Agent Rich Paul Believes LeBron James Is People's Champion Like Muhammad Ali

It's quite impossible to compare two athletes from different sports in terms of specific skills. It is, however, possible to compare them when discussing their impact on the sport and culture, as well as their overall influence. That's what Rich Paul did when he compared LeBron James to one of the greatest sporting personalities of all time.

Specifically, Paul associated his client with Muhammad Ali's popular moniker, 'The People's Champ,' when he went home to win a championship for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

According to Paul, James' legacy was defined by his accomplishment of that feat.

"If you win 1 time in Cleveland, there's nothing else to be done," Paul said about James in the Game Over podcast. "Because he already had rings, whether he has two, four, six, eighteen, whatever, you're a champion. No one can say you're not a champion."

"But the idea of going back home, winning one, I always looked at LeBron to be more of what I would say is the people's champ," he added. "Like Muhammad Ali was, even when he lost, I feel like people embraced him."

James' departure from Cleveland in 2010 to form a superteam in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh was one of the most scrutinized and controversial decisions in NBA history. As a result, he became one of the most disliked players in the league.

However, the narrative began to change when James decided to go back home in 2014 to the team that drafted him in 2003. He came back as a two-time NBA champ, and the pressure was then on him to give his hometown a championship.

It didn't happen immediately, as the Golden State Warriors stood in James' way in the 2015 Finals, but he was finally able to accomplish it in 2016, and in historic fashion, too.

He led the Cavs back from a 3-1 deficit, becoming the first team ever to overcome those odds in the Finals, and brought home the franchise's first-ever title. When he decided to leave again in 2018, this time for the Los Angeles Lakers, he did not receive the same vitriol from his hometown supporters.

Rich Paul was not the only person who understood that LeBron James needed to return to Cleveland. Wade, his former teammate, knew that, too.

Dwyane Wade Fully Supported LeBron James in His Return to Cleveland

When LeBron James joined the Miami Heat to team up with Chris Bosh and Wade, they made a promise. During his introductory event in Miami, James told Heat fans he truly believed the team could win multiple titles.

"Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven … when I say this, I really believe it," James said to the fans in the 305. He truly believed at the time that they could have just won, and won, and never stopped.

Well, the Heat won (in 2012) and then won again (in 2013). But then they did stop.

After their defeat at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals, James made a big decision. He declined his player option to test the market and eventually returned to Cleveland.

Had he stayed, though, the Heat might have actually won more titles. He was still very much at the top of his game. Both Bosh and Wade were still playing at an All-Star level, and the front office had already proven they could put together a championship-caliber roster around them.

Given those things, it would have been understandable if Wade had been upset that James chose to leave. After all, they were very much capable of reaching the Finals together.

However, Wade did not feel any resentment toward James or his decision to return home. In fact, Wade fully understood why he needed to, and he supported him.

According to Wade, he knew that James needed to go win a title for the Cavaliers for his legacy.

“I never even thought that me and LeBron would be teammates, first of all. It was never a dream of mine. I loved when we played against each other. We went at each other. When we got an opportunity to do that, it was special. When he was ready to go back home, he got my blessing 100%," Wade said via Complex.

Wade added that his winning titles with the Heat would not be enough for James' career, so he had no qualms with him returning home.