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Colin Cowherd: LeBron is the Most Powerful Athlete in American History

Colin Cowherd: “LeBron James is obviously the most powerful NBA player. In my opinion, and it’s really been cemented in the last 24 hours, he’s the most powerful athlete in the history of America. Michael Jordan was more popular, but there’s a big difference between popularity and power. You read these stories on LeBron James – the entire league, including the owners, were waiting for LeBron to decide if they were going to play… I read two stories, one by Chris Haynes, where Udonis Haslem basically said ‘Dude, you’re the face of the league, we’ll play if you want to.’ The Milwaukee Bucks, according to sources, said ‘If LeBron says we’re playing, we’re playing, if not, we won’t.’ A lot of people love ‘ball’, Harden loves ball, Kawhi loves ball, Tom Brady loves ball, Michael loved ball, but LeBron is willing to deal with the burdens and responsibilities of true power… There are a series of circumstances that have made LeBron the most powerful athlete in the history of America. Number one – he’s the best NBA player in a league where players control it. Number two – he’s the most politically active. Number three – his career has lasted a long time, and he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in high school 19 years ago. Number four – He’s best friends with a lot of the other stars, MJ was not. Number five – He’s the most media savvy player I’ve ever seen. He has his OWN talk show and his OWN networks. He’s like Oprah. MJ was the killer and he would go after you, but LeBron is more philanthropist, lubricator not agitator, and doesn’t have many enemies in the league. Number six – timing. Sometimes in life it’s just timing. Social media has empowered all these athletes, and they’re more popular than ever. Michael had power, but he didn’t have THIS power, and I don’t think he ever wanted this power either… The owners were literally waiting for LeBron and saying ‘can we play?’ according to the Chris Haynes story. Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan are the only thing close to LeBron in terms of ratings disappearing when they leave, and that is power. But it’s not like the PGA is cancelling The Masters when Tiger went away for a couple years… MJ is sitting in on these meetings as a liaison for the owners and he’s just listening to LeBron… According to these stories we’ve never seen this in America.” (Full Segment Above)

Listen to Colin Cowherd explain why he thinks LeBron James is the ‘Most Powerful Athlete in American History’, as Colin discusses LeBron’s involvement in the NBA’s nearly cancelled season, and his role as the most influential figure in Orlando.

Check out the segment above as Colin details why he thinks LeBron’s every move these past six months has dictated which direction the NBA has gone in, and why he believes no other athlete in American history has ever freely took on that kind of burden and responsibility.

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