LeBron James' 5 Biggest Feuds Ever

Since joining the league in 2003 as a bright eyed 18-year-old, LeBron James has had a rollercoaster ride of a career that has been littered with minor and major feuds with various NBA personnel.

From his former team's owner to actual ESPN analysts, it seems that everybody wants a piece of LeBron James.

The best of the best have always been met with some sort of criticism by internal and external sources. When you're always in the national spotlight, you're going to be noticed. While most of the reactions are in a positive light, there will always be a select few who have to create some perception of negativity.

As a result, a feud will begin if the critic continues to relentlessly direct his insults of if the player returns fire.

Of course, LeBron James has brought much of this upon himself. He can be extremely arrogant and egotistical and has brought that to light with some of his quotes. His move to Miami gave many of his longtime critics an outlet to finally voice an opinion on James that would be met with approval

We take a look at Lebron's career and the five biggest feuds he's conducted with players, analysts, team owners and fans (these are in no particular order).

Dan Gilbert

LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert may have reconciled their differences, but the image of Gilbert and his comic-sans letter will forever be embed in our minds.

For those who have just started watching basketball after a two-year absence—if so, welcome!—Gilbert was so distraught over James and his decision to leave the Cavs that he ended up sending an open letter to the fans of Cleveland. Gilbert didn't offer any clarity. Instead, he went off on James and made some ridiculous claims.

Among the now infamous quotes include:

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"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER 'KING' WINS ONE"

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Don't kill me for the caps, either, because that's how he actually wrote it.

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"If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels."

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Ouch. Having LeBron on your team wasn't enough motivation to scoop up some free agents who can help him win a title?

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"Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there."

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Gilbert has officially gone down the path of John Edwards. This is his "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

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"The self-declared former "King" will be taking the 'curse' with him down south. And until he does 'right' by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma."

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Well, the curse stayed and the Cavaliers won 19 games in their first year without LeBron. However, an act of divine intervention allowed them to receive two of the top four picks in next year's draft. They ended up taking Kyrie Irving, the current Rookie of the Year, and Tristan Thompson, a solid defender and rebounder.

Joakim Noah

Joakim Noah has no problem dancing like this.

LeBron James dancing, however? That simply cannot be allowed.

The James and Noah rivalry stems from the fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls play four times every year,.

However, it blew up once James started dancing on the sidelines during a game against the Bulls while his team was up by 20 points in the fourth quarter.

LeBron was seen doing some type of dance and Noah took exception. During a James free throw, Noah was caught hurdling insults at LeBron. The Cavalier forward obviously took exception and began to walk towards the Bulls sideline, where Noah was seated, before he was met by a few of his teammates. The two continued to jaw at each other before the game went on.

Noah was later quoted:

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"When you're losing the way you're losing, guys just rubbing it in your face and dancing like that — I have a lot of respect for LeBron; its just a frustrating situation."

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The solution? Don't be down by so many points that the opposing team's star player starts dancing out of boredom.

Noah will certainly see more of James with his Bulls and James' Heat most likely to face off numerous times in the coming postseasons. LeBron and the Heat drew first blood last year with a 4-1 conference finals victory.

Joakim was less than pleased:

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"They are Hollywood as hell, but still very good at the same time."

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Shots fired!

Skip Bayless

Is it really a feud if one guy is obsessed with the other and the other doesn't seem to care?

That appears to be the relationship in a nutshell between ESPN analyst Skip Bayless and LeBron James.

Bayless is a talking head on the show "First Take," which is a show that involves two or three analysts arguing about some topic that is presented to them. The analysts yell at each other for 10 minutes before moving on to the next topic to yell some more. The topics are usually about current events, but more times than not it's about LeBron James.

For some reason, this show is absolutely obsessed with whatever James does. I'm not a fan of the show, being more of a fan of facts and levelheadedness, but James appears to be the topic whenever I unfortunately tune in. The show has become well-known simply because of Bayless' constant droning over James' inability to do whatever he couldn't do the night before.

Whether it's Bayless speaking about James and his MVP, his failures in the 2011 Finals or a mouthpiece, there's usually something negative Skip has to say about a three-time MVP who has brought two different teams to the NBA Finals.

It's big talk from someone who averaged 1.2 points per game on their high school basketball team as a senior.

