While we’re all waiting for LeBron James to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time record, the King also continues to top the charts in other statistical categories. He included the interceptions, where last night he took ninth place. How high can LeBron climb in the steals rankings?
Hakeem Olajuwon is now in the back.
In tonight’s Lakers-Nuggets game, LeBron James added two more steals to his career total, which now stands at 2,163, one steal more than the legendary Rockets center, now relegated to 10th behind the King.
The next legend in James’ sights? Clyde Drexler.
The latter, who should already lose his franchise record in the next few days, actually ranks eighth in the NBA rankings of the best ball stealers, with 2,207 career steals. 44 interceptions behind for James, so much so that the King is not far behind. Knowing that LeBron is running at 1.3 steals per game this season, he could very well go down during the 2022-23 season.
But what interests us most is to see how far can LeBron James climb in a ranking like that.
Currently in his 20th NBA season, King is still just as productive in terms of statistics and even though the visits to the nurse are more frequent than before, he looks like he could play 3, 4 or even 5 more seasons. Recently, his teammate Dennis Schroder put it bluntly “LBJ was planning to play until…45”. True or not, time will tell, but what seems certain is that he won’t get stuck in ninth if you know what we mean.
Congratulations to @King James of the @Lakers for moving to ninth all-time on the NBA’s 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 Giordano : 351
- 2) Jason Kidd: 521
- 1) John Stockton : 1 102
Moving 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 another 4 years, also the podium (and therefore Michael Jordan) if the King decides to play even more long. On the other hand, to tickle Jason Kidd, he seems very tense, while the king of discipline John Stockton – 3,265 steals in his career – is simply untouchable.
Same for LeBron.
