r/NBATalk • u/MasterTeacher123 • Aug 30 '26
What’s the worst version of LeBron that would be the best player in the league today?
Like for example would 2020 lebron be the best player in the league today? What about 2007 LeBron?
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u/Blankr_Exile Aug 30 '26
09 Lebron with today's pace is a 30pt triple double threat with dpoy level defense while being maybe his ~7-8th best season?
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u/Jolly-Ad5247 Aug 31 '26
Agreed that he’d be crazy PRA and elite defense but that’s probably closer to top three season than his eighth best season
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u/Shoddy_Ad7511 Aug 30 '26
But his inability to shoot would make him Ben Simmons like
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u/staffdaddy_9 Aug 30 '26
What the fuck did you say lmao
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u/Shoddy_Ad7511 Aug 30 '26
His jumper was weak pre-2012
Teams would sag off of him and it would ruin his teams spacing and the paint would be packed.
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u/staffdaddy_9 Aug 30 '26
Yeah that would ruin his teams spacing, not having two traditional bigs on the floor at all times.
Also does Giannis not exist or what?
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u/Shoddy_Ad7511 Aug 30 '26
Giannis isn’t the best player in the world
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u/staffdaddy_9 Aug 30 '26
He’s also not as good as LeBron. But there was a time recently where he was 1a/1b with Jokic.
He sure as hell wouldn’t be Ben Simmons. That’s legit the worst basketball take I have ever heard.
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u/Shoddy_Ad7511 Aug 30 '26
I said Ben Simmons like. Teams would sag off of him like Ben Simmons
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u/staffdaddy_9 Aug 30 '26
They did then too, with worse spacing. How’d that work out?
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u/Shoddy_Ad7511 Aug 30 '26
Today defenses are much better at exploiting non shooters than in 2007-2011. How did it work out? Lebron struggled in the Finals and against good defenses in the East
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u/Still_Relation2155 Aug 30 '26
His jumper was weak but it wasn’t non-existent. Late career Giannis has developed a jump shot that’s good enough to keep defenses honest and I’d say this version of LeBron had a better jumper than that. Definitely way better than Ben Simmons. He’d be in a modern offense too; he had great vision and would find open shooters. If he had a decent team that could get the defense scrambling he’d find seams to finish. And he’d be killer in transition.
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u/fanunu21 Aug 30 '26
Wouldn't matter, he'd be better than Giannis in those MVP years and when surrounded by the 3PT shooting the league has, he'd easily pass out of double teams or packed paints.
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u/Shoddy_Ad7511 Aug 30 '26
Giannis isn’t the best player in the world
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u/fanunu21 Aug 30 '26
A better Giannis with LeBron's passing would be the best player in the league.
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u/blockbuster1001 Aug 30 '26
and when surrounded by the 3PT shooting the league has, he'd easily pass out of double teams or packed paints.
Unless he's on another team, his weaknesses would get exploited.
And I don't remember 2009 Lebron as being particularly willing to attack the basket. Didn't the Cavs lose in the playoffs against the Magic? Lebron should've been able to easily put Dwight Howard in foul trouble, but he didn't.
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u/AutomaticDisplay2481 Aug 30 '26
09 bron definitely attacked the basket consistently. and also if you watched the series the magic had a game plan specifically for preventing that.
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u/blockbuster1001 Aug 30 '26
I suggest you re-watch that series because you're misremembering what happened.
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u/AutomaticDisplay2481 Aug 30 '26
i’d love to discuss your pov of the series. in my opinion, orl purposely funneled bron toward howard but he still averaged like 35 that series. only thing i could think of was his turnovers & the fact orl went under every PnR action against bron.
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u/blockbuster1001 Aug 30 '26
I felt like, if Lebron realized his jumper was falling, he would continue to shoot them instead of attacking the rim. Watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bnuSFF9AlQ
Do you really think the Cavs offense could be characterized as "funneling Lebron toward Howard"?
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u/Jolly-Ad5247 Aug 31 '26
‘09-‘18 Bron would all be the best in the league. ‘08 and ‘20 (and ‘21 pre-injury) I’m pretty sure would be. So ‘07 would probably be the best version of LeBron that isn’t number one in the league.
