Dwayne Wade won a championship in Miami as the star player before Lebron arrived, true or false? And before you go on a Shaq tangent, Wade was there before him and Miami refused to include him in trade conversations to acquire Shaq. Wade won Finals MVP as well.
Kyrie made multiple All-Star games, threw down a triple double to win the ASG MVP and had the Cavs trending toward the playoffs with Andrew Wiggins set to join him. They improved 12 games from the time he was drafted, and he likely would have led a faster resurgence had the front office drafted Giannis, McCollum, Oladipo, Adams, Noel, Gobert... literally anyone useful instead of fat kid Anthony Bennett. It was firmly Kyrie's team prior to LBJ returning once the cupboard was restocked and Kevin Love was on the way for Wiggins. Considering Kyrie is one of a handful of players commanding a no-questions asked Max contract, this isn't exactly a hot take.
Even now, Lebron joined the Lakers after they accumulated 3 top 2 picks and had a path and plan to clear cap space for a co-star.
Of course everyone needs help to win titles. No one will dispute that. The point here is that your boy Lebron has a reputation for cutting bait and ring chasing to the next team with a good situation. He left Cleveland the first time because they couldn't build a winner around him and he couldn't convince a soul to join him. He lobbied that whole time for a co-star and couldn't pull one so he left and joined someone else's team. Was he the best player on all his teams? Yeah. Were they HIS teams? No.
This has never been about productivity. It's about optics. Legacy. Kobe stayed in LA his whole career and was a centerpiece of 2 different title squads that won multiple in a row. He got there the same time as Shaq and they acknowledge each other as equals. It was THEIR team. The second team with Pau was specifically built around Kobe as the star. HIS team.
Durant left to join a record breaking Warriors championship team. He was the best player, but the optics are that Curry won before him and it is Curry's team. Garnett was the best of the Celtics big 3, but he joined Paul Pierce's team. Optics, optics, optics.
LBJ and KD are 2 of the best to ever play, but their legacy is that of a hired gun. Ring chasing because they couldn't build a winner where they were. In that way, Curry should be in the conversation because LBJ doesn't have a reasonable argument as the best ever and neither does Curry. They're both great all-time talents who won titles but had a missing piece of their narrative that makes you cringe. LBJ for jumping around from team to team and Curry because he can't play a lick of defense, same as Steve Nash.