Toronto is the latest team to experience the LeBron James Effect

LeBron James may cause the Toronto Raptors to rebuild.

Very few times we have seen athletes dominate their sport at such a high level. Right now, LeBron James is on a run that we are likely never to see again and it is causing the NBA’s top talent in the East to have second thoughts.

LeBron has had a stranglehold on the Eastern Conference for nearly a decade, which causes the games best players today to consider a move out West to avoid meeting (and losing) to James year after year in the postseason. That alone speaks to the greatness of James.

After a 4-2 loss in the Eastern Conference Finals last year, the Toronto Raptors came into the 2016-17 season with an eye on James and the Cavs. They even specifically added Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker to their team in order to try to get past the Wine and Gold.

Despite the Raptors best efforts they bowed out in four quick games to Cleveland, due in large part to the performance of James.

Now, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein, this latest loss to the Cavs could have an effect on Raptors guard Kyle Lowry. The 11-year NBA veteran, who is set to become a free agent, is reportedly going to strongly consider a move to the Western Conference in the summer.

If the rumblings of Lowry wanting to jump to a different conference are true, it would not be all that surprising if you consider all the facts. He is now on the wrong side of 30 and his time in the NBA as an all-star caliber player is limited. For Lowry, it could be now or never.  With James still dominating the Eastern Conference, there may be no other move for Lowry than to venture out West.

When you stop and think about what was just said, it’s quite amazing.

The dominance of LeBron — one player — is so overwhelming that a three-time All-Star feels the only way to have a shot at competing for a championship is to leave the conference.

This could be happening with another player the Cavs just defeated in the first round of the playoffs. According to Mitch Lawrence of Sporting News, Paul George made it known he would like to play in Los Angeles during the season. Those rumbling started up once again after he lost to James in the playoffs for the fourth time in the last six years and George voiced his frustration on facing James year in and year out after the Pacers loss in Game 4.

"“It’s really frustrating to continue losing to the same team or same person,” said George. “It’s real frustrating. It’s what I work hard for in the summers to try and help lead a team along and ultimately, it’s who I am always going to see and face.”"

For a player such as George, who is widely regarded as an elite, upper echelon talent in NBA, it was a bit of a shock to hear him voice his displeasure on losing to James every year.

In the sweep of Indiana, James put up an eye-popping stat line. More importantly, it appeared as if George wanted no part of trying to stop the locomotive that is LeBron.

That is dominance, plain and simple.

The so-called “LeBron James effect” is not just on display this year, we have seen it time and time again throughout James’ career.

In James’ first stint in Cleveland, the thorn in the James’ side was the Boston Celtics. They were the one team James struggled to get past and eliminated him in 2010, which turned out to be his last playoff series before leaving Cleveland for Miami.

But as all great players do, James finally conquered the team giving him trouble in incredible fashion. In the second round of the 2011 postseason, the Heat defeated Boston in five games.

The real nail in the coffin came one year later as  James dashed all hopes of another Celtics championship opportunity with a 45 point, 15 rebound performance to save Miami’s season in 2012.

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From that point on Boston was never quite the same;, they were an older ball club in no shape to compete with the likeness of James. LeBron was now the one that all teams in the Eastern Conference had to plan for and compete against in order to try to win a championship. Nonetheless, this wasn’t the last time players such as Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce would be on a team conquered by James.

During James’ final season in Miami, the Brooklyn Nets accumulated the league’s highest ever payroll. Their roster included Garnett and Pierce as well as Deron Williams and Joe Johnson.  These players came together in order to try to dethrone the King.

Brooklyn had high hopes after sweeping the regular season series against the Miami that year. However, once the playoffs began James made quick work of the Nets in just five games. In that series, James averaged 30.0 points and 6.4 rebounds per game on 57.0 percent shooting from the field.

It was just another feather in the cap of James

Brooklyn never recovered from their loss to LeBron in 2014 and now are at the bottom of the league. This could be attributed to them going all-in and ruining their future to try to beat James. The Boston Celtics, who have the top seed in the Eastern Conference, have a first round pick from the Nets solely because of the trade they made to bring Pierce and Garnett to Brooklyn.

Needless to say that Brooklyn fell well short of their goal.

Now going back even further in James’ career, the first instance of his true effect on the NBA is when his epic performances led to the eventual downfall of the Detroit Pistons. Back in the early 2000’s, the Pistons were one of the most physically dominant teams in the NBA and, even without a superstar on the roster, had a tight grip on the Eastern Conference for much of the decade.

That was until a 22-year-old James came waltzing into the Palace of Auburn Hills and put on the performance of a lifetime, scoring 29 out of the Cavs last 30 points en route to a key victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

That victory would ultimately lead the Cavs past the Pistons in the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals. This feat accomplished by James can be viewed as the first time we truly saw how special James was going to be.

Just like the Nets, Detroit was never quite the same after falling short of taking down James, even though they beat James and the Cavs in seven games during the second round of the 2006 playoffs. Their players got older and the team eventually broke apart a couple of years later.

When you step back and consider everything, it’s quite amazing is that even among his elite peers in the NBA, James puts a high level of fear and doubt into their minds . It’s a feat that only a few athletes in history have been able to do.

His ability to constantly remain on top of the Eastern Conference is impressive to those outside the NBA but frustrating to anyone who has the unenviable task of trying to get past James.

He’s a beacon of consistency many seem to still be taking for granted. As James continues on his path to being the best to ever play the game, the question still looms large. Who will be the next team to fall victim to the LeBron James effect?

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Do you believe that there’s a “LeBron James effect”? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.

*All stats courtesy of www.basketball-reference.com