Fantasy basketball: Is King James still fantasy royalty? - ESPN

All-time NBA leading scorer LeBron James is approaching an unfathomable 40,000 regular-season points, and fantasy basketball investors have certainly loved that particular ingredient of his statistics for two decades.

Then again, for many of us, James stood out because of his passing. James entered the league a relatively raw teenager, blessed with scoring ability but also rare and obvious on-court vision, and regardless of which NBA positions he qualified for in ESPN's game (currently SF/PF, but previously the guard positions, and one season as a center), he always piled on the assists, too.

James, 39, and in his 21st NBA campaign, enters this weekend averaging better than 27 PPG during the regular season for his career, seventh all time. This is wildly impressive, of course, but many in the fantasy world have long appreciated the 7.4 APG just as much.

Everyone scores. Not everyone passes.

James averaged 5.9 APG in his age-19 rookie season for the Cavaliers, giving us a glimpse of his massive potential. He averaged 6.7 APG over his four Heat seasons, but James has been a better distributor for the Lakers, averaging 7.9 APG in six seasons. He led the NBA in assists in 2019-20 at 10.2 APG.

We all acknowledge how it is unprecedented territory for a basketball player — perhaps any athlete — to remain one of the league's top talents and statistical producers at this advanced age. Even this season, James is not the same player he was last season, as he understandably shoots, scores and rebounds a bit less, but then we focus on the assists. Those not only remain, but the figure is up to 7.9 APG. Only six players average more assists, four of them point guards.

James is listed at 6-foot-9, and the only three players in history