LeBron James has had incredible longevity in the NBA. James has been playing in the NBA for almost 2 decades and is still playing at an incredibly high level. James has put up some incredible numbers during the course of his career. And recently, he tied another NBA legend in games played across their careers.
As pointed out by Reddit user u/MrRoma, LeBron James tied Kobe Bryant for games played across their career last week. Comparing James’ numbers with Kobe, we can see that LeBron is ahead of Kobe in quite a few categories. He has a significant lead over Kobe in minutes, points, field goals percentage, three-pointers made, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocks, among others.
LeBron James/Kobe Bryant – Career Comparison
(Format: LeBron’s Stats/Kobe’s Stats)
Games: 1346/1346
Minutes: 51,373/48,643
Points: 36,414/33,643
FGM: 13,296/11,719
FGA: 26,357/26,200
FG%: 50.4%/44.7%
3PM: 2,079/1,827
3PA: 6,022/5,546
3P%: 34.5%/32.9%
FTM: 7,743/8,378
FTA: 10,549/10,011
FT%: 73.4%/83.7%
OREB: 1,577/1,499
DREB: 8,450/5,548
REB: 10,027/7,047
AST: 9,923/6,306
STL: 2,122/1,944
BLK: 1,022/640
TOV: 4,703/4,010
EFG%: 54.4%/48.2%
TS%: 58.7/55.0%
Source: NBA.com
The only category that Kobe Bryant is better than LeBron James is in free-throw percentage. James has never been a great free-throw shooter during the course of his career, and so him being a worse free-throw shooter than Kobe when it comes to his career numbers is not surprising.
Given the way Kobe and LeBron’s twilight years unfolded, this is not at all surprising. Bryant’s final 4 years of his career were marred with injuries, and by playing for a really weak Los Angeles Lakers team. Whereas LeBron has been playing at an incredibly high level and has been putting numbers we have become used to from him.
Despite these numbers, Kobe Bryant has always been slightly more critically acclaimed by his friends and peers over LeBron James. In fact, several players like Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and Kevin Durant, among others, picked Kobe Bryant over LeBron James when given the choice.
James is currently 37 years old, the same age that Kobe was when he entered his final NBA season. While Kobe’s numbers and performances had significantly dwindled by then, James’ numbers are actually really good. In fact, James is putting up some of the best numbers of his career, especially when it comes to scoring.
So much so, that the Lakers are still very reliant on him. In fact, one anonymous Lakers’ source told Ramona Shelburne that the Lakers get worse with each game LeBron James misses. That just shows how spectacularly productive James has been, despite his age.
