Lakers: Is LeBron James the Best Center in the League Right Now?
What LeBron James is doing right now is otherworldly. At the ripe age of 37, LBJ is still putting up the numbers that made him one of the greatest to ever play the game of basketball. And he's now doing it at a brand new position with Los Angeles.
The injury to Anthony Davis sort of forced Frank Vogel's hand. The need to spread the floor and provide other guys with opportunities in a small lineup opened the door for James to move to center. And since then, it's appeared to be the best move possible for the team.
James is posting an average of 32.1 points per game across his 36 minutes per game. That puts him just under Giannis Antetokounmpo for best in the league and would eclipse Joel Embiid's 29.1 points as the top-scoring center. That's ridiculous for the Lakers star.
So is he the best center in the league right now? The argument can be made, and the popular show Jenkins and Jonez did just that this week.
This might be the net evolution of Bron at the five. He's been putting up some crazy numbers... Like if you just put those numbers on a [expletive] sheet of paper with no names and you said this is a center, you say ok this guy's probably the best center in the league.
You can add in the fact that James is putting up almost 10 rebounds per game and dishing out 6.5 assists. He's also mixing in a phenomenal 61/48/83 shooting split in that time at center for the Lakers.
Obviously, he's put up these numbers over a much smaller sample size than the rest of the big-name centers in the league. But if LeBron continues this sort of production at the five, it's going to be a conversation at the end of the year.