Los Angeles Lakers superstar power forward LeBron James numbers among the best players in the history of the game.
A 21-time All-NBA honoree and All-Star and a six-time All-Defensive Teamer, James has won four league MVPs and four championships. The 6-foot-9 superstar has been more injury-prone since he signed with Los Angeles as a free agent ahead of the 2018-19 season, but he's still surprisingly effective when he does play — despite having been the oldest active player since 2023-24.
Last year for the 50-win Lakers, James averaged 24.4 points on .513/.376/.782 shooting splits, 8.2 assists, 7.8 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 0.6 blocks, while being named to the All-NBA Second Team and finishing sixth in MVP voting.
James' legacy is secure — but has his successor already arrived on the scene?
Understandably, a new young gun has strong feelings about being compared to the four-time MVP.
Third-year Houston Rockets forward Amen Thompson, already an All-Defensive Teamer and one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, is aiming to take a massive leap on offense this year.
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As of this writing, that hasn't happened just yet.
Through three games for the 1-2 Rockets, he's averaging a fairly modest 13.3 points on 42.9 percent shooting from the field and 66.7 percent shooting from the charity stripe, 4.7 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 0.7 steals a night.
Head coach Ime Udoka is running more of his offense through Thompson than he had perhaps initially expected, as veteran point guard Fred VanVleet could be on the shelf all year recovering from an ACL tear.
Thompson told NBA insider Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson that comparisons of his athletic profile and upside to James' have been intimidating.
“LeBron’s been my favorite player my whole life, so that’s crazy because it’s not like I modeled my game after LeBron; maybe it’s just stuff that came,” the 22-year-old Thompson said. “But I can see that, a young smaller LeBron. I know he’s like 6’9 now.”
Although he now is being asked to do more as a distributor, Thompson conceded that his first instinct is to put the ball in the hole.
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"I prefer to score," Thompson noted. "Score first, but I feel like I have a really quick reaction time to pass. So I wouldn’t say I’m a score first or a pass first. I would say I’m just a reaction type of guy."
When asked to name his favorite era for James, Thompson picked his second run with the Cavaliers, 2015-18.
“His second stint in Cleveland," Thompson said. "He was different! Like 40 point triple-doubles the whole Playoffs? That was insane to watch.”
Along with fellow All-Stars Kyrie Irving (for three of those years) and Kevin Love, James brought Cleveland to four consecutive NBA Finals, winning it all in 2016.
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