LeBron James' legacy is secure. He is a Pantheon-level player, and nothing that he does as his career winds down is going to change that. I understand why some people rank him as the greatest player of all-time based on his size, athleticism, skill set, and durability, but I also understand (and tend to agree with) people who rank James as a very great player but not the greatest player.
It is amazing that it took until James' twilight years for him to lose a first round playoff series (though it should be noted that he has missed the playoffs three times, while Pantheon members Bill Russell and Julius Erving never missed the playoffs). A first round loss as the defending champion does not invalidate last year's championship or any of James' four championships.
James' blatant craving for approval--including an exhortation after last year's NBA Finals that he receive "respect" that he feels he has earned but not been granted--is tiresome, but should not affect how we view his accomplishments; nothing said by James or anyone else changes what he has done. However, when he demands "respect" and when he makes outlandish declarations (such as asserting that Cleveland's 2016 NBA title cemented his status as the greatest player of all-time) it is only natural to carefully scrutinize James' career to test the validity of his statements.
James' career includes many spectacular highs, and a few ignominious lows. As I wrote two years ago, "LeBron James is a supremely gifted basketball player who has had a great career but who has also been disruptive to multiple franchises. Have other great players been demanding and difficult at times? Yes, but in most instances not to the extent that James has been and not in ways that make it appear that winning as many championships as possible is not the top priority."
James squandered two excellent opportunities to win championships during his prime: he quit versus Boston in the second round of the 2010 Eastern Conference playoffs and--despite leaving Cleveland to form a "Big Three" in Miami--he lost in the 2011 NBA Finals to a team that had just one All-Star player in his prime (Dirk Nowitzki).
James won one title mainly because of a great shot by Ray Allen (2013). Allen's shot is much more important to James' legacy than the clutch Finals shots hit by John Paxson and Steve Kerr are to Michael Jordan's legacy; if Paxson or Kerr had missed their shots, Jordan's Bulls would have played a seventh game in each of those series. On the other hand, if Allen had missed his shot then the San Antonio Spurs would have celebrated yet another championship win over James.
James won his fourth title during a bizzare "bubble" playoffs after a shortened regular season split into two segments--a unprecedented break that was very beneficial for an older player such as James.
The reality is that James' four titles place him one title short of his contemporaries Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, and two titles short of Michael Jordan, whose final retirement happened not long before James jumped straight from high school to the NBA. James perhaps "should" have won more titles, and--were it not for Ray Allen's shot and the vagaries of the "bubble"--he "could" have won fewer titles, but four titles as an All-NBA caliber player are more than enough to secure Pantheon status (which, in my estimation, James had reached even before he won his first title).
Due to a combination of personal circumstances, mentality, and the rules in place during various eras, Bill Russell, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant pursued championships with just one team, while James has repeatedly sought out greener pastures to build "super teams." I am not a fan of the "super teams" that are built by depriving small market teams of their best players, but James' choice to handle his business that way does not lower (or raise) my ranking of his career.
It will be interesting to see if James' current ankle injury is just a temporary challenge to be overcome, or if he has entered the twilight phase experienced by former Lakers West and Bryant, who played at the highest level for a long time until--rather suddenly--their bodies immediately and permanently stopped them from playing at the highest level on a consistent basis.
Anthony Davis has never been a durable player--James had the good fortune of not only winning a title during the odd "bubble" season but also of playing alongside Davis during that rare season in which Davis was not limited by injury. One suspects that if James seeks to prolong his career by ceding the number one role to Davis then the Lakers will not win another title during James' career, because Davis does not appear to be a player who is built to shoulder that kind of load.
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