Winning a championship doesn’t happen on the sole greatness of just one player, and after winning three championships so far in his illustrious career, along with four MVP’s and many other accomplishments, here is a countdown of the five greatest and most talented teammates LeBron James has had throughout his 15-year career so far.
5. Shaquille O’Neal
Although the season that LeBron played alongside Shaq in 2009-10 was a season in which The Diesel was well out of his prime, I decided to add him to this list as he is probably one of the 10 greatest players of all-time, and his 18.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game during that season was reasonably impressive for a 37-year old.
He only spent one season with the King, and didn’t have that chemistry that players like Zydrunas Ilgauskas had with LeBron James, but there’s no denying that O’Neal deserves to be on this list.
4. Kevin Love
A man often misunderstood, Kevin Love has been a great teammate alongside LeBron James over the past four seasons. Averaging basically a double-double over the four seasons, Love has become a great outlet for LeBron to pass to for knock-down three point shots, post moves and cuts to the rim. Although a liability on defense, he has stepped up to the plate in crashing the glass alongside the King as they both share the rebounding load night in and night out. Whether you like him or not, Kevin Love is one of LeBron’s best teammates of all-time.
3. Chris Bosh
One of the best big men in the game for many years until health problems removed him from the court, Chris Bosh was a versatile power forward who worked great with LeBron James both offensively and defensively. Bosh could knock down almost any shot on offense from a King James pass, and was reliable in big playoff games and clutch moments.
Chris Bosh was often seen as the third wheel in Miami, but he was a huge part of their success during their four straight Finals trips and back-to-back NBA titles.
2. Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving quite frankly, might be the most skilful player of all-time. When LeBron made his return back to the Cavaliers in 2014, Kyrie was still growing as a player and had yet to show his true ability.
But as the years progressed, Kyrie became the second most important piece to the Cavaliers' success, hitting a huge shot in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals to seal the NBA championship. Spending just three years with the King isn’t a terribly long time, but it was enough to distinguish Uncle Drew as the second best teammate LeBron’s ever had.
1. Dwyane Wade
Peanut butter and jelly, they just go together. LeBron James made the heavily-criticized move to join Dwyane Wade in Miami in 2010, and they quickly became the best duo in the league. At the time, they were the two most explosive players in transition, which led to many alley-oops and fastbreak highlights in their four years together. Although they were no longer teammates in 2015, they still kept in contact as best friends and in the weird ways the world works, found themselves as teammates in Cleveland in 2018. Although it didn’t last long, we still saw some veteran magic between the duo.
