There isn’t much for Philadelphia forward LeBron James to chase this season, at least from a statistical standpoint.
He’s already the NBA’s career scoring leader. The leader in games, minutes, field goals and field goals attempted, too. And he’s entering Year 24 of his career — another record, one he took sole possession of last year because nobody ever topped 22 seasons before he came along.
“I have a lot of experience in this game, obviously,” James said. “So, I hope that I can bring that experience, bring that knowledge, bring the blueprint to guys that are trying to accomplish some things that they haven’t done in their career.”
So, why is he still playing? And what is he chasing?
A look at it all, by the numbers:
4, as in championships with four teams
James isn’t playing for money (he’s estimated to be a billionaire), isn’t playing for legacy (secured long ago), isn’t playing for records (has enough of those).
He plays for rings.
He’ll never catch Bill Russell’s 11 titles, would need two more crowns to tie Michael Jordan’s six, but James — if he wins one in Philly — would be the first player to be part of championship runs by four franchises.
He’s already won with Cleveland, Miami and Los Angeles. Adding Philadelphia to the list would be quite the capper.
11, his new total of coaches
Nick Nurse will be the 11th coach of James’ career, excluding any interim coaches and from events like the Olympics and All-Star Games.
James enters this season having gone up against 141 head coaches in his regular-season career, with four new names — Dallas’ Dusty May, Orlando’s Sean Sweeney, Portland’s Micah Nori and the Lakers’ JJ Redick — set to join that list.
2-pointers
James took Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s points title a few years ago. He won’t be catching Abdul-Jabbar in 2-pointers; the gap there is more than 2,500 baskets.
But he could move up to No. 2 on the 2-pointers list this season. James enters the season with 13,325, or 118 behind No. 2 Karl Malone.
And with 302 attempts from 2-point range, James would pass Elvin Hayes for third on that list. He likely won’t be catching Abdul-Jabbar or Malone in that department.
3-pointers
James is sixth on the 3-pointers list for now, and will probably stay right there this season.
He could actually fall one spot to No. 4 on the 3s attempted list. Portland’s Damian Lillard is back this season and trails James by only nine 3s tried for that third-place spot. It’s reasonable to think that Lillard will try more 3s than James will this season.
No. 1 in free throws?
It’s possible — possible — that if James plays both of his contracted seasons in Philadelphia, he may catch Malone for the most free throws attempted in NBA regular-season history. Malone has 13,188; James is at 12,051.
James is No. 2 in free throws made behind Malone and would need to make 905 more to tie for the top spot there. That wouldn’t seem likely.
No. 2 in assists very possible
James enters this season No. 4 on the assist list with 12,016, or just 75 away from No. 3 Jason Kidd.
The question then becomes if James can reach the No. 2 spot, currently held by Chris Paul with 12,552. Forget moving to No. 1 here; John Stockton had 15,806 assists, and James won’t be anywhere near that when he retires.
Catching Jordan in steals?
One of the awards that James never won was defensive player of the year, despite many of his teams and coaches lobbying hard for that recognition over the years.
History will say they had a case.
There’s more to defense than just steals, obviously, but James enters this season within reach of No. 5 Gary Payton (28 steals away) and No. 4 Michael Jordan (97 steals away) on the NBA’s list in that category.
That would likely be his ceiling: Stockton, Paul and Kidd hold down the top three spots on the steals list, probably all out of James’ reach even if he plays two more seasons.
The 27-7-7 mystery
James’ career averages are 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists per game. (Officially, 26.8 points, 7.45 rebounds and 7.4 assists. Play along.)
A weird quirk to all that: James has never finished any of his 1,622 NBA games with exactly 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
He’s had 82 games with exactly 27 points, 232 games with exactly seven rebounds and 222 games with exactly seven assists. But he’s never put up those exact numbers in all three categories in the same game.
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Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