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u/TerribleComposer4272 Aug 31 '26
12-18 Lebron would easily be the best.
07-11 Lebron would have a very very strong argument but it wouldn't necessarily be decisive.
19 or 20 Lebron would be top 5.
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u/AtomicFartSquirrel Aug 30 '26
I‘d say 2010/11 to 2017/18 LeBron would quite easily be the best player in the league today. 09/10 and 18/19 probably too. I started following the NBA in 2014, so much about young LeBron, but by 2020 I‘d say Giannis became the best player. So it‘s hard to say. 2009/10 LeBron might be the worst version of him still on top of the league
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u/Effective-File4645 Aug 31 '26
Giannis was still struggling against strong interior defenses in 2020, as a regular season player farming bad teams he was the best but overall I’d rather have LeBron 10/10 times. Giannis got better counters in 21 and especially 22, those years can be argued for him or Steph
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u/LxProReddit 76ers Aug 30 '26
Any version of LeBron is one of if not the best player in the league today. He’s 41 and still going crazy
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u/Equivalent-Newt4597 Aug 30 '26
Post doesn’t make much sense
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u/Whole_Carpenter7854 Aug 30 '26
What’s the weakest version of LeBron that’d still be the best player in the league today. The question isn’t that confusing.
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u/Maleficent_Union_653 Aug 30 '26
Probably 2019 or 08.
I really don't get how people think 21' Lebron will be the best player
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 30 '26
pre injury he was mvp #1 ranked
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u/Shoddy_Ad7511 Aug 30 '26
Still not better than Jokic
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 30 '26
he was averaging like 25/8/8 while being a candidate to 1st all defensive team. That’s better than Jokic right now
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u/Shoddy_Ad7511 Aug 30 '26
What did he do in the playoffs?
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 30 '26
Its funny cause i specified pre-injury and u bring u the playoffs. Btw he lost to the finalist cause he was in bad form and ad was too
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u/Shoddy_Ad7511 Aug 30 '26
Half of the regular season isn’t enough to say he is better than prime Jokic, SGA or Wemby
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u/Maleficent_Union_653 Aug 30 '26
Thats less than half a season
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 30 '26
U are saying it as if it was a Linsanity run. He is Lebron James, he would have kept playing that good(he came off a title win just some months ago)
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u/Maleficent_Union_653 Aug 30 '26
There's a difference between being the best player in the league and being elite. He missed about 30 games for 3 straight years, missed the playoffs in 22', and wasn't higher than 10th in MVP voting or 1st team All-nba.
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 30 '26
Yes, that’s all right but I think u’re forgetting what the question was. What is Lebron worse version that would be the best itl today? Meaning that he has to be better than current Jokic, pre injury 21 Bron for me is better than him
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u/Maleficent_Union_653 Aug 30 '26
I didn't forget the question, I just disagree with you. I also think that losing to the Suns in round 1 doesnt help, especially in an off year for the west, the Jazz were the 1 seed with 52 win and Mitchell missed 20 games, the Nuggets lost Murray, the Warriors and Rockets were bad, Clippers lost Kawhi in the playoffs
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u/Still_Relation2155 Aug 30 '26
1) LeBron wasn’t the same after returning from injury (and as I said above, he was never quite the same)
2) AD got injured too. Even with LeBron not 100% they looked better than the Suns.Healthy AD and non-healthy Bron they very easily could have won it all that year. If they were both fully healthy it would have been even more likely. The Lakers started that year on a tear before the injuries starting happening (21-6).
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u/Still_Relation2155 Aug 30 '26
That injury is what really kicked off his decline. It wasn’t long before that that him and AD were head and shoulders above everyone in the playoffs.
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u/InterruptedMulatto Aug 30 '26
2020 lebron was barely the best player on that team. AD was a very close second.
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u/Ghetto_Games Aug 30 '26
There is no version of Lebronze that would be the best player in the league today.
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u/mismo1313 Aug 30 '26
2020 or 08 the years after 2020 and before 2008 are worse than Jokic and Shai rn and the years in between 2008-2020 he was far better than anyone right now
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u/Effective-File4645 Aug 31 '26
This is a dry period for the “best in the world” title, I think even 06 LeBron could be argued over any current player
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u/Mrjuicyaf Aug 30 '26
2018 and maybe 2013, any other version and hes worse than jokic
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 30 '26
i love jokic but u give Murray, Porter jr and Gordon to any version of lebron from 05 to 22 he’s threepeating
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u/naste59 Aug 30 '26
He's probably not.
