LeBron and Elgin
As a rookie, Elgin Baylor led the Minneapolis Lakers to the NBA Finals, where they were swept by the Boston Celtics.
In his career, Baylor helped lead the Lakers to a total of eight NBA Finals appearances. Baylor was All-NBA First Team 10 times in his career. He was in the top-5 in scoring eight times and top-5 in rebounding four times. He's fourth in NBA history with 27.4 points per game.
Being swept in his first NBA Finals will mean little to LeBron James' career.
Tim Duncan: the best player on four championship teams
Here is a list of players in NBA history to be the best player on four or more championship teams:
George Mikan
Bill Russell
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar*
Magic Johnson*
Michael Jordan
Tim Duncan
That's select company.
*Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the best player in the '71 Bucks, probably the best player on the '80 and '82 Lakers, and arguably the best player on the '85 Lakers. Magic Johnson was the best player on the '87 and '88 Lakers, arguably the best player on the '85 Lakers, and possibly the best player on the '80 and '82 Lakers. I've got no desire to debate which player was most important to the Lakers in the early 80s; let's paradoxically put them both on the list. And I don't think Shaq was the best player on the '06 Heat. I'm also convinced Bill Russell was the best player on all 11 championship teams he was on (but at any rate, I'm not sure you could argue any other Celtic was the best player on four different championship teams). This is a longer asterisk than I intended.
Select company, but clearly the level of player he sould be linked with. Duncan unlike Lebron is the foundation for his team on offense and defense and can dominate in either area.
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