Recounting Every Time LeBron James Broke a Franchise

Along the incredible journey of LeBron James' 21-year career, he's reached the point where you won't find a franchise in the sport that doesn't have some sour memory of a moment LeBron terrorized their team. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a team that can't think of more than a few examples, but throughout his reign of terror through the East during his days in Cleveland, Miami, and back in Cleveland, he's buried a number of franchises for good as reality set in they just won't get past him. This has come in a plethora of forms, as some teams have just waived the white flag and blown it up completely, others have tried their luck with a major move hoping to push them over the top, and some have just sorta let it play out knowing LeBron is always going to stand in their way. I count five specific moments LeBron James officially broke a franchise, just so overpowering towards one team that calling it a lop-sided rivalry a one-sided rivalry would be disrespectful to LeBron. Let's analyze the five, how it went down, and how these helpless franchises reacting to James taking ownership of everything they held dear.

Washington Wizards (2006-08)

The first franchise you'll find having nightmares about LeBron was the Washington Wizards, a consistent playoff team in the late 2000s that simply couldn't get escape LeBron during his early postseason runs in Cleveland. it was Washington who faced LeBron James in the very first postseason of his NBA career, a 4-5 matchup that was even with James looking as good as advertised in his playoff debut. The whole basketball world was ready to see LeBron hit the playoff stage for the first time, and he wasted no time leaving his mark, hitting game-winners in both Game 3 and Game 5 to put Cleveland ahead 2-1 and 3-2 respectively. And who could forget Game 6, where LeBron had something to say to Gilbert Arenas right before shooting the second of two crucial free throws with a one-point lead. Arenas had already missed the first, would miss the second, and the Cavs would bury another game-winner and win the series. All it took was one playoff series for LeBron to induce terrors on a city, and his 35.7 PPG that series was the third-most in a guy's first playoff series in NBA history. And it certainly wasn't done there, as LeBron would have his way with the Wizards in each of the next two first rounds, sweeping them the ensuing year with Arenas out and taking them out in six the next year with Arena limping through Washington's third straight loss to Cleveland. No franchise got a better taste of young postseason LeBron than these Wizards, as he burst onto the scene and made quick work of a franchise that was finally gathering reason for optimism in their first stretch as a perennial playoff team in a good 20 years. James had none of that, closing that window with ease and the Wizards just fell apart from that point on, finishing 19-63 and last in the East the following year and falling into all sorts of dysfunction over the next few seasons, eventually blowing it up and not reaching the postseason again until 2014. This was the first example of a franchise being left in ruins once LeBron got done with it, and a warning sign to the rest of the Eastern Conference that teams might not have taken seriously enough.

Detroit Pistons (2007-09)

Many point to that iconic Game 5 against the Pistons in 2007 as LeBron's first truly legendary moment, but that wasn't all the havoc he wreaked on a Pistons team slowly fading out of their glory days of the early 200s. LeBron had been tearing it up in his first postseason in 2006 with one of the best series debuts ever against the Wizards, but a Pistons team coming off a trip to the NBA Finals and filled with proven winners was ready and waiting. They struck down LeBron to put an unceremonious end to his first playoff run, taking the series in an 18-point Game 7 blowout in James' first realization yet that it was going to take even a little more than he was giving to make a deep postseason run work. And as he has countless times in his career coming off a loss like that, James entered next season hungrier, powering through his first two playoff series and setting up a rematch in the Eastern Conference Finals with Detroit. The Cavs dropped the first two on the road, but this was a more battle-tested LeBron ready for what was thrown at him, winning the next two and finding themselves in a very tight battle on the road in a crucial Game 5. It was a point in the game and the series where the biggest stars needed to shine, and all LeBron did down the stretch was score 25 consecutive points for the Cavs, putting together maybe the most dominant individual stretch the sport has ever seen and capping off his all-time performance with a game-winning layup to win it in double-overtime. He finished the game with 48 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists, and Cleveland finished off Detroit two days later to reach LeBron's first Finals. And in LeBron's final act against Detroit two years later, he swept them in a first-round series in which not a single game was close, the final game Chauncey Billups would play a Piston and marking the official end to Detroit's run as East contenders. The Pistons were already on the decline that season but had still reached the postseason for an 8th straight year, but LeBron officially put the nail in the coffin, sending them into purgatory as they wouldn't make the playoffs again until 2016, where none other than LeBron James would re-enter Pistons fans lives with one more sweep for good measure.

