Years from now, when Lebron James retires, pundits would be mistaken to compare his career to the career of Michael Jordan. Jordan and James are simply different players. James and Magic Johnson, however, are statistical anomalies.
During Magic’s career, he was one of the few players who could dominate a game whenever he chose to, but often chose to highlight his teammates instead. When Johnson was called on to score, he would score, but when the game could be furthered by his teammates instead, he often deferred. Johnson finished his career averaging 19.5 points per game to go with his 11.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds. Consider that Chris Paul, widely considered the best point guard of his generation, has only averaged 11.2 assists or more during a season once. A more apt comparison for Johnson’s passing ability would be John Stockton, who is on the hypothetical “Mount Rushmore” of point guards and averaged 10.5 assists per game for his career. Stockton, though, only averaged 13.1 points per game. Johnson was a triple double machine and that was the case simply because he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, anywhere on the court.
Lebron was manufactured in a similar vain. James has been criticized several times for bypassing tough shots to set up a teammate with a better opportunity. Unlike Johnson, James has his fair share of detractors who detest the fame and attention he got at a young age. James’s stat line is 27.3 points per game, supported by 6.9 assists and 7.1 rebounds per game. Famed sports writer Bill Simmons dedicated a chapter in his book to the “42 Club”, players whose points, assists, and rebounds per game added up to 42 or more were the players who the NBA that season. James has averaged a robust 41.3 total for his career.
Beyond the statistical measurements, James and Johnson were special in the fact that they could play (and more importantly, guard) any position on the floor on any given night. No Kareem Abdul-Jabaar? No problem, insert Magic. We don’t have a point guard we can trust to take the ball up offensively and guard Tony Parker defensively? No problem, insert Lebron.
Any front office executive would love to start a team with Lebron or Magic because those two are simply the most versatile players of all time. Both can play any position, and both can dominate a game when called upon to do so. One overlooked fact is that you can also trust them to make the right decision for the basketball team when the ball is in their hands. They will not resort to “hero ball” where they will take a three-pointer with three opposing players in their face and their shooting guard waving his hands wide open in the corner. That shooting guard is taking the shot, and that is the best basketball decision that could have been made. If, by chance, that three-pointer does leave their hands headed for the basket, you are just as confident that that ball is finding the bottom of the net.