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Is LeBron James the Most Polarizing Athlete Ever? - Bleacher Report

There are two definitive words that are associated with LeBron Jamesâ€"love and hate.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a group of basketball fans that are indifferent to LeBron. You either love him or you hate him, and there's a reason for that.

LeBron is without a doubt the most polarizing athlete in the history of professional sports, and he's earned that distinction by the way he's carried himself over the course of his career.

The moment LeBron made the decision to take his talents to South Beach, he transitioned from just being a professional athlete to becoming the most polarizing athlete of all-time.

At that moment, with "the decision" on the horizon, LeBron had a chance to take his NBA career in two different directions.

His first choice was to stay in Cleveland, and be known as the humble, loyal player who chose to be the hero for his hometown. His second choice was to leave Cleveland and become the player who couldn't win by himself and decided to abandon the town he came from.

We all know which direction LeBron chose, and the rest is history.

Based on that decision, basketball fans all around the world made their decisions on whether they would move forward being known as LeBron lovers or LeBron haters. That's exactly what being a polarizing figure is all about.

There are other figures in professional sports, like Tim Tebow, Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods who are polarizing personalities as well. But they don't have the same impact that LeBron does, and that's because at the most pivotal moment of LeBron's career, he isolated himself from fans because of the decision he made.

146663628_crop_340x234Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

When the spotlight shined brightest on LeBron, he made a decision that would not only shape the landscape of his professional career, but also the future of the entire NBA.

Those who love LeBron praise him for the fact that he's one of the most complete players to ever play the game. Those who hate LeBron always point to the fact that not only did he abandon his home town by taking the easy way out, but he also altered the balance of power in the NBA by forming the vaunted "big three."

LeBron's decisions not only impacted his own life and legacy, but also every other team in the NBA, and that subsequently impacted those team's fan bases, which lead to the polarization that exists in the popular opinion of who LeBron James is.

There's nothing that LeBron James can do to change his polarizing personality, and that includes winning NBA championships.

Until the end of time, there will be a group of people who love LeBron, and a group of people who hate him.

The interesting part of this situation is that LeBron seems to have realized that himself, but we, as well as the media, often fail to see that. If LeBron doesn't care that he's a polarizing personality, should we?

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