When it comes to NBA's all-around players on the court, the names that undoubtedly come to mind for us fans are Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, and LeBron James. All of them play in a ball-dominant style and are equally comprehensive in three technical statistics! Coincidentally, both James and Jokic have played 28 games this season, so let's compare the data they've achieved.
Jokic 28 games 867 points 360 rebounds 267 assists 49 steals 16 blocks
This season, the Denver Nuggets encountered some significant troubles at the beginning of the season, needing time to mesh their lineup and with many key players underperforming. This shouldn't be blamed on Westbrook, but the team did indeed rely more on Jokic at the time. The latter even averaged a triple-double for quite some time.
Currently, the 29-year-old Jokic is still averaging nearly a triple-double and remains firmly at the top of the MVP rankings. In terms of shooting percentage, he has reached 56.3% + 48.9% + 79.4% this season. Additionally, he averages 31.0 points per game, ranking third in the league, with rebounds and assists also ranking third. As a center, his 1.8 steals per game rank sixth in the league, which is truly impressive.
James 28 games 657 points 220 rebounds 252 assists 23 steals 17 blocks
LeBron James recently celebrated his 40th birthday, officially entering his forties. With age, James has indeed experienced a certain degree of decline in his offensive capabilities, averaging 25.7 points last season, but only 23.5 points this season, which is just above his rookie season.
In terms of shooting percentages, 49.6% + 35.7% + 76.7%, this also indicates that age does have an impact on James. However, at the age of 40, he is still putting up such numbers, which no other player in NBA history has been able to achieve. Of course, times are different, and we can only conclude this from the data.
To sum up, the 40-year-old James is clearly not as outstanding as the 29-year-old Jokic this season, but considering he is already 40 years old, it is still remarkable that he maintains an All-Star level performance. However, in our view, today's NBA data is easier to obtain than ever before, as the style of play and pace will present a generally more impressive trend.