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NBA: 10 best players of calendar year 2019

By Josh Cornelissen

Toronto Raptors Kawhi Leonard Milwaukee Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo. Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
Toronto Raptors Kawhi Leonard Milwaukee Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo. Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images /
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NBA Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James
Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James. Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images /

6. LeBron James, F, Los Angeles Lakers

If this were a list of the league’s best player in 2019-20, LeBron James would likely be second only to the reigning MVP. If this were a list of the player you should choose for a single postseason series right now, he would likely still be first. However this list is looking at the whole of 2019, and thus cannot overlook his terrible start to the year.

Languishing on a bad Los Angeles Lakers team, James missed the majority of the second half of the season and basically did not play defense from Jan. 1 onward. He missed the postseason for the first time since 2006 and was not truly a winning player, despite still filling up the box score.

That changed this season, as the Lakers added Anthony Davis and an unexpectedly strong supporting cast. James has been the league’s best passer, leading the league in assists thus far  in 2019-20 and playing point guard for a Lakers team with just three losses. If this year is the tale of two kings, the current LeBron James is the ruling king.

Since Jan. 1 James is averaging 10.4 assists per game, almost two assists more than anyone else on this list. While his individual defenses is not as strong as it once was, surrounded by strong defensive talent this season he is a part of one of the league’s best defensive teams. For the first time in a long time, James is elevated by the players around him — and needs that help.

Offensively he drives his teammates to success and defensively they lift him up.

James would be on a collision course with his fifth MVP award if it wasn’t for historic seasons from Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden. Even so he is showing that the start of 2019 was a blip, a down stretch, an aberration. The King is still here, and he is still very capable of ruling this league.