Boston Celtics (2011-12)

LeBron James' burial of the Celtics as we knew it was his first murder committed as a member of the Miami Heat, a landmark shift in LeBron's career after failing to get past them in Cleveland. Boston took down LeBron's Cavs in a 7-game Eastern Conference Finals en route to their 2008 title, and they got the best of him again two years later with a six-game series win that marked the end of James' time in Cleveland. You may be familiar with the podcast clip where Kevin Garnett makes the claim that the Celtics "broke LeBron". Now those early series wins were impressive, but as the playing field began to level as James' supporting cast rose with the move to Miami, that's where KG's bold claim might get a little dicey. In James' first season with the Heat he got a matchup with Boston in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, a test you know Boston was ready for and a major moment for LeBron now in a new uniform against a team that's had his number in years past. And the passing of the torch was underway. The Heat rolled through Boston in a five-game series win, with one of James' most iconic Miami moments coming with the game's final 10 points in the series-clinching Game 5, hitting two back-to-back threes and two more at the rim to close out the Celtics in his first signature moment since joining the Heat. And the two teams would meet again the next season, this time in the Eastern Conference Finals, in a series with far more pressure mounting on LeBron coming off his 2011 Finals dud and all the pressure in the world to bounce back and redeem himself at the biggest stage. And when a Paul Pierce dagger put Boston up three games to two headed back to Boston, the walls were really closing in on who LeBron was as a player. The whole basketball universe was on the edge of its seat to see how LeBron would respond, and he delivered one of the best elimination games in the history of sports, totaling 45 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 assists on 19/26 shooting leading the Heat to a blowout win to force a Game 7. And he'd answer the call two days later as well, giving Boston another 31 and 12 and securing Miami's spot in another NBA Finals. If there was any doubt, it was now LeBron's East, and the window had closed for this Celtics core to get another ring. And just to add salt to the wound, LeBron snatched Ray Allen from Boston the ensuing offseason, the first domino of their core to go down and instead go help James win another title. The Celtics would blow it up for good in the next offseason in 2013, as LeBron had passed them right in front of their eyes as top dog in the Eastern Conference, with his iconic Game 6 and 7s burying Boston for good in their final shot at one more championship.

Chicago Bulls (2010-15)

For the first time since the glory days of Michael Jordan's time, the early 2010s Bulls had built a contender back up led by a rising superstar in Derrick Rose and a strong supporting cast built to last in the postseason. Chicago made their voices heard with a valiant seven-game effort against the Celtics in round one in 2009, giving them reason to believe heading into a first-round series with LeBron and the Cavaliers in the ensuing postseason. Now Rose may have been right on the brink of an MVP, but that title still went to LeBron. Cleveland made quick work of the Bulls with a five-game series win, but the Bulls continued to rise and earned a rematch with a LeBron James now in Miami in next season's Eastern Conference Finals. Chicago had ascended all the way to the East's top seed with D-Rose winning MVP, and the best Bulls squad in over a decade dominated Game 1 of the series and looked ready to put LeBron to the test. All Miami did was win five in a row from that point on, closing out a series-clinching Game with an 18-3 run to stun Chicago on the road. With Rose's devastating injury the next year, the Bulls would never get another fair crack at competing with LeBron's Heat, though they'd meet again in 2013 and LeBron would put them down in five once again, a series Chicago was far less built to compete in with Rose still out from last postseason's injury. The Bulls pulled together a really good roster again a few years later in 2015, earning themselves a second-round matchup with LeBron's newest stop, Cleveland. With Rose back playing at a high level, Pau Gasol turning back the clock for one of the best years of his career, and Jimmy Butler emerging as an All-Star player, LeBron had his hands full quickly in his first postseason since returning to Cleveland. And after the Bulls took Game 2 on the road and stunned the Cavs on Derrick Rose's incredible game-winner in Game 3, James' back was already against the wall just a few games into the second round. And what did he do? He hit a game-winner at the buzzer in a Game 4 on the road Cleveland absolutely had to have, stunning the United Center crowd on Easter Sunday and launching the Cavaliers right back into the series. They'd win the next two, closing it out with a blowout win in Chicago, and those would be the final games Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah would play for the Bulls as a promising era riddled by injuries and LeBron James came to an abrupt end.

Indiana Pacers (2012-18)

