LeBron James: Putting into perspective greatness in year 17

LeBron James just proved he’s the best player in the world at year 17. Let’s put that into perspective.

LeBron James just won his fourth NBA Championship and fourth Finals MVP with three different teams (most recently with the Los Angeles Lakers). Despite losing this season’s MVP to Giannis Antetokounmpo, he’s still proving that he’s the best when it matters most.

But being the best basketball player in the world in his 17th year? We say it all the time, but I don’t think we truly appreciate what it means to be the best this far into one’s career.

So, to put things in perspective, let’s compare LeBron James to other players in their 17th years.

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And if you are predicting that this is going to be an unfair comparison: well, it is. LeBron James is, himself, unfair.

Among the 60 players in LeBron James’s draft class, only three are still playing in the NBA.

These are LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Kyle Korver. Among the three, only LeBron is still an All-Star – let alone the first runner-up for season MVP.

Melo is a former superstar and scoring champion, but at year 17, and after being out of the NBA for a while, he’s settled in the league as a role player for the Portland Trail Blazers. Korver is a one-time All-Star, but at year 17, he’s a third-stringer averaging just above six points per game.

The remaining 57 players of the 2003 NBA Draft are no longer in the league.

Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, former superstars and Big 3-mates of LeBron in the Miami Heat, have now retired from the game. The other former All-Stars of his draft class, David West, Chris Kaman, Josh Howard, and Mo Williams have hung it up as well. No. 2 pick Darko Milicic is probably somewhere out in Eastern Europe balancing life as a kickboxer and farmer.

Four out of the 57 are still playing professionally overseas; these are Carlos Delfino, Maciej Lampe, Syzmon Szewczyk, and Andreas Glyniadakis.

The remaining 54 have retired from playing professional basketball altogether. Many have landed coaching or front office positions, most notably Luke Walton who is now head coaching his third NBA team. Some have joined the media, such as Dwyane Wade on TNT and Kendrick Perkins on ESPN.

And LeBron James? With almost all of his draft class retired – trying to build a new life outside of basketball – and a couple settling as role players, LeBron is still the King of the NBA. Without question, he is by a mile the King of his draft class.

But how does he stack up against the rest of the NBA legends in year 17?

Of the “50 Greatest Players in NBA History,” only nine were still playing in the NBA at year 17

These nine were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, Robert Parish, Scottie Pippen, and John Stockton. Of the nine, only three were All-Stars at year 17: Kareem, Shaq, and Karl Malone.

Of these three, only Kareem was remotely an MVP candidate, finishing 5th in the 1985-1986 MVP voting. Shaq and Malone didn’t even garner a single vote for MVP in their 17th years in 2009 and 2002, respectively.

But LeBron James? He finished second in the MVP race in his 17th year. And before we brush off this second-place finish as just another loss for LBJ, read this article where I argue that silver medals are medals too.

Or don’t ask me. Ask Scottie Pippen, who has played with and against some of the greatest basketball players ever. He recently said in The Jump:

"LeBron James is 17 years in this league and he’s still playing some of the best basketball that I’ve seen in any 17-, 15-, 14-, 13-year old vet that has played in this game."

Of course, these “50 Greatest Players in NBA History” were chosen in 1996, and many great basketball players have come up since then. So, let’s see how LeBron stacks up against them in year 17.

(Note: If you want to see my spreadsheet compiling data of the 50 Greatest Players, click here.)

LeBron James’s 17th year is still better than the next NBA greats

Since there’s no official list of the next greatest NBA players after the “50 Greatest,” we have to pick this list manually. Who, among those whose careers mostly fell after 1996, were the NBA greats? NBA superstars who have won championships after 1996 are Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce (arguably). Other MVP-caliber players in this era who didn’t win a ring are Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Allen Iverson, and Steve Nash.

(Obviously, we can’t pick players drafted after 2003, like Chris Paul, as they have not played 17 years in the league yet).

Of these players, only T-Mac and AI were out of the league; the rest were still playing in the NBA. Only Kobe and Dirk were All-Stars in their 17th year (but Duncan and KG would both be selected All-Stars in their 18th year after missing out in their 17th year).

Where LeBron James separates himself from this list is how he lead his team to a championship in year 17.

In Kobe’s 17th year, his Lakers finished 7th in the West and got swept by the Spurs in the first round. In Dirk’s 17th year, his Mavs finished 7th in the West and lost in the first round as well to the Houston Rockets.

As for Duncan and KG, they would be in championship-contending teams in their 17th years, with the Spurs clinching top seed in the West and the Celtics finishing fourth in the East. However, they are no longer the central piece of their team at that point in their careers, as shown by their failure to make the All-Star and the All-NBA teams that year.

But LeBron James? He’s an NBA Champion, Finals MVP, All-Star with the most votes, NBA MVP Runner-Up, and All-NBA First Team in his 17th year.

Read that again. Slowly.

Ok. So now what? How do we make sense of this?

Three Takeaways

One. Taking care of his body.

NBA players in the modern era generally have longer careers than those who played in the ’70s. As sports science improved over the years, so did the NBA players’ understanding of health, nutrition, and training. New technologies are now available to help analyze the athlete’s body and assist in its full recovery. This is why only nine of the “50 Greatest Players” played at least 17 years.

LeBron James took care of his body – to the extreme.

It’s been widely reported that LeBron James spends at least $1.5 million per year to take care of his body, which includes a personal cryotherapy chamber, a hyperbaric chamber, compression gear, and a team of trainers, chefs, and massage therapists. Undoubtedly, his investments are paying off as he’s in the best a shape a 35-year-old could be.

Two. Coming out of high school.

It may be argued that since LeBron James came out of high school straight to the pros, it’s easier for him to dominate at year 17. That’s a fair argument.

Skipping college means starting your NBA journey at a younger age, and thus being a younger 17-year-old veteran than others who had to go through at least one year in college.

For instance, LeBron entered the league at 18 years-old, and Dwyane Wade entered at 21. So if D-Wade didn’t retire last year, he would be a 38-year-old player in his 17th year, as opposed to LeBron who is just 35-years-old today.

Obviously, this is why legends who came out of high school, like Moses Malone, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant, stay longer in the league and can still play well in their 17th years. But as I said earlier, unlike these guys, LeBron isn’t just “playing well” in his 17th year; he’s still dominating as the best player in the league at year 17.

Three. LeBron James is still the King, but he won’t be King for long.

Does this mean that LeBron was just lucky under the circumstances? He benefitted from modern science and technology to be in the best shape, and he started young.

We should still give him credit. A lot of it.

The decision to invest in his body is a prime example of working smart. Most NBA players take care of their bodies as well, but the way LeBron James did it is unprecedented. He took it very seriously, his body being just as important to him as his game. When it comes to longevity and dominance, LeBron set the standard for the next generation of stars to follow.

Starting young is an advantage, but it also takes greatness at such a young age to be able to jump from high school to the NBA. If anyone could just start young, when the NBA still allowed it, they would. But not everyone can.

While LeBron began his NBA journey early, he also plays more games and minutes per season than most other players. He not only makes the playoffs consistently, but he also runs deep in the playoffs consistently. In his 17-year career, he’s been to the Finals 10 times and to the Conference Finals 12 times. Moreover, LeBron rarely gets injured, and so he usually plays most of the season. All in all, despite coming out of high school, he’s got a lot of mileage in those legs.

It takes proper discipline, smart work (not just hard work), and a body with freak durability to achieve this kind of dominance.

But while it seems like LeBron can dominate forever, Father Time will eventually catch the King. So let’s not take him for granted, because we often do. Let’s appreciate his greatness while he’s still here.