On December 30, 2017, LeBron James will celebrate his 33rd birthday in his 15th NBA season. Comparisons to the all-time greats have been nothing short of inevitable lately, so his birthday begs the question: how does the Cleveland Cavaliers forward matchup at 33 with two players he's been compared to his entire career: Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant?
For purposes of these comparisons, we'll even give Jordan and Bryant the upper-hand by considering their careers through the conclusion of their age 33 season. That means LeBron James has four months and another postseason to add on to his already legendary pedigree.
We'll start off with a category LeBron trails in: championship rings.
At 33 years old, Michael Jordan was putting the finishing touches on the second of three straight championships, which was his 5th championship win in as many appearances. This was Jordan's 12th season in the league.
Kobe Bryant also had all five of his rings at age 33. With a 5-2 record at this point, Bryant had won just as many championships as Jordan, and appeared in seven which still surpasses the Chicago Bulls shooting guard. Bryant had gone to seven NBA Finals in his 16th season in the NBA.
Of course, LeBron has an infamous 3-5 record in the NBA Finals, falling two championships short of both shooting guards. However, that makes eight appearances, and all indications show that he's not done yet. As James still has this season to finish out, he could finish his age 33 season with 4 championships in 9 appearances if the Cavaliers win this June in his 15th season.
Would one less ring with four more appearances make him and Jordan virtually tied at this point in their lives? Many point to Jordan's untarnished NBA Finals record as a testament to his GOAT-ness, but losing in the Finals is still a greater accomplishment than missing them entirely.
Next, we'll look at on-paper statistics, both for their careers and during their age 33 seasons.
LeBron James leads this pack in career points, rebounds, and assists on his 33rd birthday, with a chance to retire as the all-time leader in points. His 29,759 career points are slightly ahead of the 29,484 Bryant had through the end of his season at this age: but Bryant had played in 65 more games. Couple this with LeBron's dominant assist lead (7,786 to 5,418) and it's easy to see James has been responsible for more team offense in his career.
But as Jordan went to college, he doesn't really stand a chance in the career total categories, with nearly 300 less games played than Bryant. MJ makes up for this gap with his career per-game statistics to this point. His 31.7 career points per game through his age 33 season easily dwarf LeBron's 27.2 and Bryant's 25.4.
James leads the trio in rebounds per game (7.3), assists per game (7.1), and even three-point percentage (34.4%.) Jordan holds a narrow lead over James in field goal percentage (50.9% to 50.3%) and leads the pack in the defensive categories of blocks per game (0.9) and steals per game (2.6). Bryant finishes third in every one of these categories.
Finally, we'll take a look at how each player fared in their single season at age 33.
On the eve of his 33rd birthday, LeBron James is enjoying a career-year with a chance to average a triple-double if he get his rebounding up. His 27.8 points per game, 9.3 assists per game, and 8.2 rebounds per game have him right near the top of the MVP conversation with Houston Rockets guard James Harden.
His 9.3 assists per game are easily the most of his career, in the absence of a true point guard like Kyrie Irving or Isiah Thomas, and his 8.2 rebounds are the second-highest of his career only behind his 2016-2017 campaign. He's averaged more points per game four times, but has only reached his 56% field goal percentage two other times, both with the Miami Heat.
James actually has the lowest-scoring output of the trio at this point, but makes up for it with vastly superior assist and rebound numbers.
In his age 33 season, Kobe Bryant averaged 27.9 points, 4.6 assists, and 5.4 rebounds per game. He did this on 43% shooting and 30% three-point shooting, both the worst in the trio.
Michael Jordan actually didn't win the MVP in his age 33 season, sandwhiched between wins in 1996 and 1998, but still put up incredible numbers. Playing all 82 games, Jordan averaged 29.6 points, 4.3 assists, and 4.5 rebounds per game on 49% shooting.
All three players had impressive pedigrees at 33, but LeBron James has been the best so far if he keep up these stats after he turns 33. While he scores about two points less than Jordan per game, he definitely makes up for it with his superior all-around play, evidenced by his assist and rebound totals, both double that of Jordan and Bryant.
If LeBron James retired tomorrow, he'd be right up there with Michael Jordan in the conversation for greatest of all time, but slightly behind due to Jordan's superior NBA Finals record.
Luckily, James is far from done, and has the chance to add multiple championships to the resume he'll ultimately retire with. Jordan may be in the lead for now, but James gets closer to surpassing him every time he takes the court.
(All statistics were compiled by Basketball Reference.com and their handy player comparison tool)
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