LeBron James may not be the best player in the NBA anymore, but he still has to be considered, at the very least, one of the 10 best players in basketball.
An even more interesting debate may be where he ranks among the best small forwards in the game today.
Many feel Kevin Durant has surpassed the Los Angeles Lakers superstar, and some think the same about Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics. But Frank Urbina of HoopsHype.com, who recently ranked the best 3s in the NBA, feels James isn’t even as good as Jimmy Butler or Kawhi Leonard.
On that list, the four-time MVP came in at just fifth.
Via HoopsHype:
“This might seem low for the league’s new all-time leading scorer LeBron James, an All-Star last season and a 3rd Team All-NBAer, but that’s just how loaded the small forward position projects to be in the 2023-24 season.”
Butler is an outstanding player, especially in crunch time, but he simply lacks the passing and court vision skills of James, and he is also unselfish to a fault. Leonard, meanwhile, also isn’t as good a passer or facilitator as James, although he’s a better defender.
But the reason Leonard probably should be ranked behind James is because he simply cannot stay healthy. Yes, James has been a bit injury-prone since joining the Lakers in 2018, but during that time, Leonard has played in 57 fewer regular season games, and he has been fully healthy for just two postseason runs.
Story originally appeared on LeBron Wire