LeBron James claims he didn’t invent the superteam

LeBron James claimed he didn’t invent the superteam when he joined up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

As reported by Dave McMenamin at ESPN, during a recent podcast hosted by Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye, LeBron James stood by his statement that there were many superteams formed prior to his joining the Heat in 2010.

LeBron said, ” … but I don’t look at it as … I definitely didn’t start the superteam.” LeBron makes reference to the Houston Rockets in the mid 90s, when Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler teamed up, and also the Los Angeles Lakers of the early 2000s. That team included Shaquille O’Neil, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton. For good measure, he even called the Boston Celtics of 2008 a superteam, a group that included Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and a rising star in Rajon Rondo.

I’m sort of inclined to agree with LeBron but it depends on what your definition of a superteam actually is. Those teams had many of their core players in place before adding stars. Maybe the most overlooked part in all of this is the manner in which LeBron and Chris Bosh joined up with D-Wade. The events, the celebration of championships they had yet to win. They brought the distinction of superteam on themselves because that’s exactly what they wanted to be.

The Warriors were a superteam in their own right before adding one of the best players in the world in Kevin Durant. Their team already functioned like a well-oiled machine, and Durant was join in without skipping a beat.

Next: Will the Warriors be able to re-sign Steph Curry?

The Heat may have had a team of three stars but the Warriors are an entire team of stars. And they’re able to maintain their status as a cohesive unit because all the pieces of the puzzle fit together so seamlessly.