The Miami Heat won the NBA championship. They were led by LeBron James, their star forward who is, simultaneously, the best basketball player in the world and one of the sports world’s most divisive figures. This win–the championship that LeBron lacked–validates him. No longer can the naysayers point to a lack of a ring. This marks the second of these validations in the basketball world this year. John Calipari, the brilliant yet maligned coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats, won his first championship in early April. He and LeBron share many similarities.