The Most Influential Play of LeBron James’ Career
The decision that helped save the NBA from a dark age and kickstarted a new era
This evening was Lebron James’ first NBA game and the night of the most influential play of his career. The date was October 30th, 2003. NBA fans worldwide were excited about the long-awaited arrival of LeBron James into the league. Lebron was a prodigy, unlike anything the basketball world had ever seen. It would not take long for the NBA’s brightest young superstar to give the association precisely what it needed, a clear path forward.
The NBA Context Surrounding LeBron’s First Game (2003)
Michael Jordan recently retired for the third and final time, and the league was now fighting for an identity. It wasn’t all bleak. There were many bright spots. The league had young stars: Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, and Allen Iverson, to name only a few. The star power was bright, but the NBA culture was pulled in various directions. The inspiration and the league’s marketability were undecided, and the options available could have been detrimental to its growth for the foreseeable future.
The Available Cultural Paths For The NBA Before LeBron’s Arrival
1. Recreate the magic of Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan entered the NBA in 1984 and flipped the script. He was stylish, calm, and, most notably, an absolute killer on the court. The combination of determinism, athletism, and competitive spirit made him an instant success in the league. He would win six NBA championships and five most valuable player awards. Nineteen years after his NBA debut Michael Jordan retired for the third and final time. He was and continues to be considered the greatest player of all time. The NBA and its fans hoping that an MJ successor would emerge was not a bad dream, but there will only ever be one Michael Jordan, and leaning on the desire for a revivification of MJ would always remain a dream. The late great Kobe Bryant tried his best to keep the Michael Jordan style of basketball at the forefront. It would not be accurate to say he failed, but after Kobe’s career ended, it seemed to be for the best that the league didn’t follow Kobe Bryant’s lead direction.
2. Points Per Game is King
During the 2001–2002 season, Allen Iverson averaged 44 minutes played a game, 28 shot attempts, and shot 39% from the field. He also led the league in scoring that season, but the 76ers would be bounced in the first round of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics. Iverson led the NBA in minutes played but not by much. Ten players that season averaged more than 40 minutes played a game, it was an unsustainable pace, but for the league stars, it was non-negotiable. The fanbase and the league front offices set the player value directly against your points per game and the inherent entertainment value each star brought to bear. That is not entirely unfounded. It’s essential to score points, and getting fans to the game will always be huge for basketball, but the quality of the play suffered immensely with this management style and culture. In retrospect, it was obvious that a more systematic and planned system would be needed to sustain the game and its players.
3. Streetball style finding a home in the NBA
Basketball is a highly artistic game. One of basketball’s strengths is the unique way the sport highlights the individual athlete’s ability. At the start of the new millennium, NBA sub-genres like “AND1 Mixtape Tour” brought “Streetball” into the limelight. This new permutation of basketball focused on the artistic side of the game. It was created and survived as a byproduct of NBA basketball. Streetball rules were only loosely applied, and regulations like traveling, carrying, and blocking were put to the wayside in favor of the excitement of the individual play-making ability. Streetball was great in a vacuum, but it started to seep back into the NBA. Team first basketball was being forgotten in the name of “breaking ankles,” and the NBA product was in danger of devolving into a fad rather than a timeless sport. Fortunately, this was not the way the NBA took, and LeBron James’ influence was fundamental to protecting the long-term integrity of the game.
The Play That Defined The Next Generation
Let’s return to the centerpiece of this article, back to October 30th, 2003. As previously stated, the anticipation for Lebron’s first game was off the charts, and for a good reason. LeBron was only 18 years old, already standing at 6'8, 250lbs, and had a 40" vertical leap. If anyone could lead this NBA in scoring for the next two decades, it would be this kid. The game starts, and LeBron James is not disappointing the masses; on the contrary, he’s exceeding the expectation. He begins by throwing a beautiful lob to Ricky Davis and displaying his hailed court vision. Lebron then follows that up by sinking his first three midrange jumpers. He’s playing his first game against the great Sacramento Kings, and within the first quarter, he’s already performing like the best player on the floor.
