LeBron James has been the most durable superstar in NBA history. James entered the league in 2003 as an 18-year-old. Since then, James has gone on to have a storied career, winning multiple championships and MVP titles along the way. And as he has gotten older, his level of play has remained elite throughout.
Next season, James will once again be one of the contenders for the NBA championship. He and the Los Angeles Lakers have completely revamped the squad. And now the Lakers have a big three to contend with the Brooklyn Nets in LeBron, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook.
James is still the best player on the Lakers and will be the leader for the franchise in their championship pursuit next season. It is truly incredible how James continues to stay in top shape despite how long he has been playing. And one stat reveals just how dominant LeBron James’ reign atop the NBA mountain has been.
Since LeBron James entered the league in 2003, he has played a grand total of 61,091 minutes across both the regular season and the playoffs combined. James is ahead of every active player in the NBA by a healthy distance. The player that comes closest to him is Carmelo Anthony. But the gap between him and Melo is more than 16,000.
Top 10 in minutes played since 2003-04 (regular season plus playoffs):
- LeBron James – 61091
- Carmelo Anthony – 44812
- Joe Johnson – 44165
- Andre Iguodala – 43990
- Dirk Nowitzki – 42770
- Chris Paul – 42501
- Dwyane Wade – 42490
- Dwight Howard – 42438
- Pau Gasol – 39857
- Tony Parker – 39842
Since entering the league in 2003, LeBron James has played over 16,000 more minutes than any other player (regular season and playoffs combined).@KingJames – 61,091@carmeloanthony – 44,812@TheJoeJohnson7 – 44,165@andre – 43,990@swish41 – 42,770 pic.twitter.com/wrBtiXxzW1
— Crazy Stats (@NBAcrazystats) August 18, 2021
James is still one of the best players in the league and is still contending for an NBA championship as he is ready to turn 37 years old. LeBron has also rarely been injured, only suffering two major injuries throughout his career that have kept him sidelined for a long period of time.
So the numbers he has put up come as no surprise. As LeBron has been in the league for almost 20 years, fans have come to take his ridiculous numbers for granted. It will be nearly impossible for any player to match this level of dominance from James.
