Sports Reference Blog
LeBron Passes MJ in Becoming All-Time Postseason Win Shares Leader
Posted by Mike Lynch on May 31, 2016
We hope everyone had a pleasant Memorial Day weekend. We just wanted to quickly mention something before it gets lost in the shuffle with the NBA Finals starting in two days. In the Cavaliers' Game 6 win over Toronto, LeBron James passed Michael Jordan to become the all-time leader in career postseason Win Shares. LeBron has, however, played more career postseason games and minutes than Jordan, so His Airness remains the all-time postseason leader in Win Shares Per 48 minutes.
Earlier this season, James passed Jordan to become the NBA's All-Time VORP leader (calculated since 1973-74).
Here's how the advanced statistics stack up for James and Jordan in their postseason careers (through the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals):
| Player | PER | TS% | TRB% | AST% | TOV% | USG% | OWS | DWS | WS | WS/48 | OBPM | DBPM | BPM | VORP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LeBron James | 27.5 | .567 | 12.5 | 33.4 | 12.4 | 31.9 | 26.7 | 13.4 | 40.1 | .238 | 7.3 | 3.2 | 10.5 | 25.6 |
| Michael Jordan* | 28.6 | .568 | 9.3 | 28.2 | 9.4 | 35.6 | 27.3 | 12.4 | 39.8 | .255 | 8.3 | 1.8 | 10.1 | 22.8 |
Who cares. Lebron averages just over 27 points a game whereas MJ averaged almost 31 and the disparity is even bigger in the PPG for the play offs. MJ was smart and went to college. Lebron was capitalistic and went right to the NBA and will have a longer career as a result so these "share" numbers really don't matter. Lebron won't finish with as many rings either and had to leave his original team to get the 2 that he has. When Lebron is averaging 22 points per game at the age of 40 then you can compare him.....
Jordan missed 3+ seasons of basketball in his prime, which certainly helped to preserve his body into his forties. The fact that you only look at things from the pro-MJ side of the argument is telling.
Under that same schema, it's relevant to ask if Jordan's longevity is as great as, say, Karl Malone's. Or Kareem's. Those two players managed to average 20+ ppt for 17 straight years; that is massively impressive.
LeBron has the chance to join that very select list (right now, of two) as well.
Longevity is greatness. Particularly when hardly anyone else can claim the same numbers over the given course.
Lebron averages "just" 27 ppg? Well, here's a thought - maybe he and Jordan have different games. I see Lebron notably higher than Jordan on Reb% and Assist%. This is why, in my opinion, with 2 more rings, Lebron could pass Jordan as the GOAT because he is simply a better passer and rebounder, and the stats bear it out time and again. The fact that he is as close as he is scoring-wise to the greatest postseason scorer ever makes that all the more impressive, and shows what a phenomenally complete player James is. His object isn't always to just dominate you with scoring, but he certainly can on the level that Jordan did. He is more interesting in getting his other players involved than Jordan ever was, or at least more capable. In the '09 postseason, LeBron averaged 35/9/7 over 14 games. So he scored as much as Jordan did in his best postseasons (discounting Jordan's epic 3 games against the Celtics in his second season) and averaged more rebounds+assists than Jordan ever did in a playoffs season.