LeBron James' top 5 opponents of all time

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#3 Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant and LeBron James have a storied NBA rivarly over the years

Few players can go toe-for-toe with LeBron James offensively. However, in his battles with Kevin Durant, fans were able to witness some of the best scoring displays in Finals history.

After Durant's OKC side were consistently beaten late in the playoffs, including by LeBron's Miami Heat in 2012, he made the move to the Warriors in 2016. Alongside Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala, Durant helped the Dubs win back-to-back titles against James' Cleveland Cavaliers.

Three years ago today: Kevin Durant hits a dagger 3-pointer over LeBron James to put the Warriors up 3-0 on the Cavs in the 2017 NBA Finals. pic.twitter.com/bQ9WDiU9V0

— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) June 7, 2020

In their two Finals matchups against one another they traded blows, both scoring over 33 points per game in the 2017 series. Durant would go on to win both Finals MVP awards and hit multiple dagger threes in James' face. NBA fans are hoping to see the two matchup again in an almighty Finals series between the Lakers and Nets this year.

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#2 Andre Iguodala

LeBron James goes up against Andre Iguodala in the 2017 NBA Finals

Andre Iguodala might have felt he had seen the last of LeBron James in the playoffs after he switched conferences in 2019. However, for the fifth time in six seasons, the two forwards battled yet again in the NBA Finals as the LA Lakers overcame the Miami Heat in six games.

Iguodala was integral to the Golden State Warriors dynasty that dominated the league for five years. He was primarily used as a Sixth Man but also started plenty of Finals matchups with the thankless task of slowing down James.

Though LeBron still regularly racked up huge scorelines, his stats when Iguodala was on the court were noticeably worse than when he sat out. So much so that the Golden State Warriors forward picked up the 2015 Finals MVP award for his efforts over their six-game series.

James' efficiency fell off a cliff per 36 minutes in the Finals that year when Iguodala was playing, scoring 8.8 fewer points, shooting at just 38% as opposed to 43% from the field and having a +/- of -9.5 instead of 16.6 when he rested.

The two players have faced each other 31 times in the playoffs, with no opponent having played James more in the postseason. That number could yet go up with Iguodala's move back to the West Coast.

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#1 Paul Pierce

LeBron James and Paul Piece duel in the NBA Playoffs

Nobody has faced LeBron James more times in their career than Paul Pierce did. In 69 games, Pierce had the better of James during the regular season (three wins more) but lost on four more occasions to James' sides in the playoffs.

Prior to the Boston Celtics forming their big 3 of Pierce, Garnett and Ray Allen in 2007, LeBron and the Cavaliers had been dominating the East and had just lost the NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs.

Over the ensuing three campaigns, though, James could not lead his Cavs side past the Celtics, losing on two occasions in the Conference semifinals and having to see them lift the Larry O'Brien trophy in 2008.

It wasn't until James created his own trio of superstars at the Miami Heat that he could take revenge on Pierce and the Celtics and simultaneously take charge of the East, knocking them out of the postseason in back-to-back campaigns.

Due to their consistent battling in the East, Pierce and LeBron had multiple epic duels, including in game 7 of the 2008 Conference semifinals. Of the 189 points scored in the fixture, which the C's took 97-92, the pair accounted for 86 of them with LBJ scoring 45 and Pierce 41.

As an outspoken member of the media, it is no surprise that Pierce doesn't always have the kindest words to say about LeBron. After all, it was a young James who took over the East from his rival. He even claimed that he didn't mind splitting from ESPN recently since he had to talk about the LA Lakers star 'all the time'.