NBA
4× NBA champion: 2012, 2013, 2016, 2020
4× NBA Finals Most Valuable Player: 2012, 2013, 2016, 2020
4× NBA Most Valuable Player: 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013
17× NBA All-Star: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
3× NBA All-Star Game MVP: 2006, 2008, 2018
17× All-NBA selection:
13× First team: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
3× Second team: 2005, 2007, 2021
Third team: 2019
6× NBA All-Defensive selection:
5× First Team: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
Second Team: 2014
NBA Rookie of the Year: 2004
NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2004
NBA scoring leader: 2008
NBA assists leader: 2020
3× NBA minutes leader: 2007, 2017, 2018
J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award: 2017
USA Basketball[481]
2× Olympic Gold Medal winner: 2008, 2012
2004 Olympic Bronze Medal winner
2006 FIBA World Championship Bronze Medal winner
2007 FIBA Americas Championship Gold Medal winner
2012 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year
Commemorative banner in Miami's American Airlines Arena (for his 2012 gold medal won as a member of the Miami Heat)
High school
2003 National Champion
3× OHSAA Champion: 2000, 2001, 2003
2003 Naismith Prep Player of the Year[482]
2× Mr. Basketball USA: 2002, 2003
2× Gatorade National Player of the Year 2002, 2003
2× USA Today High School Player of the Year 2002, 2003
3× Ohio Mr. Basketball: 2001, 2002, 2003
3× USA Today All-USA First Team: 2001, 2002, 2003
2× PARADE High School Player of the Year: 2002, 2003
2003 McDonald's National Player of the Year[483]
2003 McDonald's High School All-American[484]
2003 McDonald's All-American Game MVP
2003 EA Sports Roundball Classic MVP[485]
2003 Jordan Brand Classic MVP[485]
No. 23 retired by St. Vincent–St. Mary[486]
St. Vincent–St. Mary Hall of Fame (class of 2011)[487]
St. Vincent–St. Mary home basketball court named The LeBron James Arena[488]
Liverpool F.C. (part owner)
2011–12 EFL Cup winner
2018–19 UEFA Champions League winner
2019 UEFA Super Cup winner
2019 FIFA Club World Cup winner
2019–20 Premier League champion
Media
AP Athlete of the Decade (2010s)
4× AP Athlete of the Year (2013, 2016, 2018, 2020)[489]
3× Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year (2012, 2016, 2020)[490][491]
2012 Sporting News Athlete of the Year[492]
3× Sporting News NBA MVP (2006, 2009, 2010)[493][494]
2004 Sporting News Rookie of the Year[495]
Sports Illustrated NBA All-Decade First Team (2000s)[496]
2× Hickok Belt winner: 2012, 2013
19× ESPY Award winner in various categories (15 individually, four as part of a team)[497]
2020 Time Athlete of the Year
NAACP Image Awards
2017 Jackie Robinson Award
2021 President's Award
Sports Emmy Awards
2020 Outstanding Long Sports Documentary (as executive producer of What's My Name? - Muhammed Ali Part 1)[498]
2021 Outstanding Edited Sports Series (as executive producer of The Shop: Uninterrupted)[499]
State/Local
6× Cleveland Sports Awards Professional Athlete of the Year: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2015, 2016[500]
South Main Street in downtown Akron renamed King James Way[501]
Six-story commemorative banner in downtown Akron[501]
Featured on Space Jam inspired mural in Akron near his alma mater (St. Vincent St. Mary) and his I Promise school.[502]
Featured on "Cleveland is the Reason" mural in downtown Cleveland (with other notable Cleveland area figures)[503]
Honorary lockers at Ohio State's football and basketball facilities
James played basketball for St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, where he was heavily touted by the national media as a future NBA superstar. A prep-to-pro, he was selected by Cleveland with the first overall pick of the 2003 NBA draft. Named the 2003–04 Rookie of the Year, he soon established himself as one of the league's premier players, winning the NBA MVP Award in 2009 and 2010. After failing to win a championship with Cleveland, James left in 2010 to sign as a free agent with Miami. This move was announced in an ESPN special titled The Decision, and is one of the most controversial free-agent decisions in sports history. James won his first two NBA championships while playing for the Heat in 2012 and 2013; in both of these years, he also earned league MVP and Finals MVP. After his fourth season with the Heat in 2014, James opted out of his contract to re-sign with the Cavaliers. In 2016, he led the Cavaliers to victory over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals by coming back from a 3–1 deficit, delivering the franchise's first championship and ending Cleveland's 52-year professional sports title drought. In 2018, James exercised his contract option to leave the Cavaliers and signed with the Lakers, where he won the 2020 championship and was awarded his fourth Finals MVP. In 2021, James became the first player in NBA history to accumulate $1 billion in earnings as an active player.
