Projecting LeBron’s All-Time Rank in Advanced Stats

Predicting LeBron James’ all-time rank is an easy deal, because he is the greatest of all time. The 2018-19 season with the Los Angeles Lakers was terrible, but the king promised to come back stronger than ever.

In terms of player efficiency, it’s easy to get a few numbers if you take into consideration the fact that LeBron played an average of 71 games, missing 11 games per year due to injury or rest.

LeBron will probably retire at 39 after playing 21 NBA seasons.

LBron’s career PER of 27.59 is second all-time, following Michael Jordan. He led the league in PER every season from 2007-07 to 2012-13, and was in the top eight every year after his rookie season.

PER is created to rate player’s per-minute productivity and measure field goals, free throws, three-pointers, assists, rebounds, blocks and steals. It als subtracts negative accomplishments like missed shots, turnovers, and personal fouls.

PER favors players that contribute in numerous categories such as LeBron James. Contributions like overall defense, shot deterrence and screen setting aren’t taken into consideration.

If the Lakers star wants to pass Michael Jordan’s career record, he will have to register a PER above Jordan’s 27.91. LeBron reached this mark just once in the past five years. His PER of 25.6 last season was the lowest since the 2006-07 season.

The biggest threat comes from Anthony Davis. He is a third all-time with a PER of 27.41. LeBron’s teammate will eventually surpass LeBron, pushing him to third.

LeBron’s current rank is No. 2 all-time, and the projected 2019-20 rank is No. 2 all-time. The projected career rank is No. 3 all-time.

LeBron ranks fourth all-time n career win shares. He comes after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Karl Malone.

Value over replacement player or VORP is used to measure the value a particular player gives the team over the player who is on a minimum deal.

LeBron leads all the players in career VORP (129.8.), and he holds this record since January 2016, passing Jordan’s 104.4.

When it comes to Box plus/minus, LeBron is the king. BPM relies on a player’s box score statistics and the team’s overall performance to determine the player’s performance relative to the NBA average.