The five times LeBron James didn't look like the GOAT against rivals

While the Lakers superstar LeBron James is undoubtedly one of the greatest basketball players the NBA has ever seen, he has occasionally been outmatched in his 20-year career.

Here are five times when LeBron James was outmatched by his rivals. In the 5th spot is Terrance Jones, who rejected LeBron. With the Cavs trailing with under four minutes to go, LeBron tries to ignite a rally by throwing down a momentum-boosting dunk. Instead, he is met by Terrance Jones who comes out of nowhere to leap at the perfect time and forcefully reject King James.

Draymond Green denied LeBron, in overtime of game two of the 2015 Finals, with the Cavs down one, LeBron drives into the paint looking for either a basket or foul. What he didn't see was Draymond Green sprinting from the other side of the court to meet him at the rim and cleanly deny him of a bucket.

The third place is for Gordon who confused LeBron, in one of the dirtiest moves of Gordon's career, the transition hesi has LeBron looking for a map. Gordon fully spins LeBron around and then splashes the three before James can recover.

The top two players that outmatched LeBron James

It's one thing to get denied in crunch time by a Defensive Player of the Year in Draymond Green, but it's another to get blocked at the buzzer by Mario Hezonja and losing to a Knicks team that won 17 games. As LeBron drives to the bucket looking for a game winner, Hezonja stays with him the entire time and finishes the play with a block on James to secure the win. The stare down, point, and celebration only add to the moment.

To close out the list, we have what could be Jayson Tatum's best moment in his stellar young career. In game seven of the second round of the 2018 playoffs, Tatum explodes towards the hoop with LeBron waiting under it ready to make an effort to deny him of the basket. Instead, Tatum elevated over the leaping LeBron to finish off the posterizing and athletic slam that put James and the NBA world on notice.