Off the court, James has accumulated more wealth and fame from numerous endorsement contracts. He has been featured in books, documentaries (including winning two Sports Emmy Awards as an executive producer), and television commercials. He has hosted the ESPY Awards and Saturday Night Live, and won 19 ESPY Awards himself. He also appeared in films such as Trainwreck and Space Jam: A New Legacy. James has been a part-owner of Liverpool F.C. since 2011, with the club winning the 2018–2019 UEFA Champions League and 2019–2020 Premier League. Having become more involved in philanthropic and activist pursuits later in his career, James's charitable organization, the LeBron James Family Foundation, helped open an elementary school, housing complex, and community center/retail plaza in his hometown of Akron.
Standing 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 m) tall and weighing 250 pounds (113 kg), James has played the majority of his career at the small forward and power forward positions[272] but has also been deployed at the other positions when necessary.[273] His playing style, which is athletic and versatile, has drawn comparisons to Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan.[120][274][275][31][276] Through the 2020–21 season, James's career averages are 27.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game.[41] Since 2011, he has been ranked the best player in the NBA by ESPN and Sports Illustrated.
James left high school as one of the most hyped prospects in NBA history.[c] Upon entering the NBA, he made an immediate impact and was voted Rookie of the Year in his debut season.[319] As of June 2021, he has been named to 17 All-NBA Teams, including 13 times to the first-team, which are both NBA records.[320] His four MVP awards are matched only by Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell; James and Russell are the only players to win four MVP awards in a five-year span.[321] James has also won four Finals MVP Awards, which is the second-most all-time,[322] and earned All-Defensive honors every season from 2009 to 2014.[41] While James has never won the Defensive Player of the Year Award, he has finished second in the voting twice and lists it as one of his main goals.[62][323] His teams have appeared in the Finals ten times and won four championships. His ten Finals appearances are tied for third all-time.[d] Some analysts have criticized him for not having a better Finals record, while others have countered that James usually performed well but his team was defeated by superior competition.
On the basis of his career longevity and on-court performances, sports publications have consistently included James in rankings of the best basketball players in history,[e] and in December 2019, he was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Decade for the 2010s.[334] In addition to praising James's on-court accomplishments, analysts have also noted James's influence on player empowerment throughout the NBA, which stemmed from his willingness to change teams during free agency. Ben Golliver of The Washington Post opined that James's move to the Heat in 2010 "defined a decade of player movement", and that he "fundamentally flipped the power balance between stars and their organizations."[335] James's fellow players have also remarked on his influence, such as Warriors forward Draymond Green, who reflected: "We've taken control of our destiny. And I think a lot of people hate that [...]. I think the doors that he's opened for athletes and especially basketball players is his biggest accomplishment."
James is also discussed within the context of being the greatest basketball player of all-time, which has resulted in frequent comparisons to Michael Jordan.[1] In a 2016 interview with Sports Illustrated, James acknowledged that his motivation was surpassing Jordan as the greatest.[337] In February 2018, The Ringer spent an entire week devoted to both players, with Bill Simmons ultimately concluding that Jordan was still ahead.[338] In polls, James has ranked second behind Jordan.[339][340][341] The results strongly correlate with age, with older voters more commonly choosing Jordan.[340][341] Davis et al. of Business Insider stated: "The data would suggest that younger, more-engaged NBA fans lean toward James, as he's still playing. Older generations who watched Jordan play and tune in less today lean toward Jordan."[341] Referring to James as the best challenger to Jordan's status as the greatest basketball player of all time, Sam Quinn of CBS Sports stated that "the margin for error where Jordan is involved is overwhelmingly slim" and that "in the rings-obsessed basketball discourse", Jordan having more titles and an "unblemished Finals record holds significant weight."