The L.A. Lakers may not have had the season they perhaps would have liked, but there is no taking away from the individual accomplishments of LeBron James , who led his team in scoring and assists last season, at 39-years-old, and in his 21st season in the NBA .
Having still maintained his status as one of the league’s most elite competitors, insider Mark Medina argues that it is ‘unprecedented’ what James was able to do last season, though, he does argue that one day – very far into the distant future – the NBA’s All-Time leading scorer’s record will be eclipsed.
Lakers’ Off-Season Hasn’t Gone To Plan
Re-Signed James, Drafted James Jr. and Knecht, but done little else
The story of the Lakers’ off-season is a short one – they haven’t done much, though not for lack of trying.
While LeBron James declined his player option and became a free-agent, with the expectation that he would return to Los Angeles, he was open to taking a pay cut if the Lakers could bring in another All-Star caliber player, but with potential targets such as Klay Thompson and DeMar DeRozan each signing elsewhere, and little other options available on the market, James eventually re-signed on an extension worth two-years, $104 million.
Should he see out that contract, he would ultimately end up playing 23 seasons in the NBA, which would surpass Hall-of-Famer Vince Carter ’s 22-season record, though he is already arguably the best player aged 35 or older to ever play in the league, with his longevity virtually unparalleled to anything we have ever seen before in professional sports, with only
NFL superstar Tom Brady springing to mind as another athlete to have demonstrated such durability throughout his own illustrious career.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis – 2023-24 Regular Season Two-Man Lineup
But for the Lakers themselves, they are still hoping that their superstar duo of James and Anthony Davis ’ championship window is still open, and while they haven’t been able to bring in the personnel they perhaps wanted, they were able to make a coaching change, bringing in JJ Redick as their new head coach, which may boost their status as Western Conference contenders.
One positive of their off-season, though, was that they were able to add some rookie shooting prowess when they drafted Dalton Knecht – who is viewed as a good fit alongside James – with the 17th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, after he slipped down the board, and he demonstrated in his Summer League campaign that he could turn out to be one of the steals of the draft, having averaged 17.3 points per contest.
They were also able to draft James’ son Bronny James with the 55th overall pick, which now sees them on course to break NBA history as the first father-son duo to take to the court at the same time and for the same team.
We May Never See Someone of James’ Caliber Ever Again
Medina finds it hard to imagine that the NBA will ever see a player with James’ caliber and longevity again, at least not for a very long time anyway.
However, the journalist does believe that one day, somebody will surpass the 20-time All-Star’s scoring record that he broke in the 2022-23 season, having previously been held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for 39 years.
“It’s really unprecedented what LeBron James has done. It’s hard for me to imagine that we’ll see a player of LeBron James’s caliber, and it’s hard for me to imagine that we’ll ever see a player that can play as long as LeBron James has.
I know that medical science has advanced and prolonged players’ careers, but, aside from a few injury-riddled seasons, he’s mostly been available on most nights. He hasn’t done the load management route.
So I guess you’d never say never, but I’d be very surprised if that ever happened. His records will stay intact for a while. At some point, someone will eclipse his all-time scoring mark, but it’s going to take quite some time for that to happen.”
Lakers Always Have a Chance With James on the Team
25.7 PPG during the 2023-24 campaign was a team high
James’ 21st season was so impressive that his numbers closely resembled those of his rookie campaign – though they were even better on virtually almost all fronts – highlighting just how long he has been able to maintain his elite, All-NBA-caliber play.
And, at 39-years-old, he led his Lakers team to the post-season as the seventh seed, averaging 25.7 points on 54.0 percent shooting and a career-high 4.1 percent from behind the three-point line, while also leading L.A. in assists, dishing out an average of 7.3 per contest across his 71-game regular season campaign.
While the Lakers came up short in the post-season, and lost to the Denver Nuggets for the second consecutive year, James was once again at the forefront, with both he and Davis recording 27.8 points per contest in their five-game series, where he knocked down his shots 19.8 attempts at a rate of 56.6 percent, while he also averaged a team-high 38.5 percent from behind the line.
Usually, when a player enters their 20th-plus season in the NBA, their production is nowhere near what it was at the peak of their career.
Take Dirk Nowitzki , for example, who was one of the best shooters of his generation, in which he posted a career 20.7 points on 47.1 percent from the field, and 38.0 percent from deep, but ended his career – in his 21st season – averaging only 7.3 points a night on a reduced 35.9 percent from the field and 31.2 percent from distance.
So for James to still be putting up scoring numbers that are top-20 in the entire league, and assist numbers that rank top-six really is unprecedented.
Better yet, on a stacked Team USA Olympics roster that also features all-time greats including Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry , the NBA’s all-time leading scorer has been voted as their best player, and is viewed as integral to their gold medal chase in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
It would certainly take something special for James to achieve more NBA title success, but as long as he is healthy and available, the Lakers will always stand a chance of being able to go on a deep post-season run.
Nonetheless, currently in the midst of his fourth Olympics campaign, he still stands a very good chance of adding another major achievement to his illustrious resumé in the form of what could be a third Olympic gold medal, which, when all said and done, could round out what has been one of the most incredible careers in professional sports history.
All statistics courtesy of Statmuse, ESPN, NBA.com and Basketball Reference.