Predicting the Los Angeles Lakers’ leaders in every statistical category

LeBron James will lead the Los Angeles Lakers in points

With history on the line, LeBron is one of the more obvious statistical leaders here. At this point, it seems unlikely that LeBron will ever catch Jordan in the number of championships won. The fact he is level with Stephen Curry and Shaquille O’Neal, and one behind Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, hurts his case as the best player of all time.

But that is only one, albeit important, part of the argument. What James is doing in the areas of longevity and individual accolades and statistics puts him in a place all by himself. He is only 1,325 points behind the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who may actually be the best player of all time) for most points scored in the league all time and is likely to overtake the former Laker great if he plays into next season.

So even if the chances of a championship go up in smoke early, James still has something to really go after on a personal level. He is already one of the greatest passers of all time, and in his first season with the Lakers back in 2019-20 actually led the entire league in assists with 10.2 per contest.

We know he can pass (he is seventh all-time on that list with 10,045), and will do so if he realizes that the games mean something and a championship is a possibility. But just last year he averaged 30.3 points a night, which was the third-highest in the whole league. If not for injury, James could have conceivably won the scoring title.

All of which is to say, knowing that history is within reach, he is going to once again lead the Lakers in scoring. Coming at it from another angle, the team needs him to be their highest-scoring each night anyway. This will take the ball out of Westbrook’s hands some, and although Davis is a super offensive player, the team would love to see more from him defensively. That starts with simply being able to stay on the court. This is LeBron’s domain.