Warning: Coaching against LeBron can be hazardous to your career

1. Dwane Casey (Toronto Raptors): Lost to LeBron: 2016, 2017 & 2018; fired in 2018

On April 11, 2018, the Raptors, led by Casey’s system overhaul that saw the Raptors morph from an isolation-heavy team into a uniquely deep, unselfish team, finished the regular season with 59 wins (more than the Warriors!) and the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Exactly one month later, despite being named Coach of the Year by his peers, Casey was fired. What on earth happened in that one month?

Answer: LeBron James eviscerated the Raptors for the third year in a row. 

In 2016, after the Cavaliers won Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals, LeBron said “I’ve been a part of some really adverse situations, and I just didn’t believe that this was one of them.” The Raptors haven’t won a playoff game against the Cavaliers since. In 2017, LeBron spent the Conference Semifinals spinning the ball in Serge Ibaka’s face and telling the Raptors how to run their own plays out of time-outs. This year, he spent the series challenging himself with impossible fadeaways, game-winning, off-balance runners and more impossible fadeaways.

If it weren’t for LeBron: Casey would still have his job and would probably be favored to make the NBA Finals this year. In fact, he’d probably have already taken the Raptors to the Finals in 2016 (Raptors lost 4-2 to the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals). Instead of being lauded for being the Raptors' winningest coach, guiding a superstar-less team to three straight 50+ win seasons and architecting a top-5 offense and defense, Casey was getting berated for his lack of in-game adjustments before being handed a pink slip. 

2. Mike Budenholzer (Atlanta Hawks): Lost to LeBron: 2015 & 2016; parted ways with Hawks in 2018

The coach rumored to be Casey’s replacement? He also happens to be a recent victim of LeBron’s scythe – Mike Budenholzer. The irony of Budenholzer replacing Casey runs deep – Budenholzer also won Coach of the Year after leading a superstar-less team to a 59+ win season before being swept out of the playoffs by a LeBron-led Cavaliers team in 2015.

If it weren’t for LeBron: Coach Budenholzer would have an NBA Finals appearance under his belt and possibly even a ring, as the Hawks matched-up well against the most vulnerable Warriors team of the Steve Kerr era. Had they made the 2015 Finals, the Hawks probably don’t trade Jeff Teague (2016) and Kyle Korver (2017), and probably retain Al Horford (2016) and Paul Millsap (2017) in free agency. Instead, they were forced to tank and parted ways with Budenholzer this offseason.

3. David Blatt (Cleveland Cavaliers): Coached LeBron from 2014-2016; fired midway through 2015-16 season.

The curse of seeing LeBron in the playoffs doesn’t only apply to opposing coaches, but his own coaches as well. The Cavaliers hired David Blatt to coach a young, Kyrie Irving-led team, and then LeBron decided to come home. And whether it was tossing Blatt’s Princeton-based offensive system out the window during training camp or scratching Blatt’s out-of-bounds play before burying a game-winner in a pivotal Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Bulls, LeBron was as responsible for Blatt’s firing as any other coach on this list.

If it weren’t for LeBron: Coach Blatt might still be coaching a blossoming Cavaliers team led by Irving and Andrew Wiggins. Instead, Blatt is back coaching overseas and still trying to make his way back into the NBA.

4. Tom Thibodeau (Chicago Bulls): Lost to LeBron: 2011, 2013 & 2015; fired in 2015

Coach Thibs’ Bulls teams lost in every way imaginable to LeBron. In 2011, his top-seeded Bulls were too inexperienced to take down LeBron’s Heat. In 2013, his team battled attrition – namely, Derrick Rose missed the entire season – and got smoked by the Heat in the semifinals. Finally, in 2015, the Bulls’ anemic offense ruined his best opportunity to take down LeBron.

If it weren’t for LeBron: Coach Thibs leads the Bulls to the Finals in 2011 against the Mavericks (who they were 2-0 against in the regular season) and maybe to another Finals in 2013 or 2015. Instead, Thibs got fired in 2015 and, like his former boss Doc Rivers, fled west to coach the Minnesota Timberwolves.

5. Frank Vogel (Indiana Pacers): Lost to LeBron: 2012, 2013 & 2014; contract not renewed in 2016

“It’s bitterly disappointing to lose to this team three years in a row. But we’re competing against the Michael Jordan of our era.” That was Frank Vogel after his Pacers lost to LeBron’s Heat in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Vogel came close – holding series leads in 2012 and 2014 and forcing a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2013 – but never succeeded versus LeBron.

If it weren’t for LeBron: At least one of Vogel’s Pacers teams makes the Finals and his contract likely gets renewed by Larry Bird in 2016. Instead, he ended up with the lowly Orlando Magic, where he was fired this spring.

6. Doc Rivers (Boston Celtics): Defeated LeBron: 2008 & 2010; lost to LeBron in playoffs: 2011 & 2012; parted ways with Celtics in 2013

Unlike the other coaches on this list, Doc Rivers’ Celtics took down LeBron twice before his current nine-year reign over the Eastern Conference. Alas, that success was temporary as LeBron evened things up once he joined the Heat – turning-in arguably the greatest single-game performance of his career in a memorable Game 6 at Boston in 2012.

If it weren’t for LeBron: Boston’s Big 3 Era makes and possibly wins another championship, which would have cemented Rivers’ legacy as an all-time great coach. Instead, Rivers parted ways with the Celtics and fled west to the Clippers after the team traded Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in the summer of 2013.

7. Mike Brown (Cleveland Cavaliers): Coached LeBron from 2005-2010

The only coach that understands the thrills of victory and agony of defeat by the hands of LeBron more than Rivers is James’ longest-tenured coach – Mike Brown. All things considered, LeBron and Brown had quite a run-in Cleveland. However, according to Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron never listened to Brown and the front office fired Brown in an effort to appease LeBron once he became an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2010 season. 

If it weren’t for LeBron: Well... Mike Brown probably owes his entire coaching career to LeBron James. 

8. Eddie Jordan (Washington Wizards): Lost to LeBron: 2006, 2007 & 2008; fired in 2008

Fittingly, Brown’s tenure as the Cavaliers’ coach began as LeReaper was sharpening his scythe on his first victim, Eddie Jordan. Despite coaching a more talented roster (Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison), Eddie Jordan could never get past the Cavaliers in the first round as LeBron averaged 32/9/7 across 16 games. LeBron also delivered the perfect anecdote for the matchup – after being called “overrated” by DeShawn Stevenson, LeBron said that responding to him would be akin to “Jay-Z responding to Soulja Boy”. Boom. Roasted.

If it weren’t for LeBron: That Wizards team certainly had myriad issues other than LeBron, but perhaps they could have made enough noise in the 2006-2008 playoffs to not end up as nothing more than a footnote in LeBron’s legacy. Instead, Jordan was fired by the Wiz after a 1-10 start in 2008, was fired again by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2009, and was fired again by his alma mater, Rutgers, in 2016.