Since he was a young teen and he pasted hand-drawn pictures of Michael Jordan on his bedroom wall, LeBron James has been fascinated with the superstar players who came before him.

He’s watched some of Magic Johnson’s, Larry Bird’s and Kareem Adbul-Jabbar’s greatest games on ESPN Classic, he’s studied Wilt Chamberlain’s and Moses Malone’s statistics, and he was awestruck the first time he met and had a conversation with Bill Russell.

It has given him a sense of history of the game that shapes his viewpoint and his aspirations. Right now, one of them is to join that group of Hall of Fame players.

In the final week of his ninth regular season, James has emerged as a strong contender to win his third Most Valuable Player Award. If he wins, he would be just the eighth player in history to win it three times. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the only player to win three at a younger age than James, who turned 27 in December.

James is fully aware of this historical context.

“It would mean a lot, honestly, it would mean a lot,” James said. “If I’m able to win it this year it would be very humbling knowing the caliber of guys who have won it three times.”

via Brian Windhorst of ESPN