Over 23 years and counting, LeBron James has had an undeniably outstanding NBA career. A four-time champion, four-time MVP and the game’s all-time leading scorer, there are many who believe the King stands alone as the greatest basketball player to ever live, which is why picking out the greatest season of LeBron’s career is a near-impossible task.
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Is it when he led the league in scoring with 30 points per game in 2007-08? Is it his second season in Miami, when he won MVP, Finals MVP and his first title? These are just two options, but when you’ve had a career as prolific as LeBron’s, it becomes difficult to distinguish between each phenomenal season. Greatness becomes standard.
On the latest episode of Mind the Game, LeBron was asked by a listener what season he would consider his greatest. It’s one thing to crunch the numbers and compare years on Basketball Reference, but it’s even better to hear it from the man himself.
“What was the best season I had, where I felt the most complete as a basketball player? I would say the 2017-18 season,” he said.
“I felt like I could do no wrong out there on the basketball floor. Offensively, defensively, I felt no flaws in my game. I felt like every time I stepped out on the floor, I really could do everything I wanted to do,” the 4 time NBA champion reminisced.
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That season was the final one of LeBron’s second tour of duty in Cleveland, his 15th in the league. He played in all 82 games, the only time he’s ever done that, and he also led the league in minutes played and field goal attempts, a clear sign of how confident he felt in his game. He made First Team All-NBA and finished second in the MVP voting behind James Harden.
LeBron had turned 33 that year, which meant he still had most of the explosive athleticism of his younger days, but he was also able to combine that with the wisdom of someone who had spent a decade-and-a-half in the league.
This was also the final year of his incredible streak of making the Finals eight years in a row, though the Cavs fell short this time against the Warriors.
Mind the Game cohost Steve Nash nearly made LeBron spit his water everywhere when he quipped, “I mean, I would say there was more than that year where you could do no wrong on the basketball court, but I’ll accept your answer.”
The truth is, the greatest strength of LeBron’s career is the totality of it. The sheer weight of all his stats, all his winning over 23 years is almost impossible to comprehend. Sure, 2017-18 was great, but so were so many other seasons.
To appreciate all LeBron has meant to the league, it’s almost doing him a disservice to not look at his entire body of work. Still, it was interesting to get into his head and see his perspective on it.
