If LeBron James retires after Thunder series, maybe everyone can at last appreciate his supremecy originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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In a career that has included 1,622 NBA regular-season games and 298 playoff games and another 48 wearing a USA Basketball jersey in major international competitions, LeBron James ought not be defined by the most recent half-dozen he played.
Were we to follow that approach, though, the conclusion would be the same.
James is one of one.
At age 41, James went into an NBA Playoffs series in which the Lakers lacked their top two scorers and did what he typically does when the calendar gets that much closer to June. He dominated. James averaged 23.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 8.3 assists in the six games necessary for LA to eliminate the favored Rockets. No other Lakers player who appeared in the full series averaged even 16 points, which meant James carried an exorbitant load.
Let us recall what other NBA legends were doing in the league at age 41:
Um, sorry.
We can’t, really.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won his last of five championships in 1988 after turning 41 just a couple months earlier, averaging 14.1 points and 5.5 rebounds in 30 minutes per playoff game on a team led in scoring by Byron Scott, James Worthy and Magic Johnson. Pretty much every other player in this stratosphere was retired well before reaching this age: Russell, Chamberlain, Bryant, Duncan, Bird and, of course, Jordan.
That’s how amazing it is to see what James is accomplishing now, and there remains the chance we will see the last of him as a professional basketball player over the next couple weeks. You can’t even get decent odds on a Thunder sweep of their NBA Western Conference semifinal. With guard Austin Reaves only now returning from injury and star Luka Doncic unlikely to appear until Game 5 – should there be a Game 5 – it would be a monstrous upset for the Lakers to extend their season into a third playoff series.
So these may be your final opportunities to be reminded what James has brought to the league since arriving as a teenager with 25 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds in a Cavaliers loss at Sacramento on Oct. 29, 2003. He since has scored nearly 5,000 more points than the NBA’s No. 2 career scorer, Kareem. He has played in more games, for more minutes than anyone, ever. He’s appeared in more playoff games. When he walks onto the court Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, he’ll have played in exactly 120 more than Jordan. And he’s won more playoff games, 188 to date, with no one else standing within 26 victories of that total.
And still it’s possible there’s never been a legend less appreciated in his time than LeBron.
No praise accorded his achievements is presented without a “but”, either from the author or those in the MJ fan base who won’t countenance any discussion of James’ greatness with asserting he be viewed as secondary to their hero. Even if James is lauded in a context that has nothing to do with the LeBron vs. MJ debate, it’s going to be raised as an issue.
MORE: Why LeBron is NBA’s GOAT | Why Jordan is NBA’s GOAT
In putting the Rockets in an 0-3 hole, from which they attempted boldly to recover but ultimately could not, James: opened with 19 points, 13 assists and 8 rebounds and shot 9-of-15 from the field in Game 1; scorched the Houston defense for 28 points and 7 assists in solid Game 2 victory and then went 45 minutes and contributed 29 points and 13 rebounds in a four-point overtime victory. In the close-out win after two defeats, he was good for 28 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds.
Did we mention he’s 41 years old?
There are 56 players in history who have scored more than 20,000 career points, and 93 percent of those who’ve reached that mark and are eligible for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame have been enshrined.
James has done it twice.
In the postseason, he has scored more points, grabbed more defensive rebounds, picked up more steals and made more baskets and free throws than anyone in the sport’s history. He is one of four players in the league’s history to reach double-digits in Finals appearances.
In a 30-team league, James’ 42 playoff series victories is more than 24 franchises have achieved in their histories, including multi-time champions Chicago, Detroit, Houston and Milwaukee. The Hawks have been around the NBA since 1949 – 54 years longer than James – and have won 14 fewer series.
In the most recent of James’ victories, the Lakers had to rely on increased offensive production from Rui Hachimura (11.5 ppg to 15.8), Marcus Smart (9.3 to 14.7) and Luke Kennard (8.4 to 12.5). Reaves’ return will help all of them, but there won’t be another Lakers series beyond this without another massive performance by James.
As it begins, we don’t know if this will be his last series, because we don’t know if it will be his last season. He certainly doesn’t need to give up the game because he’s no longer got it. He’s still got more of it at 41 than most everyone at any age.
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