Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James has had an extremely long, illustrious career in the NBA. He’s won championships, Finals MVPs, regular season MVPs and basically every other accolade under the sun.
James has appeared to be at the peak of his powers for basically two decades, so identifying his single best season isn’t an easy endeavor. But, that’s exactly what James tried to do on a recent episode of his Mind the Game podcast with Steve Nash.
LeBron James says the 2017-18 NBA season was his peak
When asked by Nash when he felt like he was at his peak as a player, James pointed to one specific season during his second stint as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“If you ask me what I feel like was my best season that I had where I felt the most complete as a basketball player, I would say 2018, 2017-18 season I felt like I could do no wrong out there on the basketball floor,” James said. Offensively, defensively, I felt no flaws in my game. I felt like every time I stepped out on the floor, I really could do everything I wanted to do.
“All three levels, defensively, guard all three levels. I still feel that way, but it was just another level of that in 2017-18, with the team that we had. … That season right there I felt like that was probably my most complete season. I played all 82 games, I believe that year, and then if you include the playoffs I played over 100 games. I didn’t miss one game that season. So a lot of factors went into that.”
It's tough to disagree with James there, as he was an absolute force during the aforementioned 2017-18 season. James did indeed play in all 82 games that season and he posted averages of 27.5 points, 9.1 assists, 8.6 rebounds and 1.4 steals per performance during the regular season.
In the playoffs that year, he led the league in scoring with 34.0 points per game while also adding 9.1 rebounds and 9.0 assists. He led the Cavaliers to a fourth consecutive Finals appearance, where they were ultimately swept by the Golden State Warriors.
There are obviously other potential options when it comes to identifying James' best season, including his MVP seasons in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013, or in 2016 when he led the Cavs to the first title in franchise history. But at the end of the day, if James thinks the '17-18 season was his peak, who are we to argue?