LeBron James Is Still The Best Player In The NBA

We’ve done some thinking lately, especially after the latest headlines. We read how Patrick Beverley calls Kevin Durant “the best player in the NBA.” Another headline suggests that Kawhi Leonard is making a case as best player in the NBA. The same phrase was used for James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Nobody mentioned LeBron James.

But, we forgot one tiny detail. You can’t have four best players, right? There’s only one best player, so these headlines don’t really make a sense. Who is taking the throne? When LeBron was named the best player in the league, no other name was mentioned in headlines. Durant and Stephen Curry beat him in the NBA Finals for two seasons in a row, but that didn’t change the fact that he is better than them. Steph and Durant had to join forces with other All-Stars to beat LeBron. He is that great.

LeBron was the second player to average 34 points in a postseason that went for at least 20 games. He was the first NBA player to average nine rebounds and nine assists in a lengthy postseason. LeBron had the highest playoff VORP of all time. The Lakers star took over 500 shots in the playoffs, and had higher field goal percentage than non-center players in the Golden State. A year ago, LeBron was the greatest player on planet Earth.

Nothing has changed. His scoring dropped from 27.4 to 27.5, and the same applies to his rebounding numbers. He averaged 0.8 fewer assists per game as he went from the greatest wide-open three-point shooting team in the NBA last season to the worst this season. We have no reason to say that LeBron is a different player now. What about those headlines?

It’s probably because people are convinced that LeBron has fallen down to the level other players mentioned in the topics. Nobody became as great as him, that’s a fact. Nothing could save the Lakers, and nothing changes the fact that he joined a dysfunctional team.

LeBron took the team to 20-14 before the Western Conference, and they owned the fourth seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers went 9-17 in his absence. That explains pretty much everything.