While we’re all waiting for LeBron James to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record, the King also continues to climb the ladder in other statistical categories. Including interceptions, where he took ninth place last night. How high can LeBron climb in the steals rankings?
Hakeem Olajuwon is now in the retro.
That night, during the meeting between the Lakers to the NuggetsLeBron James added two more interceptions to his career total, which now stands at 2,163. That’s one more steal than the legendary Rockets center, now relegated to tenth place just behind the King.
The next legend in James’ sights? Clyde Drexler.
The latter, which should already lose his franchise scoring record in the coming days, effectively squatted in eighth place in the NBA ranking of the best ball stealers, with 2,207 career steals. 44 interceptions behind for James, as much to say that the King is not very far behind. Knowing that LeBron is running at 1.3 steals per game this season, it might well fall during the 2022-23 campaign.
But what interests us most is to see how far LeBron James can climb in such a ranking.
Currently in his 20th NBA season, the King is still as productive in terms of stats and even if the visits to the infirmary are more frequent than before, he gives the impression of being able to play another 3, 4 or even 5 seasons. Recently, his teammate Dennis Schroder bluntly indicated that “LBJ planned to play until… 45”. True or not, time will tell, but what seems certain is that he won’t be stuck in ninth place if you know what we mean.
Congrats to @KingJames of the @Lakers for moving to 9th all-time on the NBA total steals list! pic.twitter.com/KFB4euSdUr
— NBA (@NBA) December 17, 2022
Number of late interceptions for LeBron on:
- 8) Clyde Drexler : 44
- 7) Scottie Pippen : 144
- 6) Maurice Cheeks : 147
- 5) Gary Payton : 282
- 4) Chris Paul : 313
- 3) Michael Jordan : 351
- 2) Jason Kidd : 521
- 1) John Stockton : 1 102
Turning to an average of 67 interceptions per season since his arrival at the Lakers in 2018, LeBron James can go for the Top 5 if we imagine him playing 4 more years, even the podium (and therefore Michael Jordan) if the King decides to play even longer. On the other hand, to tickle Jason Kidd, it looks very tense, while the king of discipline John Stockton – 3,265 career steals – is simply untouchable.
Same for LeBron.