When you look back on LeBron's time in Miami, it was a bit of an unlikely culprit who gave the Heat their toughest and most frequent battles, an Indiana Pacers club that never quite felt like contenders but was always lurking around and a consistently tough out in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers unexpectedly took Games 2 and 3 from Miami in 2012, but they never stood too much of a chance as the Heat cruised on by with three straight wins. But as Paul George's ascension continued so did Indiana's play, and they found themselves matched up with Miami once again this time a round later in the Conference Finals. It was a valiant effort out of the Pacers going toe-to-toe in a seven-game series, but the Heat prevailed once again and went on to win another ring. And once agin 2014 the Pacers were able to get right back there for one more crack at Miami, but were disposed of once again in six. Indiana gave it their best shot each time, and that was a better effort than the Heat were getting from the rest of the East, but they could never quite get by Miami as their window of contention began to dissipate. Indiana left the boat of contention from that point on, largely because of Paul George's broken leg, and as he returned rumors began to circulate regarding a potential move. But even as talks developed in the background George stuck it out in 2017, but the Pacers weren't free from LeBron yet, or even close to it. Cleveland LeBron put an official end to the PG era in Indiana, sweeping the Pacers in the first round in a series that included an incredible 26-point Game 3 comeback and another hard battle given the circumstances, but in the end not close to enough to really compete. The Paul George era was an exciting time in Indy with plenty of memorable moments, but in the end it began and ended at the hands of LeBron James. Even as that window closed the Pacers still had enough to field a payoff team in their first year without PG in 2018, only to draw - guess who - LeBron James in the first round of the playoffs. And of all the playoff meetings and all the tough losses, LeBron may have saved his best for last when dealing with Indiana, averaging 34.4 PPG, 10 RPG, and 7.7 APG, putting the team on his back in and hitting a game-winning three in Game 5 in the Cavaliers' competitive seven-game series win. Paul George's time in Indiana had plenty of potential and reason for optimism, but as the excitement grew there was always LeBron waiting to put an end to it, an issue that would plague the Pacers all the way through his final moments with the franchise. And if that wasn't enough, LeBron almost single-handedly took the Pacers out a year later, making it five series wins in seven years against an Indiana that was always good, but never quite good enough.

Toronto Raptors (2016-18)

LeBron's sheer dominance of the Raptors franchise was the most documented of all the organizations he's buried, as no one city quite felt the wrath of LeBron James' dominance quite like Toronto. It takes a lot for a city to be named after an opposing player, but something about "LeBronto" just felt right. Once James arrived in Cleveland for his second stint the Raptors were one of the big risers in the East, turning into a perennial playoff team led by a strong backcourt and a fanbase eager for a competitive team. They made their big jump in 2016, where they broke through to their first Eastern Conference Finals in franchise history as the East's No. 2 seed, set for their first ever playoff duel with LeBron James. And boy, I think it's safe to say they didn't know what they were getting into. The Cavs won Game 1 by 31 points and Game 2 by 19 points, and after a pair of Toronto wins, Cleveland put it away winning the next two. There wasn't too much to take from this one - LeBron beat everyone in the East and the Raptors actually put up a good fight and should be back again - but this wasn't the final time James and this city would go to war. Toronto got the same matchup in 2017 but this time looked far less up to the task, falling victim to a second round sweep with James playing completely of his mind in all four games. He averaged 36 PPG and 8.3 RPG, scoring 35 points in three of the four games and shooting 57.3% from the field and 48.1% from three. The Raptors simply couldn't stop him but, well, you could say once again that nobody in the East could. But then came 2018. This was far and away the weakest team LeBron ever had in his second stint in Cleveland, with Kyrie Irving gone and a team full of role players surrounding James in the worst regular season he had been a part of since 2007-08, 10 years earlier. They had to give it everything they had just to slip past Indiana in the first round, and it was simultaneously aligning perfectly for Toronto to swoop right in. The Raptors had put together their best regular season in franchise history, earning the No. 1 seed in the conference for the first time and entering their second round series as big favorites, even after going down to LeBron in back-to-back years. What happens next might still give Raptors fans nightmares. Toronto just barely lost Game 1 at home after missing five potential game-winning shots in the final seven seconds, ultimately falling in OT in a devastating opening loss. LeBron went for 26 points, 13 boards, and 11 assists. In Game 2, it was all Cleveland. The Raptors couldn't shake off the brutal loss and LeBron completely tore them up, exploding for 43 points, 14 assists, and 8 rebounds. Game by game, he ripped the city's heart out even further, and that would apex on the ensuing Saturday night in Cleveland, where his running bank shot at the buzzer went down, winning it for the Cavs and taking a 3-0 series lead, one more merciless blow to the city of Toronto that even the greatest cynic couldn't have scripted up. By Game 4 it was the corpse of a once promising Raptors crew, and LeBron and co. rolled to a 35-point win to secure the sweep. It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment James took the soul of the city, and I'd almost feel bad trying. There was a silver lining with all this, remarkably, as LeBron's utter dominance led Toronto down a new route, trading away franchise legend DeMar DeRozan for a year of Kawhi Leonard, a year that culminated in the franchise's first championship. If you asked a Raptors fan from 2016-18 how they felt about LeBron, grateful probably wouldn't be one of their go-to answers. But hey, if he didn't humiliate them to the cold-blooded extent that he did, they probably would've never got that ring.