I can’t speak to the soccer fellows, but LeBron’s peak ended in 2013. This is the same thing we saw with Kobe, whose peak ended in 2009 and was showered with adulation basically up until the day he retired, and not just from casual fans: he finished 4th in MVP voting in 2012, a year in which he shot a blistering 43% from the field and 30% from three for a third place Lakers team on whom he was charitably the third most valuable player. As late as 2014 (post-Achilles!) people were talking about Kobe catching Karl. We have always been slow to adjust to a player’s “still great” period, because how these periods work is long stretches of middling play punctuated less and less frequently with brilliance just as radiant as the players at their peaks. Our memories like shiny things.