Fansided

LeBron James still setting new career bests, even in Year 17

By John Buhler

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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LeBron James continues to marvel NBA fans, even into his 17th season.

In his 17th year in the NBA, LeBron James pulled off something he has never done before.

Despite falling to the Pacific Division rival Sacramento Kings in the the Los Angeles Lakers‘ final game before the playoffs, James averaged 10.2 assists per game for the 2019-20 NBA season. This was the first time the Lakers forward has ever averaged double-digit assists. He will have led the entire NBA in assists per game in his age-35 season out of Akron, Ohio. What a player he is.

Will LeBron James lead the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers to a championship?

With the No. 1 seed locked up in the Western Conference, the Lakers are waiting to see who they will play in the first round of the NBA playoffs. James and the rest of his Los Angeles teammates may have to face the red-hot Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. This could be a challenging matchup, but its one the Lakers need to assert their dominance in.

James is on a quest to become the first player in league history to lead three different organizations to an NBA Championship. He won his first two titles as a member of the Miami Heat back in the early 2010s. Upon returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014, he won the first NBA championship in that franchise’s history back in 2016. His biggest challenger in Kawhi Leonard.

Leonard won an NBA Finals as a member of the San Antonio Spurs over James’ Heat in 2014. During his one year with the Toronto Raptors, Leonard gave Canada’s lone NBA team their first NBA championship in franchise history just last season. He now looks to give the Los Angeles Clippers their first-ever NBA championship this summer in the bubble as well. The heat is on.

Next. Russell Westbrook will miss the start of the NBA playoffs. dark

With the Clippers as the No. 2 seed in the West, they are on a collision course to face the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. The winner of that potential all-time series will face presumably Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. It would be the Bucks’ first NBA championship since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played for them in the early 1970s.

If James’ elite court vision continues, maybe he gets the Lakers their first league title in a decade?