LeBron James’ Most Jaw-Dropping NBA All-Star Game Plays

LeBron James has had some incredible moments in the NBA All-Star Game. Here are the best of the best.

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A lot has changed since LeBron James made his NBA All-Star Game debut in 2005. Back then, he was less king and more kid. There had yet to be a “Decision,” and “The Return” was still to come, but there were glimpses of what the future held—hints at James’ transcendence, as in, his ability to reach beyond the sport and form a movement. We saw it then, mostly in flashes, but it was enough.

Now, in preparation for his 13th All-Star Game appearance, things are different. His game has evolved; it’s no longer rooted in explosiveness, though that’s still a part of it. There’s now the perfect reading of the defense, the passes that sneak through impossible openings, and the lockdown D. He’s a man now. He’s still doing amazing things—we’ve just come to expect it. As witnesses, we watch on. So as LBJ ascends on Zoom City, here are LeBron James’ Most Jaw-Dropping NBA All-Star Game Plays.

The Pass

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Year: 2005

Location: Denver

In the opening minutes of the first half in his first All-Star Game, James worked his way into the low post. On the perimeter, Allen Iverson cuts straight to the basket on a backdoor cut. James waits a moment, tricks the defense with a ball fake, and then drops a perfectly timed no-look bounce pass to Iverson, leading him right to the net, where he spins in the layup off the glass. Iverson would later be named the game’s MVP, and the pass would be replayed over and again.

First MVP

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Year: 2006

Location: Houston

When James gets to the top of the key there’s only one man between him and the basket, seven-foot Dirk Nowitzki. James takes one moment to size him up and, safe in the knowledge that he can take him, he puts his head down and barrels straight toward him. Instead of the play culminating in a mash of giant bodies meeting violently at the rim, James drifts around the out-stretched arms of Nowitzki, floating and hanging in the air, and then, when his feet are about to touch the ground, he muscles the shot up and over the rim with his left hand. It’s a grown man move for the youngest MVP in All-Star Game history.

The Reverse

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Year: 2007

Location: Las Vegas

Chris Bosh gathers a missed shot, take a few dribbles, and then heaves an outlet pass down court. James, sprinting full tilt, catches the pass in stride, taking one more dribble before launching himself upwards just outside the restricted area. There’s enough distance between the basket for his body to go full reverse, and with his shoulders at the rim, he reaches back overhead with both hands and spikes the ball through, making the impossible seem routine.

Second MVP

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Year: 2008

Location: New Orleans

With the score tied and a little more than a minute left on the clock, James pushes the ball coast to coast, gets inside the opposing three-point line, creates space with a crossover and then flies up at the rim, meeting Dirk in the sky and hammering the ball home with his right hand. Later, the MVP trophy would be his once again.

Act Two

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Year: 2008

Location: New Orleans

James uses his quick hands to poke away an inbounds pass to opposing point guard Chris Paul. James takes possession and tosses a pass up near the rim for teammate Dwight Howard. However, instead of flushing it for the easy two, Howard tosses the ball right back, floating it over to the other side of the net. James takes one step, without the momentum of running, and, like a tightly coiled spring, he launches upwards, catching the ball with his right hand—his frame seemingly hanging in the air an extra moment while in full extension—before spiking the ball through the basket.

The Dancer

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Year: 2009

Location: Phoenix

James attacks the rim, using a spin dribble to spit between defenders Tony Parker and David West. Keeping the ball raised up high, he meets Pau Gasol at the rim. Gasol whacks him across the chest but it’s not enough. James rises up under the flailing arms of Gasol before kissing the ball of the glass, dancing right through the defense.

Wade to LeBron

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Year: 2010

Location: Arlington, Texas

Just sixth months before they would become teammates, Dwyane Wade, dribbling a few steps inside the corner three-point line, finds James coming straight down the paint like a runaway truck. Wade lofts a pass. James plants both feet and then reaches up, catching it with both hands before reversing his body in the air and flushing it home behind his head. Back on the ground, Wade and James celebrate together—the fans would have three more seasons to enjoy the connection.

The Triple-Double

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Year: 2011

Location: Los Angeles

In this game, James had 29 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. Also included was his patented one-handed power-spike jam, where he seems to reach back to half court before dunking the ball through the net. It’s the identifying LeBron James moment—the signature dunk—and it happens at the game’s brightest stage. The only other player to catch a triple-double at the All-Star Game? Michael Jordan.

The High Degree of Difficulty

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Year: 2012

Location: Orlando, Fla.

With three minute remaining in the game and James’ East squad down 144-138, James swings the ball to the corner and Carmelo Anthony gets a clean look at a three. Anthony misses long and the rebound gets swatted back out to the three-point line. James catches the rebound about 40 feet from the basket. He takes a hard dribble to his left and, still a few feet beyond the arc and his momentum causing him to fade towards the baseline, he lets loose a deep, deep three—the sort of shot with such an insane degree of difficulty to it that a mere mortal would never think to take it in the flow of the game. But James does. Swish. It was his sixth three of the game, en route to an All-Star Game career high of 36 points.

Lefty Windmill

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Year: 2014

Location: New Orleans

There are the ferocious one-handers, the perfectly timed alley-oops, and the reverse jams that could tear down the basket. And then there’s the windmill. It’s a rare treat in James’ bag of tricks, impressive for both its evasiveness and its power, and on this night, The King unleashes it. He catches a pass just outside the restricted area with his right hand, and while still in the air, he brings the ball down, cradling it and switching it over to his left hand. He keeps rising and, just as he’s about to begin his descent, he finishes the windmill, dropping the ball through the basket and floating back down to earth.

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