LeBron James is having a terrific year from an individual perspective. Even though his team may miss even the play-in tournament, LeBron has been in inspired form and is in the race to end the season as the oldest scoring leader in NBA history.
Currently, LeBron is leading the league in scoring with an average of 30.1 points per game. He is narrowly ahead of Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who are both sitting on 29.9 PPG right now. However, they will get a boost with LeBron currently being injured, and possibly falling out of the race for the scoring leader.
In an 82-game season, a player is required to play at least 58 games to be eligible as the scoring leader of the season. LeBron has played 55 games this season so far and is expected to miss at least another game on Friday against the Utah Jazz.
My @NBAonTNT Report: Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis targeting a return Friday, star LeBron James anticipated to miss Thursday in SLC and Kendrick Nunn expected to be shelved for remainder of season. pic.twitter.com/UuZSXPlWT9
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 30, 2022
If LeBron doesn’t play in 3 of the Lakers’ last 6 games of the season, he will not be eligible to win the scoring title. In addition, he will have to keep up his season-long scoring pace to hold off the likes of Giannis and Embiid. One bad game at this point could be all that costs one of these three their chance at becoming scoring champion.
The oldest scoring champion in NBA history is Michael Jordan, who led the league in scoring at age 35 in 1998. Stephen Curry became one of the oldest players to be the scoring leader last season at the age of 33, but what LeBron may achieve at 37 through 19 years in the NBA is phenomenal.
Even if LeBron can’t win the scoring title, this season will be marveled at by future generations from a statistical perspective because what James is doing has never been done before in basketball.
