no matter how much success a 24 year old may have experienced on the court at an early age and no matter how much he may leave us in awe with his skills on a game in and game out basis, we as fans and media shouldn’t be so quick to give a young man such a presitigious title. 

Especially one that has yet to be “King” at the end of any given season.