Who is more valuable to their team: LeBron James or Patrick Mahomes?

LeBron James and Patrick Mahomes are the best players in the NBA and NFL, respectively — but who is more vital to his team’s success?

It is tough to make a case against Patrick Mahomes and LeBron James as the best players in their respective sports. Mahomes rewrote the record books in his first season as an NFL starter, and has an MVP, a Super Bowl MVP, and the largest contract in NFL history to his name after two seasons under center.

James, meanwhile, has carved out one of the finest NBA careers of all time, and is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player to ever live. Without Mahomes, the Chiefs would undoubtedly struggle. Ditto for James and the Lakers. But who elevates their team more?

It is certainly a difficult question to answer, but with both players missing games in recent years, one can begin to gain some insight into each player’s value.

Let’s start with Mahomes. The Super Bowl MVP missed two starts in 2019, but sat out for a chunk of Kansas City’s matchup with the Broncos due to a knee injury. In those two and a half games or so with Matt Moore under center, the journeyman backup performed admirably.

Moore threw for 659 yards and four touchdowns in Andy Reid’s offense, sealing a victory over Denver before splitting the next two games with the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. While those numbers do not compare with Mahomes’, Moore was competent in his limited snaps and had the benefit of playing in an Andy Reid offense with weapons all around.

Even before Mahomes arrived in Kansas City, the Chiefs were a perennial playoff team under Reid. While the Texas Tech alum has brought the team to new heights, he joined a talented squad and one of the best offensive minds in the NFL.

James, on the other hand, is a lynchpin that his teams simply cannot function without. The Lakers were in fourth place in the Western Conference when he went down in 2019, and the team went 9-18 without him, dooming any playoff hopes.

Perhaps the best indication of James’ impact is the year-to-year changes that the Cleveland Cavaliers experienced after his departure. In his final year in Cleveland, James led the Cavs to a 50-32 regular season record and an NBA Finals appearance.

In 2018, with James being the team’s only notable departure, Cleveland was one of the league’s worst squads, finishing 19-63, with a sharp decline in net rating. That James took roughly the same roster to the Finals just a year earlier is remarkable.

While Mahomes is the NFL’s best talent, James elevates his teams to seemingly impossible heights. James only seems to get better with age, and has all the tools to elevated any NBA roster to a playoff level.

He leads the league in assists for the 2019-20 season (bubble games notwithstanding) and has shown what he is capable of with an All-Star running mate (see: Miami Heat tenure, 2016 Finals, 2019-20 season).

As great as Mahomes is, he is also surrounded by elite pieces like Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. James, on the other hand, has proven time and again that he can take the NBA’s worst rosters to the Finals, and is, as a result, undoubtedly more valuable.