After his 38-point, 11-rebound, 12-assist triple double against the Cavaliers on Monday, LeBron James’s per-game averages are up to 30.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists in 2022. This season has become about numbers for James, who is racking up individual accolades amid what’s otherwise been a disastrous season for the Lakers. James is threatening to lead the league in scoring, and if he maintains his scoring average, he’ll be at 30 points a night for the first time since his first stint in Cleveland. His play has raised the question—is this the best individual season of James’s career? The short answer: No.
The longer answer: As great as James has been at times, his impact has been muted in Year 19. Part of that is the Lakers’ roster construction (which James himself had a hand in), and part of that is James’s mixed defensive effort compared to yesteryear. Overall, Los Angeles has a minus-2 net rating (per Cleaning the Glass) with James on the floor, his lowest mark and only other negative differential since his rookie season. We’ve seen James drag teams into the postseason before (he took a roster with Larry Hughes as its second-leading scorer to the Finals!), so I think it’s fair to say 2022 doesn’t rank among his best.
Though you can’t fully separate out his team’s success, here’s how I would rank James’s three best regular seasons on a largely individual basis.
3. 2009 Cleveland Cavaliers
Okay, I promise to talk about James’s 2009 season, but first, a quick detour to ’08. James averaged 30/8/7 in ’08, and that’s the year he took the eventual-champion Celtics to seven games. It was a herculean performance. In the Game 7 loss to Boston in the East semis, James scored 45 of his team’s 92 points. Paul Pierce was flanked by multiple Hall of Famers in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. James’s second-leading scorer was Delonte West. That Celtics team had a lot to say to James after only escaping by the skin of their teeth against a 22-year-old with a subpar supporting cast.
All of this is to say … James came back even better in 2009. He averaged 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists a game in the regular season. His scoring was slightly down from ’08, but his efficiency was up. His 31.76 PER that year remains the best of his career. The Cavs won 66 games with the best net rating in the league, and James’s on/off differential was 17.8—also a career best. While he lacked the offensive refinement he would sport later in his career, there was simply no stopping him in ’09. He willed this Cleveland team to the best record in the league, and he was rewarded handsomely with his first MVP.
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2. 2012 Miami Heat
It is very difficult to leave James’s 2010 season—his second MVP year—off this list. His third MVP season will still do quite fine. James’s 53.1% field-goal percentage in ’12 was at the time the best mark of his career. He also averaged a tidy 27/8/6. What really sets this season apart from ’09 and ’10 is the defense. James was the best defender on the fourth-best defense in the league, and his versatility on that end of the floor especially began to shine. His two-way brilliance in a compressed season gives this year a slight edge. His ’09, ’10 and ’12 seasons are all very close.
1. 2013 Miami Heat
James’s 2013 season is his masterpiece. He went 27/8/7 on a comical 56.5% shooting from the field, including 40.6% from three, which remains a career high. This was apex predator James. He was an absolute menace on both ends of the floor. Miami had the league’s best record, including its famous 27-game win streak, during which James would seemingly spot opponents big leads only so he could engineer comebacks for sport.
While 2022 James may have more in his offensive arsenal (the deep three, the post game), ’13 James was his best combination of athleticism, intelligence and determination. This was the last season James won MVP, and he also finished second in voting for Defensive Player of the Year. James did all of this coming off a year in which he won MVP, his first Finals MVP and an Olympic gold medal. If you dropped this version of James in today’s NBA—with more spacing, and more emphasis on spread pick and rolls—I think he would be the best player in the NBA by a considerable margin.
