LeBron James on seventh straight NBA Finals appearance: It's 'great for my legacy'

James has said he doesn't feel he has anything left to prove

Three-time NBA champion LeBron James said earlier in the playoffs he has nothing left to prove as far his NBA legacy, citing two titles with the Miami Heat and coming home to bring one to Cleveland as his biggest critic-silencers. But even he'll admit another appearance in the NBA Finals -- an unprecedented seventh-straight -- is a resume-booster if there were one.

"I think it's going to be great for my legacy, once I'm done playing the game and can look back on the game and say, 'Oh, this guy went to three straight Finals, four straight Finals, five, six whatever,'" James told ESPN. "I think it's great to be talked about, see what I was able to accomplish as an individual."

Perhaps most impressive is the amount of minutes James has logged in his career and his durability he's maintained. James has never been ousted in the first round of the playoffs and has remarkably never sustained a serious, season-threatening injury. His ability to stay healthy has afforded him the opportunity to compete at a high level consistently at the peak of his career, and his seventh-straight Finals appearance is longevity defined as an NBA player.

"When you talk about longevity and being able to just play at a high level for a long period of time, and I've been fortunate enough to be able to do that and be a part of two franchises that ... being able to take two franchises to four Finals apiece ... no one has ever done that, either, so I'm always happy and proud," said James. "I've always been proud to be part of the biggest stage in our league, and it's the Finals."

LeBron's legacy is no doubt cemented as one of the greatest to ever play the game of basketball, and if he and the Cavaliers are able to overcome the odds of beating this Warriors team after the addition of Kevin Durant, even the biggest LeBron naysayers will have a difficult time disputing that simple truth.