LeBron James faced three NBA players in private 1 vs 1 matches despite insisting he would never play one

LeBron James is one of the greatest NBA players in history and went against his vow to never play 1v1 matches against his fellow stars.

James is a four-time NBA champion and NBA MVP and is currently the all-time leading scorer in the league. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all-time.

Despite his dominance on the court, there is one area of the game that James refuses to call ‘real basketball’ - the one v one.

James said: “It bothers the f*** out of me. Everyone thinks just because you get a favourable match up then it’s 1v1 time. Let’s play ones. That’s all you hear kids talk about nowadays. ‘You wanna play ones?’ “What the f*** is this? This is not Jordan vs Bird on Nintendo - it’s five on five.”

Naturally, fans have theorised how James would perform against some of the other basketballs GOATs such as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

And despite his reluctance to play in a one vs one scenario, some NBA stars have opened up on facing the Los Angeles Lakers star in a head-to-head match.

Dywane Wade

The first player to reportedly ‘beat’ James in a one vs one match was his longtime friend and former teammate, Dwyane Wade. While Wade himself never commented on the reported match up, it was revealed by Udonis Haslem, an ex-teammate of both Wade and James, that the match did occur.

According to Haslem, it was Wade who was victorious.

“I watched D-Wade and Bron play one-on-one. I saw that game. D-Wade won that game,” he told the OGs podcast.

Haslem also added that losing to Wade did nothing to diminish James’ stature in the game but claimed Jordan was the greatest player to ever play the game.

Dwayne Wade and LeBron James (Getty)

Michael Beasley

Ex-Miami Heat star Michael Beasley finally addressed long-term rumours of facing James in a 1v1 scenario by admitting the match up did happen but not in front of people.

During an appearance on streamer Adin Ross’ Kick stream, Beasley claims he ‘blew out’ the Lakers legend.

“Yeah I beat him,” he said. “The story is told wrong. I beat him. The score was 9-11.”

Beasley is widely regarded as one of the most talented 1v1 players to ever step foot in the NBA but there is very little evidence to confirm whether the game actually took place or not.

Kyrie Irving

Another former teammate who claims to have faced James in a 1v1 is Kyrie Irving. The pair were teammates at the Cleveland Cavaliers and after pestering the now Lakers star to face off, James agreed.

Irving claimed the game did happen but refused to reveal who was the victor.

He told the ‘I AM ATHLETE’ podcast: “"I was coming in every day like, ‘Yo, I'm better than you, you, you, you, you. I don’t care, y’all can line up, we can go 1v1 right now.

“Me and Bron played one-on-one one time, by the way, I’m not gonna tell y’all who won or lost.”