No one has ring chased like Lebron did in his prime. Dont fault him for leaving Cleveland because they didnt surround him with a good team.
But he decided to team up with another top 5 player and top 15 player. And the Heat had a good coach and GM, but Lebron decided to leave once he saw the Heat title window close.
The initial Decision was prime cuntishness and made him the most unlikable franchise player in history, only since surpassed by Durant, maybe rivalling Melo but there's a Knicks caveat on him.
Pretty sure if he wanted to stay he'd have stayed if Pat ever suggested they'd trade Wade and got someone to phase out Bosh who was going to go down in time.
And he didn't go back to the Cavs out of the goodness of his heart, he went back because they had tanked for 4 years and amassed some good young players.
Kept Kyrie to be his Robin.
Tristan Thompson was a solid starting C.
Flipped Wiggins and Bennett for Kevin Love.
Packaged Dion waiters for jr smith and iman shumpert.
Thats pretty much the Cavs championship team.
Obviously he didn't. But that's not ringchasing anymore. The goal was to bring the championship to Cleveland. Didn't go there just because there are all these all-stars who might just get him another ring.
And he left another team again once he saw their title window close and jumped to another team with good young players.
Went to the Lakers and had them trade Ball, Ingram, and a bunch of picks for AD.
Again, that's not fostering the ringchasing culture at all. Ball and Ingram are scrubs AFAIK. It's a standard trade/FA operation that's been done for years. Boston assembled their big 3 in the same fashion by acquiring annual all-stars to join another (even brought Shaq in as role player).
If anything the Cleveland departure was because they banked on permacrocked defensive scrub in Love who was just about good enough for the needs and rather barren market at the time IIRC, got comfortable once they won it and the 1 championship was the project fulfilled. No plans for it to be a dynasty, even if Kyrie trade suggested it.
Ultimate opportunist. No other great switched teams as much as Lebron via free agency.
And that, the period after Heat, is completely fine by me. Major difference between this and ringchasing is that he's the commodity who is looked at as the piece that will bring a title. A bit like Shaq was when moving to Miami. Not just 'hey, let's get together cuz we got a better chance that way rather than duke it out "on our own" '.
There was an Open Court show about it really and teammates themselves are split about it.
While I agree most of the iconic teams have done it through draft, FA opportunism is pretty normal, especially with the Lakers who are a standard destination going back at least 30 years. Shaq, Pau and Howard all gone there because of Kobe +- role players (Rob Horry, multiple all star with Rockets, Nash ringchasing etc).
LeBron has these clear goals that start with him. He's not the same degree of clutch as Kobe, but what he's done since Heat is more like what you'd see if Kobe ever said "where do I want to go win the title now". They're his projects.
Durant by comparison is massive mug and has a LOT to prove in Brooklyn.
