LeBron James is a Laker for a variety of reasons, and the Cavaliers are left to ponder what's next.
In a career full of personal and team highlights, James now begins the next chapter in Los Angeles.
With that in mind, courtesy of Opta's Russell Varner, here are some numbers about LeBron in the context of the Lakers and James' current place in the NBA pantheon. (If you like what you see, give @OptaLarry a follow here.)
— James has played 29 career regular-season games at the Staples Center, putting up averages of 27.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists. He has hit 47.9 percent of his field goals (32.8 percent of his 3-point attempts) and 67.3 percent of his free throws.
— His career numbers against the Pacific Division (including the Lakers) look very similar: 26.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.3 assists in 143 career games.
— James’ career favors well against many Lakers greats through their age 33 seasons, both in regular-season and postseason play.
Regular season
| Player | Games | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% |
| LeBron James | 1,143 | 27.2 | 7.4 | 7.2 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 50.4% | 34.4% |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 935 | 28.1 | 14.1 | 4.4 | 1.2 | 3.4 | 55.6% | 0.0% |
| Kobe Bryant | 1,161 | 25.4 | 5.3 | 4.7 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 45.3% | 33.7% |
| Magic Johnson | 874 | 19.7 | 7.3 | 11.4 | 1.9 | 0.4 | 52.1% | 29.8% |
| Shaquille O’Neal | 941 | 26.3 | 11.8 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 58.0% | 5.0% |
| Jerry West | 832 | 27.6 | 6.0 | 6.5 | N/A* | N/A* | 47.4% | N/A* |
Postseason
| Player | Games | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% |
| LeBron James | 239 | 24.8 | 7.6 | 6.0 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 49.1% | 33.2% |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 97 | 24.8 | 12.8 | 3.2 | 1.0 | 2.7 | 44.8% | 0.0% |
| Kobe Bryant | 220 | 23.5 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 44.8% | 33.1% |
| Magic Johnson | 186 | 17.7 | 7.0 | 11.3 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 50.8% | 23.6% |
| Shaquille O’Neal | 194 | 23.6 | 11.3 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 56.6% | 0.0% |
| Jerry West | 135 | 25.7 | 4.9 | 5.3 | N/A* | N/A* | 47.2% | N/A* |
*Steals, blocks and 3-pointers were not official stats at this time
— He already ranks highly in multiple all-time statistical categories …
| Stat | Number | Rank |
| Field Goals Made (Career) | 11,280 | 8th |
| Points (Career) | 31,038 | 7th |
| Assists (Career) | 8208 | 11th |
| Steals (Career) | 1,865 | 17th |
| Regular Season MVP Awards | 4 | T4th |
| All-Star Game MVP Awards | 3 | T3rd |
… and is in a position to climb as high as fourth on the all-time scoring list next season.
| Player | Points | Pts. behind |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 38,387 | 7,349 |
| Karl Malone | 36,928 | 5,890 |
| Kobe Bryant | 33,643 | 2,605 |
| Michael Jordan | 32,292 | 1,254 |
| Wilt Chamberlain | 31,419 | 381 |
| Dirk Nowitzki* | 31,187 | 149 |
| LeBron James* | 31,038 | — |
| Julius Erving | 30,026 | — |
| Moses Malone | 29,580 | — |
| Shaquille O'Neal | 28,596 | — |
*Active
— In 2017-18, James tied a career high by averaging 8.6 rebound per game and set a new career high in assists (9.1). In doing so, he joined Magic Johnson as the only players 6-8 or taller to average 9.0+ assists per game in a season.
— 2017-18 marked the 14th time James was named to an All-NBA team, and the 12th time he was named First Team All-NBA. Only Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tiom Duncan (all 15) have more All-NBA team appearances, and no player has more First Team All-NBA appearances.
| Player | All-NBA | First-team |
| Kobe Bryant | 15 | 11 |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 15 | 10 |
| Tim Duncan | 15 | 10 |
| LeBron James | 14 | 12 |
| Karl Malone | 14 | 11 |
| Shaquille O’Neal | 14 | 8 |
— James finished with six 30-point triple-doubles in 2017-18, his most in a single season. The Lakers had just one triple-double in 2017-18 and have not had a player record a 30-point triple-double since Kobe Bryant in November 2014.
— James earned the 2018 NBA All-Star Game MVP award for his 29-point, 10-rebound, eight-assist performance to lead Team LeBron to a 148-145 win over Team Stephen, James' third career All-Star Game MVP award. Only Kobe Bryant and Bob Pettit (four each) have more.
