LeBron James graces cover of TIME's first-ever list of the top-100 most influential figures in sports

LeBron James is an icon. That's hardly breaking news. Over his career, James has excelled both on and off the court, emerging as a future NBA Hall of Famer and elite philanthropist and activist.

For those reasons, James was chosen to grace the cover of TIME's first-ever list of the top-100 most influential figures in sports. A profile of James' face appeared on the cover, which dubbed the Los Angeles Lakers' star the "Athlete of the Century."

Naturally, James was included as part of TIME's first top-100 most influential athletes. He was listed under the Icons section, which included names like Hilary Knight, Lionel Messi, Shohei Ohtani, Caitlin Clark and many others.

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TIME included three other sections of their list, which included Titans, Innovators and Leaders.

Some of the biggest Titans included San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, Trinity Rodman, Cristiano Ronaldo and Aaron Judge.

Prominent Innovators included Alysa Liu, Jalen Brunson, Pablo Torre and Lindesy Vonn. TIME's Leaders list included names like Myles Garrett, Nelly Korda, Shams Charania and Dana White.

In addition to releasing its full list, TIME also unveiled how they selected sports figures for the list. As TIME explained, "Sports remains one of the last realms in which massive global audiences gather together in real time."

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Athletes have played an increased role in the publication over the years, with 43 athletes gracing the cover of TIME over the last decade. In 2019, TIME named its first-ever athlete of the year. The USWNT won that honor that year, but James wasn't far behind, receiving that achievement in 2020.