Cleveland Cavaliers superstar forward LeBron James has made it from the bottom to the top, as he sometimes says. We call him The King now, but his path to the throne has been nothing short of labor-intensive.
Over the course of his illustrious 14-year career in the NBA, James has amassed averages of 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 1.6 steals in hefty 38.9 minutes per game. 27-7-and-7 — let that sink in. In his 2016-17 campaign, The Kid from Akron stepped his game up, recording career-highs in dunks, rebounds (8.8), and assists (8.7). James led the NBA in minutes per game this season (37.8). Furthermore, he’s also the most used player in this year’s postseason (43.8).
As you can see in the image below from NBA Reddit, James is in elite company when it comes to total minutes played through 14 seasons in the NBA. The King, now 32 years of age, has logged nearly 5,000 minutes of playing time (regular and postseason) over the course of that span — more than former NBA greats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone.
Per r/NBA via Imgur:
The legendary Elvin Hayes is the only player with more minutes through their first 14 seasons in the association. With no sign of slowing down, we might see James at the top of this graphic soon.