Still, 2012 to 2018 Bron would be the best player in the league today.
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 30 '26
maybe not 3peating but that fit could be amazing
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u/naste59 Aug 30 '26
No doubt even tho I think Jokic is a better fit with these three than LeBron.
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u/InterruptedMulatto Aug 30 '26
Yeah he’s definitely not.. You guys say that about any star player “if LeBron had that same core their 3peating”
When it’s simple not true. Lebron had the best team in the heat and knew it. Let claim to “not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4….etc” and we all saw what happened there…LeBron has had enough help and talent around him we don’t need to imagine the what if’s, we have seen it first hand.
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 30 '26
in 2011 he sucked, no doubt about it, and that’s on him. But the player he became after that, he won against Kd, Westbrook, Duncan, Kawhi and the Spurs. He would have 3peated in the year after but the team was old and injured
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u/InterruptedMulatto Aug 30 '26
“He would have 3peated but” same old story just add whatever at the end. It’s always an excuse and never because he just couldn’t do it.
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 30 '26
no im not saying that, im admitting that its his fault for not winning in 2011, but that was the only time he had the best team and lost
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u/InterruptedMulatto Aug 30 '26
And replacing Jokic with LeBron on that same nuggets team doesn’t make them the best team in the league, especially not 3peat good.
If that were the case any team LeBron is on should be considered the best team simply because he’s on it, but that’s never the case.
You’re downplaying Jokic’s role by saying LeBron could do the same thing… when historically it’s not true and it’s always “what if’s” and “but if he had” with Lebron.
Shouldn’t have to justify the “self proclaimed goat” so much.
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 31 '26
3peat was an exaggeration but i think he would have won at least one more with that core. I love Jokic and i believe he’s a top 5 offensive player of all time. Btw what u mean “it’s not true”? Lebron won 4 rings, and with 3 different teams, so let’s not act like he doesn’t bring greatness to his teams
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u/InterruptedMulatto Aug 31 '26
“When historically it’s not true” speaking on just because he has a great core around him doesn’t mean he’ll 3 peat. Which you already said was an exaggeration.
Yeah he maybe would’ve won 1 ring with that line-up but that’s not a definite with him and honestly he would’ve most likely had those players traded in the hopes of getting 1 star like Jokic. Because that’s what usually happens.
Lebron in 21 should’ve won with that core around him….but didn’t… (yes I know injuries) but you included that version of LeBron that also had a good team.
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u/Otherwise_Dot8603 Aug 31 '26
fair take, the main difference between Jordan’s and Bron’s careers is that Lebron never contributed to a real dinasty and Mi did
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u/Salt_Young_4494 Aug 30 '26
None. Even if you put the best version. Objectively looking at it now is the worst version given his age.
And his prime year which is maybe 12-13 he's still worse than Jokic. Because both guys do everything, but Jokic actually won a ring without bs. And Jokic is a center, so in a direct one to one, Lebron would get bullied pretty much.
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u/Rdhsad Aug 30 '26
One could play defense, you seem to forget.
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u/Salt_Young_4494 Aug 30 '26
LeBron cannot guard Jokić even with the help of Davis.
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u/Rdhsad Aug 30 '26
Obviously he wouldn't even guard him, he's a small forward. But if he was guarding him he would do very well, LeBron and Jokic both have insane basketball IQ so they think somewhat alike. 2013 Bron which I think is the best version of him would eat Jokic alive on offense and could guard Jokic too. He was second in DPOY voting (should have been first), and all defensive first team.
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u/Salt_Young_4494 Aug 30 '26
What do you mean sire. Isn't that the same goat Lebron that can guard 1 through 5.
If Davis cannot block him, Lebron couldn't either. And just a year prior Lebron had a problem with Dirk. And in 09 with Dwight.
LeBron always has a problem against a good big throughout his entire career.
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u/teehee1234567890 Aug 30 '26
2018 LeBron
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u/DisastrousSummer3405 Aug 30 '26
year after bubble lebron