Yes, the man many fans (ignorantly) consider the most overrated choke artist in the league is actually the best player to ever set foot on a court. LeBron James just does things that shouldn’t be humanly possible. He’s bigger than a good portion of the players in the NFL and yet he still moves as gracefully as the most nimble guards in basketball. Moreover, he not only faced the incredible pressure of being anointed “The Chosen One” by Sports Illustrated as a teenager, but he’s actually exceeded the lofty expectations set for him. As magnificent as earlier players were, they never had to deal with the 24/7 stresses of 21st century media, which James has with aplomb. Through the publication of this list, James has averaged a Robertson-esque 27.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 6.9 steals per game and—unlike the Big O—he was doing so against teams stocked with elite athletes and not players who smoked cigarettes at halftime. When people knocked him for not winning championships early in his career, they overlooked that he almost single-handedly took an overmatched Cleveland Cavaliers squad to the 2007 NBA finals at just 22 years old. And, of course, he’s since won two titles (and counting?) as a member of the Miami Heat. Not only does he routinely pull off feats that I’ve never before seen, he has consistently evolved his game to fix the relative weak spots he was previously criticized for. Pretty much all you can ask for from the best ever, no?