Doug Saffir

The NBA Playoffs will start this Saturday without Kobe Bryant.

His season-ending injury was a sad occasion for plenty of folks – even me, a person who doesn’t claim to be a particularly avid basketball fan, let alone a supporter of the Lakers.

I felt he deserved a chance at a sixth title, and with it a chance at Michael Jordan’s nearly universally accepted legacy as the Greatest Of All Time.

But Bryant was old at 34, having been abused by his coaches’ need to rely on him and by his drive to be on the court at all times. And now he’ll be 35 before he sets foot on a basketball court again. And maybe that’s how it should end for him. Maybe he was supposed to come up just short of six titles, just short of that debate between him and Jordan, and just short of what he’s worked so hard to attain.

Because maybe he’s not the one.

Another hero is just truly coming into his own, despite ten years of growth and toil under some of the most arduous circumstances I’ve seen an athlete endure.

I think almost everyone knew LeBron James could be the one – that he could be the greatest ever. But after his free agency in 2010, many were hoping he, too, would come up painfully short. I know I was. But this year, James has done what I never expected him to do – he became a player I root for and one I actually like.

At the start of his career, I never had the sense James knew he could be the best in the game, and maybe the best ever. I thought he just believed it because people told him he was.

It seemed to inflate his ego, to show him he was worth more than anyone else in the league without having earned it. That’s a hard quality to like as a fan and one that led him to partake in The Decision that fateful offseason. The result was a scorned city and a lot of jersey ashes and hatred.

But now you can see James doesn’t need anyone to tell him anymore – he knows, internally, that he’s the best to ever play. He feels like he’s earned it. Maybe a ring and a trophy do that for a man, but regardless of what changed, James is now a hell of a lot of fun to watch and it feels like it’s okay to root for him.

His addition to the Heat roster changed their style of play, and made it one that is comparable NCAA sweetheart FGCU. Miami became the NBA’s Dunk City, creating highlight reels I’d never seen in the league outside of the All Star game. And over the last couple years, it’s been hard not to come around.

But this year, James has taken things to a new level. He’s taking over games, he has confidence without being brash, and he’s continuing to prove why he’ll someday pass Kobe and join the GOAT conversation with Jordan.

On Saturday, the NBA playoffs will start, and there’s a decent chance Kobe’s injury will keep the Lakers out of it. And while I’ll mourn that fact, and the fact that Bryant came up painfully short in what might be his last title shot, I won’t be sad for long. Because while he might not have been The One, the man I believe will one day take that title will still be playing, and I’ll have plenty to root for because of it.

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