{"id":938718,"date":"2026-10-19T10:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/938718\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T10:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:48:15","slug":"lebron-james-by-the-numbers-going-into-year-24-of-his-one-of-a-kind-nba-career-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/938718\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James, by the numbers going into Year 24 of his one-of-a-kind NBA career \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

There isn\u2019t much for Philadelphia forward LeBron James to chase this season, at least from a statistical standpoint.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s already the NBA\u2019s career scoring leader. The leader in games, minutes, field goals and field goals attempted, too. And he\u2019s entering Year 24 of his career \u2014 another record, one he took sole possession of last year because nobody ever topped 22 seasons before he came along.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of experience in this game, obviously,\u201d James said. \u201cSo, 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\u2019t done in their career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Philadelphia
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhiladelphia 76ers’ LeBron James, left, goes up for a shot against Boston Celtics’ Chris Cenac Jr. during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum)<\/p>\n

So, why is he still playing? And what is he chasing?<\/p>\n

A look at it all, by the numbers:<\/p>\n

4, as in championships with four teams<\/p>\n

James isn\u2019t playing for money (he\u2019s estimated to be a billionaire), isn\u2019t playing for legacy (secured long ago), isn\u2019t playing for records (has enough of those).<\/p>\n

He plays for rings.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll never catch Bill Russell\u2019s 11 titles, would need two more crowns to tie Michael Jordan\u2019s six, but James \u2014 if he wins one in Philly \u2014 would be the first player to be part of championship runs by four franchises.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s already won with Cleveland, Miami and Los Angeles. Adding Philadelphia to the list would be quite the capper.<\/p>\n

11, his new total of coaches<\/p>\n

Nick Nurse will be the 11th coach of James\u2019 career, excluding any interim coaches and from events like the Olympics and All-Star Games.<\/p>\n

James enters this season having gone up against 141 head coaches in his regular-season career, with four new names \u2014 Dallas\u2019 Dusty May, Orlando\u2019s Sean Sweeney, Portland\u2019s Micah Nori and the Lakers\u2019 JJ Redick \u2014 set to join that list.<\/p>\n

2-pointers<\/p>\n

James took Kareem Abdul-Jabbar\u2019s points title a few years ago. He won\u2019t be catching Abdul-Jabbar in 2-pointers; the gap there is more than 2,500 baskets.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

And with 302 attempts from 2-point range, James would pass Elvin Hayes for third on that list. He likely won\u2019t be catching Abdul-Jabbar or Malone in that department.<\/p>\n

3-pointers<\/p>\n

James is sixth on the 3-pointers list for now, and will probably stay right there this season.<\/p>\n

He could actually fall one spot to No. 4 on the 3s attempted list. Portland\u2019s Damian Lillard is back this season and trails James by only nine 3s tried for that third-place spot. It\u2019s reasonable to think that Lillard will try more 3s than James will this season.<\/p>\n

No. 1 in free throws?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible \u2014 possible \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t seem likely.<\/p>\n

No. 2 in assists very possible<\/p>\n

James enters this season No. 4 on the assist list with 12,016, or just 75 away from No. 3 Jason Kidd.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t be anywhere near that when he retires.<\/p>\n

Catching Jordan in steals?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

History will say they had a case.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s 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\u2019s list in that category.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 reach even if he plays two more seasons.<\/p>\n

The 27-7-7 mystery<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

James\u2019 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.)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s had 82 games with exactly 27 points, 232 games with exactly seven rebounds and 222 games with exactly seven assists. But he\u2019s never put up those exact numbers in all three categories in the same game.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

\n See AP\u2019s full NBA coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There isn\u2019t much for Philadelphia forward LeBron James to chase this season, at least from a statistical standpoint.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-938718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}