With roughly three minutes left in the first quarter, LeBron reads a lazy cross-court pass attempt from Peja Stojaković; he steals it near half-court and slams it down at the other end for his first career dunk and his tenth point of the quarter. Back on defense, LeBron is guarding Doug Christie on the right wing. Christie tries to sneak around a pick, but LeBron notices and pokes the ball away from Christie. The ball falls into the hands of Carlos Boozer, LeBron’s teammate. LeBron streaks down the court and receives the pass for a wide-open lane to the basket, but what LeBron does next changes the game forever. LeBron doesn’t dunk the ball; on the contrary, he stops and passes the ball back to his teammate, Ricky Davis. Davis handles the pass and goes up for a behind-the-back dunk. It’s a play that could have gone unnoticed as it was somewhat benign, but to the cautious eye, LeBron gave audiences the first example of how he would conduct his play and lead the rising generation.
The Play
The Significance Going Forward
Physically LeBron James has always been a freak, his athleticism off the charts since day one. After that pass to Ricky Davis, we wondered if LeBron’s most remarkable feature was his mind. An 18-year-old with the awareness to look for his teammates when everyone was hoping for a dunk showed unselfishness and team-forward vision that was all but lost in the NBA at the time. As LeBron’s career moved forward, his team play and court vision would be one of the most notable aspects of his game. During the initial seven years of LeBron’s career, he would lead the Cleveland Cavaliers deep into the playoffs and even to the finals in 2007. Aside from LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers roster was below average from 2003–2010. Still, LeBron has now introduced a new way to gauge greatness, not just scoring and entertainment but instead, facilitation, and how one player can lift his teammate’s abilities along with his own.
The New Culture Spearheaded By LeBron: “Efficiency”
Before LeBron James entered the league, selfish, “me first” basketball was taking over and appeared it would reign for the foreseeable future. LeBron would show a new path to success, and it would not be taking every shot available simply because he was the best player on the team but trusting his teammates to take the best shot available on the court. We can see this trend bear out with the eFG% rise over the years.
It would be foolish to make the case that the rise in eFG% and FG% more broadly is all the doing of LeBron James, but he has indeed led the charge in culture change which has made it possible to see a more efficient game played. LeBron James has also taken criticism early in his career for deferring too much at critical moments in the game. Those critiques may have been fair, but LeBron has been dedicated to his approach of finding the best shot over the best player taking a bad shot for the entirety of his career.
Efficiency On & Off The Court
LeBron James has enjoyed a long career. He has played much longer at a high level than any other superstar before him. His ability to achieve this is primarily due to his genetics, but we should recognize that he has also led a new effort to take top care of his body on and off-season. Many articles cite that LeBron James spends more than 1.5 million dollars each year providing care for his body. The league has followed suit in the acute care of the athlete’s bodies. The stress and strain put on the players’ bodies have been steadily decreasing since LeBron’s entrance into the league, and he can be credited for much of the change. Gregg Popovich has taken considerable criticism in his ongoing effort to relieve stress on his top players in preservation for late-season games, including the playoffs. The following graph shows a trend in minutes played by the NBA’s top stars.
The tendency to lower the stress on the players has resulted in a better product on the court. However, coaches and team staff can take rest time to the extreme with players missing so many games that dedicated fans spending their hard-earned money going to the games can sometimes not be sure that their favorite players will even be suiting up because of rest. The emphasis on player health and safety has been a net positive for the league, and the culture shift LeBron brought forth has made it possible.
Wrapping Up
LeBron James is certainly not infallible; after all, he arguably mainstreamed the concept of the super-team to the NBA, and that’s had down-hill effects that have not all been good on the game. But we’ve learned in recent times that having a super-team doesn’t necessarily mean that team will be successful. As the super-team experiment continues, it’s not unimaginable that talent parity across the league will return as the rate of super-team failure seems to increase.
LeBron James reframed the NBA during his first showing, which will likely never be replicated by another player. LeBron favoring high basketball IQ over flashy plays has provided a blueprint for players like Kawhi Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Luka Doncic to have outstanding success in the league. The NBA will continually evolve, and it should. Nothing is guaranteed success in the future, but LeBron has been an exemplary leader for the NBA over the last two decades and helped bring solid, efficient play back into the mainstream. That has been an unmeasurable good for the NBA product. Before LeBron’s first game in the league, we were cautiously optimistic that the NBA world had found the new face of the league. With a deferring flip pass to Ricky Davis in the first game of LeBron’s NBA career, we all sighed in relief that he had arrived, and we buckled up for a fantastic ride.
Resources:
- https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_game.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLjH0rrNFeU
- https://www.businessinsider.com/how-lebron-james-spends-money-body-care-2018-7