Bayless has relentlessly asked James to come on the show to debate with him, yet has heard nothing back. However, Bayless did engage in a debate with Chris Bosh on the show. Bayless spent 10 minutes calling Bosh names, while the Heat power forward kept his cool and attempted logic and rational thinking—two characteristics that are hardly seen on 'First Take'.

I've attempted to find a quote from LeBron directed to Bayless, but have found nothing. This feud is as one-sided as it gets.

However, nobody is a winner.

DeShawn Stevenson

Before DeShawn Stevenson became a key piece to the 2011 Dallas Mavericks' championship run, he had a previous run-in with LeBron James.

Long ago in the year 2008, Stevenson decided to make one of the most insane proclamations in NBA history. Following a game where Stevenson's Washington Wizards had beaten James' Cleveland Cavaliers, Stevenson made the statement:

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"He's overrated. And you can say I said that"

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James averaged an NBA-leading 30 points per game that year, to go along with a healthy eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals. The comment was shrouded in absurdity, but it was an obvious attempt to get under James' skin. Sometimes it's the most you can do against players that will beat you from a physical standpoint 10 times out of 10.

The two would meet each other in the first round of the postseason that year. The Cavs had beaten the Wizards in the playoffs the two previous years and made it a third with a 4-2 series victory. Of course, the matchup was met with plenty of storylines with the James and Stevenson feud leading the way.

Perhaps the greatest moment of the series came after a made three by Stevenson over James. Despite his team being down by 20 points in the second quarter, Stevenson did a hand motion that's supposed to suggest "I'm so hot right now that I don't even see you." DeShawn obviously was playing on another planet because that's the last thing you want to do in the middle of a game against the league's top player.

So what happened? James hit a three-pointer in Stevenson's face sans obnoxious hand motion.

The two would meet again in the 2011 NBA Finals, where Stevenson would get the better of James thanks in part to his individual efforts and terrific team defense by the Mavericks. LeBron couldn't solve the Mavericks' zone and it led to a mental collapse, which inevitably led to Stevenson winning a title before James.

DeShawn responded with yet another childish rebuttal via t-shirt.

James response was to average 27 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals per game while also taking home a third MVP. Stevenson can now be seen in New Jersey, where he averaged three points and two boards per in 51 games.

Who really won?

Everyone Outside of Miami

People really do not like this LeBron James character.

I understand the Cleveland Cavalier fans. Trust me, if it was the star player of my team leaving in that manner, I'd probably have some words to say myself. LeBron made the right decision by leaving Cleveland for Miami, but he executed it in an absurdly poor manner, which only adds to why he's not too well liked outside of Miami.

James has since regretted the way he left, however. Not that it means anything to anyone, but he looked back on it and decided that it probably wasn't the best idea.

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"The way it panned out with all the friends and family and fans back home, I apologize for the way it happened. This was the opportunity of lifetime."

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It's completely understood where the Cleveland faithful are coming from. The loyal fans there have dealt with a lot of hardship in the sporting community. From the Browns decades of mediocrity to the Indians failure to win a championship of their own, LeBron was looked at as a savior to possibly bring home a title to Cleveland for the first time in over five decades.

It didn't happen, thus the reason why James left for Miami.

But what about the hatred and overall disdain for James elsewhere? Is this all a result of the Heat's preseason celebration? Once again, that's another case of something being blown up simply because it's LeBron. The guy wanted to get his new fans hyped up for the coming season, so can you really blame him for telling the fans that he's going to win multiple titles?

Also, it's Miami. The sporting community there was a little wary of watching the Dolphins, Marlins and Panthers fail every year, so it's a different change of pace to actually get excited for something sports related.

I'm not buying the ego or arrogance ideas, either. Every star athlete has those features. Paul Pierce claimed he was the best player in the world after winning a title, yet was met with hardly the type of backlash James would see after "The Decision."

Wherever James goes, his troop of closet fans follow close in suit, ready to pounce on him and make comments about how he can't finish off a game. Despite the fact that James has won three MVP's with two different teams and has led two teams to the NBA Finals, it all comes down to the fact that he doesn't have a ring.

So I ask, what happens when he does? Does it subside? Do we find another aspect of his game to knock? Or do we simply move on to another player to base entire SportsCenter episodes on?