Except for Bill Russell, Magic Johnson and Robert Horry, all NBA stars have gone through a lot of hardships to get a championship, among which Jordan, Kobe, and James have all encountered embarrassing scenes of being swept by opponents before winning the championship.
Jordan: The biggest opponent, the bad boy Pistons, the second opponent, the troika, the Celtics!
Jordan's biggest opponent is undoubtedly the Detroit Pistons who kept the Bulls out of the Finals for three consecutive years in the 88-90 season, especially in the later 89 and 90 seasons, in 1989, the Pistons swept the Celtics 3:0 in the first round, swept the Bucks 4:0 in the second round, defeated the Bulls 4:2 in the Eastern Conference Finals, and swept the Lakers 4:0 in the finals. In the sixth game, Pippen missed the game because of a migraine, and there was no way to do it.
Jordan's rule, other people can score, Jordan can't
Later, in 1990, the Pistons swept the Pacers 3:0 in the first round, 4:1 Knicks in the second round, and 4:1 Trail Blazers in the finals.
Jordan was swept by opponents twice in his career, 0:3 Celtics in the first round in '86 and 0 in the first round in '87: 3 Celtics, in fact, the reason for being swept is very simple, Larry Bird is at the peak of MVP for three consecutive years, and the Celtics have reached the finals for four consecutive years and won two of them, the Celtics have been the first in the East or even the first in the league in these four years, for example, in the 1986 season, the Celtics 67-15 lost the league, and Jordan couldn't win the playoffs after scoring 63 points, which shows the real gap between the two sides.
Later, Jordan failed to meet Larry Bird in the playoffs
After 87 years, Jordan won a 9-5 advantage against Larry Bird in the regular season, including 50 points and 52 points in a single game, but the two sides were unable to meet in the playoffs later, and Jordan failed to find a chance for revenge throughout his career.
Kobe: The biggest opponent, the Celtics Big Three, and the second biggest opponent, Spurs Duncan!
In 2016, Duncan announced his retirement, when Kobe Bryant was asked in an interview if Duncan was the biggest opponent of his career, and Kobe's answer was: There is no doubt that without this guy, I might have won ten championships!
Of course, this sentence is a bit exaggerated, because the Spurs only defeated the Lakers with Kobe Bryant twice in '99 and '03, but the Spurs lost to the Lakers four times in '01, '02, '04, and '08.
Without the OK Lakers, Duncan could be in the top three in NBA history
However, the number one core of the Lakers in the early days was Shaq O'Neal, for example, when the Spurs swept the Lakers 4:0 in 99, everyone blamed O'Neal instead of Kobe, and it was different when he led the team alone, losing 39 points in the last game in 08, and 2 in 10 years; 3 behind, in the end Perkins was injured to win the seventh, 09 Garnett was injured, 10 years Perkins was injured, plus Rivers, the pig-headed coach, if it weren't for these factors, the Celtics were likely to complete a wave of three consecutive championships.
James: The biggest opponent, the Space Warriors, the second biggest opponent, the GDP Spurs!
The most desperate thing for James is the Golden State Warriors with Durant, the two sides can still kill in the 16 Finals, and the only time in the nine Finals in the 17 and 18 seasons was Irving's 15 of 27 and 40 points, and after the 18 Finals, James knew that there was no hope of winning the championship and chose to leave the team again.
After the Finals, Duncan said to James that the future is yours
Then there is the GDP Spurs, 07 years of the difference in strength between the two sides, and 14 years is different, before the finals swept the Hornets 4:0, 4:1 eliminated the Nets can not be said to be in a bad state, but in the end in front of the Spurs but vulnerable, after the finals James also chose to leave.
Further down to the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets also made James' career very embarrassing, and the 11 finals gave birth to many famous scenes such as "8-point release rights" and "Balia single defense";
Jokic is in his prime, and James will have a hard time climbing the Nuggets mountain in the West for the next two years
After being eliminated 1:4 in the first round, James was asked by reporters whether he would execute his contract to stay with the Lakers, in 2022, James had a two-year contract extension with the Lakers for $97.13 million, of which James has a second-year player option, and the final implementation time of the player option this summer is June 30, and this year's draft is June 26 and 27 in front, it depends on whether the Lakers are willing to deign to choose Bronny James in order to keep James!