We all acknowledge that players are a product of the team around them. This is especially true for the NFL where you can't even stat pad on a shitty team with a shitty coach, but the same goes for the NBA. I don't care what exactly your top 10 all-time time is but it's gotta have these guys... MJ, Kobe, Shaq, Duncan, Magic, Bird, Kareem, Hakeem, Wilt, Russell, Curry, KD, Robinson, Dr. J, Moses Malone and Lebron.
These players are the greatest ever. They would SUCCEED in any era. They would hands down be top 50 players ever regardless of situation. YET, individual performances aren't everything. Half these players played for the two best sports franchises ever: LA and Boston. All of them are on top 10-15 teams ever. A big part of that is because of them but also because of the players and coach supporting them. Lastly, the majority of these guys walked onto WIN NOW TEAMS as ROOKIES. Teams are ready to start making the playoffs and competing within a handful of years. I believe this is one of the biggest factors that separates a guy like Giannis or Dirk who is regarded as top 25 players ever, these men who are nearly unanimous top 10-12 players ever.
But Lebron James is a unicorn. He is different from everyone else on this list for two factors. One being that he isn't just regarded as a top 10 player but he is regarded as either the GOAT or 2nd best to the GOAT by the majority of people. Yet I would argue that he had one of the worst starting environments around him to start his career, unlike his fellow top 10 players.
BEST SITUATIONS:
Magic Johnson: Kareem was already being called the GOAT and Magic was able to walk onto a roster with The Captain and a handful of All-Stars. What Magic did in the Finals was extraordinary but you also have to give credit that his team around him was good enough to win a chip without a TOP 5 player ever playing...
Kobe Bryant: Similar to Kareem Kobe was able to walk onto a roster that the Big Diesal, Shaq was already regarded as the "most unstoppable player in basketball and had already made a Finals and ECF. The team was immediately winning 50-60 games with Jerry West as the gm and acquired Phil Jackson in just a few years.
Bill Rusell: The team was beyond stacked. They already had the MVP of the league Bob Cousy. Red was practically inventing how you're supposed to play the game of basketball at the time. Every other team just copied what he did.
Larry Bird: Walked onto a team with 4 HOFers and multiple MVPs coasting to win 60 games.
Wilt and Oscar Robertson: I wouldn't say their situations were bad at all but frankly they just weren't stacked as the Celtics or even Lakers in the tiny league at the time.
Kareem: Walked onto a Bucks team with three AS-caliber players in their prime. Then in a year acquired a top 5 player in the league to cost to an easy ring.
Tim Duncan: Walked onto a team with prime David Robinson and Greg Popovich. Do I need to say more?
Michael Jordan: MJ homers will pretend like the initial squad around him wasn't good. They literally had Orlando Wooldridge and Geroge Gervin. They just took fat Ls in a stacked East. Hate him or not Jerry Krause was a genius. (He would never have traded for Westbrick just cause MJ said to)
Another thing I've noticed is there is a lot of players who maybe didn't have the best situation year one. Like Shaq but after one or two bad years they were able to draft another Superstar and turned everything around immediately.
This is not the case for Lebron. He can incompetent front office and a terrible squad around him. Yet over the years of his long career has overcome that to surpass not just 90% of players in NBA history but 99.9%. That's insane.
Lebron's second player for years was Ilgauskas... Not even close to an All-Star-level player. I regard him in between Lauri Markkanen and Kristaps Porzingis. Whereas these other players had more than just All-Stars but MVPS, DPOYs, and top 100 players ever.
Another important point is Kareem, Magic, Bird, MJ, and more were ready-made players. Who had played years in college developing their skills, IQ, and bodies. Lebron was literally a teenager not yet ready to go win NBA championships against grown men. Whereas these other top 10 players ever were often already in their prime and then thrown onto already contending teams.