The Kadgenda: 2020 LeBron

The Highest Peak This Decade

LeBron, following his mythologized 2018 season, went to the Lakers, where he suffered through injuries in the 2019 season. Heading into 2020, with the Lakers acquiring one Anthony Davis, there was one question on everyone’s mind: Was The King still The King?

Now everyone (I hope) know what happened: The championship, the bubble asterisk, and the following descent into non-contention that eventually led to LeBron leaving the Lakers this year. Now, to put that into retrospective, we ask one question, the same question we asked previous to that year.

Was The King still The King? How good was LeBron in 2020?

Throughout 805 regular season minutes, 2020 LeBron led a +10.6 net team WITHOUT AD on the court and with -2 DARKO team help. Shai w/o Chet this year was +11.5 with +1.9 help.

This doesn’t include LeBron leading a +11.6 net team without AD and -2.3 DARKO team help in the offs. While removed of context and not exactly representative of anything, here’s how Bron-led lineups compared to some other notable stars.

If adjusted for team help, Bron only trails Tatum out of that selection of players; this can be seen in the graphics below:

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Let’s move onto more individual stats, though, to explore how truly monstrous this version of LeBron was.

This was the best playmaking season of LeBron’s career. Just on a per game basis, he led the league in assists, potential assists, and assist points created. I don’t think that sums up the entire story, though.

On a possession basis, that’s 25.8 potential assists per 100, 2.5 potential assists per minute, with SIX POINT NINE RIM ASSISTS. This was the highest passer rating and highest box creation season of his entire career.

Oh, for reference, Magic Johnson’s passer rating and box creation for his career was 8.9 and 14 respectively. I’ll give you a chance to guess what Lebron’s was before you go to the next paragraph.

Giving you time to think…

It was 9 and 15.9. Passer rating is an all-in-one estimate of the quality of your passing while box creation is an estimate of open shots created for teammates per 100. Now, while Magic probably had better marks in singular seasons, Bron surpassed his career marks in 2020.

And then he went and averaged 24.3 potential assists per 100, 2.2 potential assists per minute, and 5.2 rim assists in the PLAYOFFS, while also adding 28.6 points per 75 on +9.2 opponent-adjusted relative true shooting.

Let’s give this a frame of reference by comparing it to other point guards through positional percentile. 99th percentile in potential assists per 100 in the regular season and then 100th in the postseason. 96th percentile in potential assists per on-ball minute in the regular season and 80th in the playoffs. And then, 98th percentile in both the regular season and postseason in rim assists.

Now, let’s do another test. Who do you think was the better scorer in the playoffs, just from a gut feeling, 2018 Kevin Durant or 2020 LeBron? Don’t think about it too much; just tell me what you think.

KD averaged 28.2 points per 75 on +5.1 adjusted relative true shooting. LeBron averaged .4 points per 75 more while being 4.1% more efficient than 2018 Kevin Durant. And he did this while passing like Magic Johnson. It’s also a lot more impressive when you consider that 43% of KD’s playtype frequencies came from creation playtypes (Iso, PNR Handler, Post-up) whilst LeBron was at 57%.

That’s enough talk on his offense though. Let’s speak on defense. While Bron did take defense off in the RS during the later parts of his career, he still put up 2.4 stocks per 100 alongside an 18.9% DRB%. But let’s get into the Playoffs.

Bron averaged 2.9 stocks, 0.7 fouls drawn, and 0.4 relative forced turnovers per 100, alongside a 3.2% Stop% in the playoffs.

Other advanced statistics also show LeBron was a good defender in the 2020 season: his Rim Defense stood out in particular when compared to players in his position as expected since it is LeBron.

Rim Points Saved per 100 possessions : Rim points saved through shot contesting per 100 possessions.

dTS : A lineup-adjusted +/- estimate of how much this player changes opponent shooting efficiency. Positive means the lineup suppresses opponent shooting better.

DRAPM : The defensive component of a player's regularized adjusted plus-minus. Higher means stronger defensive impact.

This is combined with an ungodly 25.6% DRB%. In comparison, 2024 Luka had a 21.8% DRB% in the playoffs. 2017 Westbrook had a 21.7%. Jokic, one of the best defensive rebounding CENTERS EVER, put up 26.3% in the 2023 playoffs.

This version of LeBron might just be the best rebounding point guard ever. So what happens when you pair that with him being a +12.5 rts in transition that offs?

Looking at his impact metrics also portrays just how good he was this season:

DPM : Predictive impact metric estimating player impact on expected team scoring differential per 100 possessions, with teammate/opponent effects controlled.

RAPM : Estimates a player's total two-way impact by isolating individual contribution from lineup data, controlling for teammates and opponents. Higher means stronger overall impact.

A complete wrecking ball on both sides of the floor in 2020. LeBron James in 2020 was still the best in the world and has a very good argument to remain the highest peak of the 2020s decade.