LeBron James praises present day NBA.
LeBron James Uses Michael Jordan Example to Argue NBA Is ‘Best It’s Ever Been’ originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Over the past two decades, the NBA has seen a change in how superstar-level players contribute to their teams, and no one knows that better than Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James.
The 40-year-old started his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers as primarily a scorer. However, he slowly began to develop his playmaking and rebounding, which led to some other players shifting their playstyles to become more well-rounded.
Furthermore, James thinks this trend has made the NBA “the greatest it’s ever been,” and former All-Star guard Steve Nash agrees.
“The pace and space era and a lot of threes,” Nash said next to James during a live episode of their “Mind the Game” podcast at Fanatics Fest in late June. “Well, the reality is that’s not going away, and we’re stretching the floor and playing at our own pace.”
“Once people begin reading and reacting, they start using their brains, and it’s beautiful to watch.”
Meanwhile, James credits the development of playmaking with helping the NBA become what it is today. He also pointed out that it’s a drastic difference from the 1990s, when Michael Jordan was one of the only players who was able to be a strong scorer and playmaker.
“In the 1995 season and out of the points per game leaders, there’s only one guy in the top five of assists, and that was Michael Jordan,” James said to Nash. “Now you look at it 25 to 30 years later, out of the top 10 scorers, there are five in the top five of assists.”
“The playmaking, defense, different matchups and variables in our game, you see in the defensive zone, man-to-man and two-two-one press, we haven’t seen. I think that’s great.”
Furthermore, Nash believes James helped create this trend because of his ability to be a prolific scorer, playmaker and defender. James, the Lakers forward, has averaged more than 6.0 assists per game every season since his rookie year in 2003.
He combines that with averaging more than 6.0 rebounds per game in that same period and scoring more than 20.0 points per game in every season he’s played in.
Related: LeBron James Asks for Time After Steph Curry’s Personal Dig
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 15, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: Basketball
