LeBron James shocked the world confirmed what we all knew on Wednesday, announcing that he will return to the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2023-24 season. It will be his 21st season in the NBA, and he will turn 39 years old in December.
This is a good excuse to look at what milestones James could reach in the near future. Already the all-time scoring leader, merely approximating what he did last season would be unprecedented for a player his age.
1. The oldest to…
In Year 20, James averaged 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 0.9 steals in 35.5 minutes, with a usage rate of 32.2% and a true shooting percentage of 58.3%. These are elite numbers, and, if sustained next season, they’d blow away every other age-39-and-older season in NBA history.
In 2002-03, Karl Malone averaged 20.6 points, the most by any player in his age-39 season. That same year, Michael Jordan averaged 20 points in his second season with the Washington Wizards and final season in the NBA. Outside of that season, no NBA player has averaged 20 points at 39 years old. James is all but certainly about to clear that mark with ease. (In 2021-22, his age-37 season, James averaged 30.3 points; no one else has ever averaged 27 or more points at the age of 35 or older.)
James could also join Malone (36.2 minutes per game in 2002-03) and Jordan (37 per game that season) as the only players to average more than 33 minutes in an age-39-or-older season.
He could join Malone (8.7 rebounds per game in 2003-04) and Robert Parish (9.4 in 1992-93) as the only players to average eight or more rebounds per game in an age-39-or-older season. (Even if he only averages seven, he’ll join a list that only includes Malone, Parish and Tim Duncan.)
And he will likely become the only player besides John Stockton (7.7 assists per game in 2002-03, 8.2 in 2001-02) to average more than six assists in an age-39-or-older season.
2. The first 20-time All-Star?
James has already tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most All-Star appearances in NBA history (19), and one of Abdul-Jabbar’s came as an injury replacement. James is the only player in NBA history to make 19 consecutive All-Star appearances and to be named an All-Star starter 19 times. Next season, he can become the league’s first 20-time All-Star and the first 20-time All-Star starter.
If he is voted in as a starter in his age-39 season, it will be the first time that has ever happened. Jordan started the 2003 All-Star Game, but only because Vince Carter relinquished his starting spot — initially, Jordan made the team as a reserve. Abdul-Jabbar was named an All-Star in 1987 and 1988 as a reserve, and in 1989 as an injury replacement. Aside from Dirk Nowitzki, who played in the 2019 All-Star Game as a “special roster addition” during his age-40 season, that’s all the historical precedent there is for an All-Star this old.
For history’s sake, here’s hoping that James not only starts in another All-Star Game, but tries to win his fourth All-Star Game MVP. Bob Pettit and Kobe Bryant are the only players to win it four times, and nobody has won it in three separate decades, which James has the chance to do.
3. All the All-NBA accolades
James also has the opportunity to become the first player to make 20 All-NBA Teams. With 19, he already has the all-time record for All-NBA appearances (Abdul-Jabbar, Duncan and Bryant each made it 15 times), and, last season, he became the third player to make it in his age-38 season, joining Duncan in 2014-15 and Abdul-Jabbar in 1985-86.
This combination of consistency and longevity has never been seen before. Who’s to say it can’t continue?
4. The most minutes (except for that one guy)
James will need to stick around a few more seasons to get within range of Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time minutes record (57,446), but he’s about to be No. 2 on the list. James has logged 54,092 regular-season minutes in his career, 760 shy of Malone’s career total. If he averages the same amount of minutes in 2023-24 as he did in 2022-23, then he’ll pass Malone in his 22nd game of the season.
5. Top 3 in free throws
James is fourth all-time in free throws made (8,087), and he’s 291 short of Bryant’s career total. If James makes 4.6 free throws a game next season, as he did last year, then he’d have to play 64 games to pass Bryant. He has not done that since 2019-20, but, if James were to play in virtually all of the Lakers’ games next season, would you really be that surprised?
6. Approaching giants on the all-time defensive rebounds list
Only 10 players have grabbed 9,000 career defensive rebounds, including James, who has grabbed 9,001. Next season, if he averages 7.1 per game like he did in 2022-23, then he needs to play 56 games to pass Abdul-Jabbar’s total (9,394) and 68 games to pass Moses Malone’s total (9,481).
7. Climbing the 3-point ladder
With 2,261 made 3s, James ranks ninth all-time. He’ll be higher on the list soon, too, because he’s only 21 behind Jason Terry and 29 behind Vince Carter. And if he averages as many 3s per game as he did in 2021-22 (2.9) and manages to play in 66 games, then he’ll also overtake former teammate Kyle Korver (2,450), who is in fifth place but will soon be overtaken by Damian Lillard.
One wrinkle: Klay Thompson is only 48 3-pointers behind James, and last season made 3.8 per game (compared to James’ 2.2). The most likely scenario is that James passes Terry and Carter, but only moves up one spot.
8. An exclusive playoff club
Another possible 3-point milestone: If James makes 40 3s in the 2023-24 playoffs, he’ll join Stephen Curry and Thompson in the 500-career-playoff-3s club.
Last season, James made 28 3s in 16 playoff games. But he made 44 in 2019-20, 39 in 2018-19 and 44 in 2016-17, all seasons in which his team advanced to the Finals. If you see the Lakers as contenders, then this is not unrealistic.
James, by the way, is already the all-time playoff leader in games played, minutes, points, field goals made, field goals attempted, free throws made, free throws attempted, defensive rebounds and steals.
9. Funny milestone for a guy who isn’t a scorer
Despite the fact that James does not see himself as a scorer, exactly, he will soon have taken the most shots of anybody to have stepped foot on an NBA court. James has attempted a total of 28,044 field goals, which is 263 fewer than Abdul-Jabbar attempted in his career. Should he average 22.2 shot attempts next season, like he did in 2022-23, he will move into the No. 1 spot in his 12th game.
10. Thievery!
James is ninth on the all-time steals list with 2,186 in his career, and he’s only 21 behind No. 8 Clyde Drexler. If he averages 0.9 steals per game again, like he did in 2022-23, then he’ll pass Drexler 24 games into the season.
Scottie Pippen is seventh on the list (2,307) and Maurice Cheeks is sixth (2,310). It’s conceivable that James could catch up to them in 2023-24, but it’s not likely — after recording more than 100 steals in each of his first 13 seasons, James has only done it once in the seven seasons since.