CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James won the Pro Athlete of the Year Award at the 17th Annual Greater Cleveland Sports Awards at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel Grand Ballroom Thursday night.
James earned the honor after being named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals after leading the Cavaliers to their first-ever league championship with a 93-89 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, last June.
In leading the Cavaliers to their first-ever NBA Championship, James earned his third Finals MVP Award, which is tied for the second-most all-time.
Despite making only nine of his 24 attempts from the field and just one of his five three-point shots in the close-out win, James scored a team-high 27 points, and finished off a triple-double with 11 rebounds and 11 assists to go along with three blocked shots and two steals.
In the best-of-seven series, James averaged 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 8.9 assists, to go along with 2.3 blocks and 2.6 steals over 42 minutes per game. James converted 49.4 percent of his attempts from the field and 37.1 percent of his three-point tries.
During the 2015 NBA Finals, James averaged 35.8 points per game, but was constantly bothered by his lack of efficiency, especially after shooting just 39.8 percent from the field and 31 percent from three-point range in a losing effort to the Warriors.
However, in the first six games in this year’s rematch with the Warriors, James was a model of efficiency, finishing off 51.4 percent of his shots and 40 percent from long distance on the way to forcing the series to a deciding, winner-take-all Game 7.
With James’ efficiency buoying the Cavaliers, they came back from two-game deficits twice in the series on the way to becoming the first team in NBA history to trail three games to one and come back to win The Finals.
And they did so while having to win two games at Oracle Arena, where the Warriors lost just three times through the regular season and first three rounds of the postseason.
The Pro Athlete of the Year Award was the latest honor for James.
James earned the Best Male Athlete Award at the 2016 ESPYs over record-setting Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, Washington Nationals All-Star outfielder Bryce Harper and Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, the NFL’s MVP last season. Of the four nominated, only James led his team to a championship this past season.
