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LeBron James is looking to win a second NBA title with the LA Lakers when he and his revamped squad take the court next season. Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations and general manager, has retooled the Purple and Gold for another lengthy playoff run that will hopefully end in a championship.
Along the way, LeBron James will face a plethora of rivals, some new and others from his earlier years in the league. Regardless of how far the rivalry has come, the 17-time All-Star would love nothing more than to prove his superiority over his would-be conquerors.
With 18 years under his belt, James has faced all comers head on. And though he hasn’t always won, he has always relished the opportunity to go head-to-head against them.
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Here are the 5 opponents that LeBron James would be looking forward to facing during the upcoming 2021-22 season:
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5. Chris Paul
While LeBron James and Chris Paul are good friends, they’re also among the most competitive. LeBron James and Chris Paul faced off in the playoffs for the first time in their careers last season. A less than 100 percent James and a hobbled Paul battled it out for six games before the Phoenix Suns emerged victorious in the first round.
The injury that Anthony Davis suffered in the middle of the series made Lakers fans wonder what could have been, especially when they led the match 2-1 after three games.
Moreover, Paul’s Suns embarrassed LeBron James’ LA Lakers in the last two games of the series, giving the four-time MVP his first taste of first-round playoff failure.
The agony of that defeat will motivate James to pay back his buddy big time next campaign, whether in the regular season or the postseason.
4. Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry won three championships with the Golden State Warriors at LeBron James’ expense in the mid-2010s. In four meetings, James’ Cleveland Cavaliers could only muster one title during a four-year stretch in the NBA Finals from 2015 to 2018.
When James finally had a championship-ready squad during the 2019-20 season, Curry’s Warriors were not a threat as he was sidelined after five games. Though he came back strong in 2020-21, his team was a shell of its championship self with many new faces and fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson out for the season.
As the Golden State Warriors are gearing up for a title run next season with their three best players healthy (Draymond Green being the other one), the LA Lakers are also gunning for the 2022 title with the addition of Russell Westbrook this offseason.
For the first time since he migrated to the Western Conference in 2018, LeBron James will face the Warriors with both teams having an equal opportunity to win the championship. Having a 1-3 record against Curry in the Finals will no doubt motivate James to beat him every time he sees him, both in the regular season and the playoffs should they meet there.
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3. Giannis Antetokounmpo
The newly crowned king in the NBA is Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James knows this. The Greek Freak was dominant in the 2021 NBA Finals en route to an epic series while capturing his first championship.
Meanwhile, LeBron James could only watch while his sprained right ankle continued to rest and recuperate from the beating it took during the last few games of the season. James congratulated Antetokounmpo on social media, though he internally wished he was the one hoisting aloft the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
LeBron James will relish taking the crown away from Giannis should they meet in the NBA Finals next season, but he will also be motivated enough to try and beat the 2021 Finals MVP in the regular season. They will only meet twice before the playoffs so expect James to be hyped for those two games if only to prove that he is still the King.
2. Kevin Durant
LeBron James is 1-2 against Kevin Durant in the NBA Finals and they could meet for a fourth time if the Brooklyn Nets and LA Lakers reach the championship round next season. James would love nothing more than to tie the Finals series between them and perhaps break the tie in the next few years.
Many hail Durant as the best player in the game and it’s an unofficial title that LeBron James would love to reclaim in the eyes of his critics and some of his supporters, too.
Their rivalry dates back to the 2012 Finals when James won his first-ever championship, with Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder as his first victim. The 2014 MVP has since repaid his counterpart when he nailed dagger 3-pointers in the face of LeBron James two years in a row when the Warriors won the title in 2017 and 2018.
They’ll meet in the 2021-22 regular season twice, and after that, the only time they will meet again in the postseason is if the Brooklyn Nets and LA Lakers meet in the NBA Finals.
A Nets-Lakers series for all the marbles is the marquee matchup that everyone wants to see, and it’s no doubt the one that LeBron James wants more than any other matchup.
1. Kyrie Irving
Just when you thought Kyrie Irving and LeBron James had moved past their differences after the two played on Team LeBron in 2018, the former questioned the latter’s “clutchness” during last year’s NBA Finals.
"This is the first time in my career where I can look down and be like, 'That motherf----- can make that shot, too," Irving said in praising new teammate Kevin Durant.
That blatant shot at his former teammate was uncalled for and it didn’t have any basis despite LeBron James making go-ahead shots and buzzer-beaters during their time together on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Later, LeBron James told Richard Jefferson how he felt about that statement from Irving.
“We were still able to win a championship, and we could never align, but I only cared about his well being, both on and off the floor,” James said during an episode of the
Road Trippin’
podcast. “And it kind of hurt me a little bit."
Since then, and even despite Irving’s seeming clarification of his statement later on (which wasn’t that good anyway), the two former Cavs have been cold with one another.
Now that they each have a Big 3 of their own, expect LeBron James to be more than motivated to stick it to Irving every game they play against one another, and that includes the All-Star Game.
If they meet in the NBA Finals next year, expect a vengeful and fiery LeBron James to play like a man possessed as he faces not just one, but two of his bitterest rivals in the game.
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Warriors Nation! You can check out the latest Golden State Warriors Schedule and dive into the Warriors Depth Chart for NBA Season 2024-25.
