All-time NBA leading scorer LeBron James is approaching an unfathomable 40,000 regular-season points, and fantasy basketball investors have certainly loved that particular ingredient of his statistics for two decades.
Then again, for many of us, James stood out because of his passing. James entered the league a relatively raw teenager, blessed with scoring ability but also rare and obvious on-court vision, and regardless of which NBA positions he qualified for in ESPN's game (currently SF/PF, but previously the guard positions, and one season as a center), he always piled on the assists, too.
James, 39, and in his 21st NBA campaign, enters this weekend averaging better than 27 PPG during the regular season for his career, seventh all time. This is wildly impressive, of course, but many in the fantasy world have long appreciated the 7.4 APG just as much.
Everyone scores. Not everyone passes.
James averaged 5.9 APG in his age-19 rookie season for the Cavaliers, giving us a glimpse of his massive potential. He averaged 6.7 APG over his four Heat seasons, but James has been a better distributor for the Lakers, averaging 7.9 APG in six seasons. He led the NBA in assists in 2019-20 at 10.2 APG.
We all acknowledge how it is unprecedented territory for a basketball player -- perhaps any athlete -- to remain one of the league's top talents and statistical producers at this advanced age. Even this season, James is not the same player he was last season, as he understandably shoots, scores and rebounds a bit less, but then we focus on the assists. Those not only remain, but the figure is up to 7.9 APG. Only six players average more assists, four of them point guards.
James is listed at 6-foot-9, and the only three players in history with more assists certainly are not (John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul). Put simply, fantasy managers have enjoyed a remarkable career with ridiculous numbers across the board, and the passing ability remains as strong as ever. We saw it on Wednesday night, in a key game against the LA Clippers, when James notched eight assists, the final one in the waning and winning seconds, when after forcing a tough missed shot from Kawhi Leonard, James rebounded and fired a perfect transition pass to Cam Reddish for a final dunk.
In addition to the valuable and often differentiating assists, two other things related to fantasy production were quite in display in Wednesday's win that perhaps fantasy managers did not expect from James this season.
He's staying on the court
Well, James played great, but the fact he played through an ankle injury is news. James fell a bit into fantasy disfavor in recent seasons due to myriad missed games. He played in 67 games in 2019-20, his second with the Lakers. In the three seasons after that, a number of different ailments kept James to 45 (out of 72 games), 56 and 55 games. James remained an ultra-productive statistical asset, but appearing in only two-thirds of the team's possible games is a downer, for Lakers fans and fantasy investors.
James entered Thursday having played in 52 of the team's 60 games. He has played through minor injuries that would have cost him time in recent seasons, and his production has kept the Lakers in the playoff hunt. James' games played might be his most surprising statistic of this season.
He's draining 3s at a career-high percentage
The Lakers entered Wednesday's game trailing their building-sharing rivals by 19 points. James outscored the Clippers by himself in the fourth quarter, draining five 3-pointers. He hit seven on the night, a season best. James entered the league as a willing and volume 3-point shooter, but not a terribly accurate one. James hit better than 38% from 3-point range in one of his first 20 seasons, and last season he struggled at 32.1%.
This season, James is firing away at a career-best rate of 40.8%, 38th in the league. In some ways, James just continues to improve. OK, so he isn't Stephen Curry, but James is top 50 in the league in 3-pointers and 3-point percentage. He finished 143rd out of 149 qualifiers in 3-point percentage last season.
Final thoughts
James finished 31st in ESPN fantasy points last season, though his average of 51.1 FPG was ninth. Yep, the missed games matter. This season, James is among the top 10 in assists, fantasy points and fantasy points per game, and on pace for his best availability -- perhaps the best "ability" -- since perhaps 2018.
We always love the assists, but we must give James extra credit for playing through physical issues and becoming a better 3-point shooter as well. James has deferred a bit to others in the Lakers offense -- including Anthony Davis -- in the scoring department, but he remains one of the top fantasy options in the sport, even at 39.