Nike basketball has a new ad celebrating LeBron James as he begins his 15th season in the NBA. It starts with LeBron walking in slow motion down a tunnel wearing an orange turtleneck, a blazer, earbuds, and sunglasses, while a voice over of a man with a British accent (it has to be Mark Strong) says very deeply, “Oh no, no, no. Why they go and poke the bear?”

The video jumps from one clip to the next: splashing volcanic lava, a lion, the infamous LeBron workout video that was mocked by Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving, scenes from a nature documentary, a pupil dilating and constricting, LeBron working out again, an exploding star? Then it ends by showing slow-motion, in-game videos of LeBron dunking and blocking Andre Iguodala’s shot.

It-has-to-be-Mark-Strong voice narrates the whole sequence. He warns that poking the bear means that those who committed the act are now living on borrowed time. He describes LeBron as relentless, overwhelming, and unforgiving and closes the ad by saying that he would feel sorry for LeBron’s future victims, if it wasn’t so damn fun to watch.

It’s a weird and fun video that serves as an exclamation mark to LeBron’s theme going into this season, that he’s going to dominate like never before. At the age of 33, he’s approaching his 15th season with a chip on his shoulder that seems fitting for a rookie. Or honestly, someone who feels overshadowed and unappreciated.

........... no need for a caption. Just take a moment and read. #StriveForGreatness A post shared by LeBron James (@kingjames) on Oct 16, 2017 at 1:24pm PDT

The truly weird thing about the video is the timing of it.

LeBron has never looked more human than he has going into this season.

Not in the sense that his basketball ability has dwindled — no one doubts that his ability is still superhuman. No, his ability has been made to look more normal by its comparison to another; Golden State is the new superpower.

In last year’s Finals, the Warriors brought LeBron as close to basketball mortality as he’s ever been. They almost swept a LeBron James-led team in the Finals. The difference between the 2011 Finals and last year’s is that in 2011, he was timid. We knew what he could do, all he had to do was banish the fear and accept his crown. This time, he did all he could possibly do, and it barely mattered to the Warriors. He exhausted his powers to try to beat them and they won the title without being pushed. LeBron being the best basketball player didn’t matter; the culmination of talent that Golden State had was just too much. The Warriors made LeBron feel how LeBron normally makes everyone else feel, especially those in the East.

It’s a stunning contrast from the beginning of last season. LeBron was a god then. When he pinned Iguodala’s shot in Game 7, he didn’t just solidify himself as the best basketball player alive, but as the greatest obstacle for the rest of the NBA. He proved that he, as one person, could overcome what was records-wise, the best team that the league has ever seen. He had the greatest-ever statistical Finals performance and beat the 73-9 Warriors after being down 1-3. He was bigger than any system. He was that splashing lava, angry lion, and flash of lightning. He was a force of nature that couldn’t be denied, no matter what was built to stop him.

That’s why it wasn’t shocking to hear DeMar DeRozan candidly say the Raptors could have only beat the Cavaliers in the playoffs if they had LeBron on their team. It was truth and an admittance that LeBron truly was king, in both name and power.

DeMar DeRozan after Cavaliers swept Raptors: "If we had LeBron on our team, too, we woulda won." pic.twitter.com/UEgukLJm1S — Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) May 7, 2017

LeBron still is LeBron to the rest of the league. The East still belongs to him, even with Kyrie Irving denying Galileo in Boston. He alone is enough to get the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals. Teams and players know this and most are just waiting out the rest of his tenure and building for the future. There’s no sense in wasting resources to fight what can’t be beaten. Time will do the job that they couldn’t.

That’s not enough for LeBron though. He doesn’t seem to want to rule the rest, he wants to be alone at the top. He wants to be what he once was.

But time doesn’t move backwards.

LeBron can never be that LeBron after the 2016 Finals. If he wants to be the sole ruler of the league again, he’s going to have to be something he’s never been before and he has to beat a team that has no equal in the history of the NBA.

That’s difficult to imagine. When LeBron lost to the 2015 Warriors, there was hope in that Kevin Love and Irving had been injured. He played so well that there was a reasonable assumption that he could win if he had a bit more help.

Now, there’s not really any realistic combination of him and other available players that could topple the Warriors regime. Especially not when the Warriors players keep taking less money in order to keep their team together. LeBron has Dwyane Wade again, but Wade is old. He has Derrick Rose, but this isn’t the Rose of yesteryears.

This Warriors team then is a testament to LeBron’s power, in that it takes a team of this magnitude to overcome him. But they also represent his limits. As long as these Warriors exist, LeBron is as human as the rest of the players, even if he’s the best of the bunch.

In 2015, the Warriors poked the bear. In 2016, the bear showed all of his ferocity en route to winning Cleveland’s first ever title. Last year, the Warriors came back with bulldozers and destroyed the bear’s habitat, built skyscrapers, and left the bear with no choice but to roar at the other animals to prove his dominance.

Overcoming Golden State isn’t just about winning another title; this is about restoring order. About standing at the top again. The rest of the league may still fear LeBron James but as long as there is something above him, as long as he sits among the mortals, he can’t be happy.

The problem is, barring any drastic injuries or insane trade scenarios, there doesn’t seem to be much LeBron can do to be in full power again. Mark Strong’s voice seems to think there is another level to LeBron coming and if there is, it should at least make this season more interesting.

Otherwise, it’s going to be another episode of LeBron annihilating the East, only to be crushed by an even greater power in the end.