LeBron James started up the NBA 'superteam' era in 2010, when he made "The Decision" to sign with the Miami Heat, joining forces with fellow perennial All-Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

There's been a lack of NBA parity since James made that decision. The Heat won the Eastern Conference in each of his four years in South Beach, plus the NBA Championship in 2012 and 2013.

And after returning to the hometown Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014, James would lead his hometown team to four consecutive NBA Finals, winning it all in 2016. Again, simply no parity since he left Cleveland the first time.

Even former NBA commissioner David Stern didn't like the idea of James taking his talents to South Beach. In Ian Thomsen's book The Soul of Basketball (via ESPN's Zach Lowe), Stern explained why he hated James' infamous "Decision."

"It was terrible. It was terrible on its own," Stern said. "It is fair to say that we knew it was going to be terrible, and we tried very hard for it not to happen."

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Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA has since been built around superteams, which has given more than two-thirds of the teams virtually no shot at the championship. The Golden State Warriors, coming off a record 73-win season, landed former MVP Kevin Durant two summers ago. The Dubs have since cruised to consecutive NBA Championships, with virtually no competition.

When LeBron went back to Cleveland, All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving was already there. To complete the new 'big three', the Cavaliers traded for Minnesota Timberwolves big man Kevin Love. Nobody touched the Cavs for four years, when when Irving was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2017.

Even the Oklahoma City Thunder gave the superteams a shot, landing Paul George and Carmelo Anthony last offseason to complement Russell Westbrook. George re-signed for the max in July, while Anthony is now playing with the Houston Rockets.

But at the end of the day, James had to make the decision that was best for him. He's now a three-time NBA champion and has a chance at winning more his new team, the Los Angeles Lakers, before he retires.

Many fans, teams and pundits hate the superteam idea, but it's not going away any time soon. One can't help but wonder if they would have even started had LeBron not signed with Miami in 2010.

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