Another Lebron milestone coming up, possibly tonight: passing Magic in assists.
LeBron James set to pass Magic Johnson for 6th all-time in assists
Taking a look at LeBron's career as an elite playmaker and scorer as he climbs up the leaderboard this season.
Brian Martin, for NBA.com
December 2, 2022 12:57 PM
With 9 more dimes, LeBron James could pass Magic Johnson in all-time assists.
Over the past two decades, LeBron James has filmed a number of memorable ads with Nike.
There was his debut ad, in which he and a handful of teammates flew to Sacramento – the site of his debut game – and briefly showed James freeze under the pressure of the moment as one of the most highly-touted prospects entering the NBA, before he laughs it off and continues the play.
But it’s another ad from his rookie season – the Book of Dimes – that always stood out as it featured a plethora of cameos and sent a clear message as to the type of player LeBron was – and intended to be – over the course of his NBA career.
The setting is a school gymnasium that has been converted into a makeshift church. Six hoops surround the court, the scoreboard is part of the backdrop behind the late great Bernie Mac, who serves as the preacher while being flanked by NBA legends such as Dr. J, Jerry West, George Gervin and Moses Malone, along with a choir of WNBA stars behind him.
“Let’s read from the playbook, the King James playbook. And basketball’s Chosen One asked the soul of the game for court vision. And it was granted to him. Can I get a layup? The Chosen One didn’t ask for hops. He didn’t ask for handles. Why did the Chosen One ask for court vision? I’m gonna tell you why just listen. He wanted glory for the team. Oh, I feel the soul of the game coming over me.”
The doors open and LeBron emerges. After a quick shot of the kicks (his first signature shoe, the Nike Air Zoom Generation), LeBron dribbles up the aisle and begins spraying passes, first to the preacher (who passes out after catching the ball), then to members of the congregation. We see a jumper, some ball handling and a pair of alley-oop dunks, as the choir of WNBA stars sings, ending with “Pass! Pass! Pass! Pass! Pass! Pass!”
Twenty seasons and 10,141 assists later, LeBron James enters Friday’s game in Milwaukee (
7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) needing just nine more dimes to pass Hall of Famer Magic Johnson for sixth place on the NBA’s all-time assist leaderboard.
| RANK | PLAYER | ASSISTS | GAMES | ASSISTS/GAME |
| 1 | John Stockton | 15,806 | 1,504 | 10.5 |
| 2 | Jason Kidd | 12,091 | 1,391 | 8.7 |
| 3 | Chris Paul | 11,071 | 1,165 | 9.5 |
| 4 | Steve Nash | 10,335 | 1,217 | 8.5 |
| 5 | Mark Jackson | 10,334 | 1,296 | 8.0 |
| 6 | Magic Johnson | 10,141 | 906 | 11.2 |
| 7 | LeBron James | 10,133 | 1,380 | 7.3 |
| 8 | Oscar Robertson | 9,887 | 1,040 | 9.5 |
| 9 | Isiah Thomas | 9,061 | 979 | 9.3 |
| 10 | Gary Payton | 8,966 | 1,335 | 6.7 |
Throughout his career, LeBron has embraced the title of “playmaker” more than he has the label of “scorer” – even though he is elite in both aspects of the game. One of the biggest storylines entering the 2022-23 season was the countdown to when LeBron would pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the
NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Entering Friday’s game,
LeBron needs 964 points to pass the Captain.
Back in October, LeBron passed Karl Malone for the most 20-plus point games in NBA history; he reposted the NBA’s leaderboard graphic, with this caption: “
Not bad for a pass first guy!”
Back in 2021, when LeBron posted his 17th straight season averaging at least 25 points per game – a streak he extended to 18 last season and is on pace to push to 19 this season – LeBron shared another social media post about the accomplishment and
reiterated his stance in the caption: “Since I was 19 years old! And I’m a pass first guy. Always been. That’s why I’m never mentioned with the greats of scoring huh?? That’s perfect cause I’d rather keep it that way!”
There are few players in the history of the game that have been able to find the perfect balance between being a scorer and a passer. LeBron is one of only seven players in NBA history to have won a scoring title and an assist title in their career, joining Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Nate Archibald, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. It’s an instinctual thing, reading the game and knowing when it’s time to set up a teammate or call your own number to get a basket.
The list below shows the top 10 players in career assists and compares their rank in assists with their rank in points; only LeBron (2nd), Robertson (13th) and Chris Paul (38th) rank in the top 50 in scoring while also ranking in the top 10 in assists.
| PLAYER | ASSISTS | AST RANK | POINTS | PTS RANK |
| John Stockton | 15,806 | 1 | 19,711 | 51 |
| Jason Kidd | 12,091 | 2 | 17,529 | 88 |
| Chris Paul | 11,071 | 3 | 21,031 | 38 |
| Steve Nash | 10,335 | 4 | 17,387 | 91 |
| Mark Jackson | 10,334 | 5 | 12,489 | 243 |
| Magic Johnson | 10,141 | 6 | 17,707 | 84 |
| LeBron James | 10,133 | 7 | 37,423 | 2 |
| Oscar Robertson | 9,887 | 8 | 26,710 | 13 |
| Isiah Thomas | 9,061 | 9 | 18,822 | 67 |
| Gary Payton | 8,966 | 10 | 21,813 | 35 |
Magic Johnson is still the all-time leader in assists per game at 11.2.
When it comes to the scale of playmaking and scoring, Magic leaned heavily on the passing side. As the orchestrator of the Showtime Lakers, Magic’s combination of size, skill, showmanship and unselfishness propelled Los Angeles to five titles in his 13 seasons in the league. Magic finished his career with averages of 19.5 points and 11.2 assists per game. He never averaged more than 24 points in a single season, but had six seasons in which he averaged over a dozen dimes a game.
On the flip side, LeBron has only one season in which he averaged fewer than 24 points (his rookie year, 20.9 ppg), and just one season averaging double-digit assists (his assist title year, 10.2 apg). While LeBron’s scale may lean heavier toward scoring over playmaking, his instinct remained to always look for the best play, whether that be a shot for a teammate or one for himself. As said by
Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, who coached LeBron for four seasons: “A pass-first guy who can lead the league in scoring … that’s pretty amazing.”
If LeBron is able to pass Magic on Friday, he will do so in his 1,381st career game, which is 475 more games than Magic’s 906 career games. When looking at assist average,
no player averaged more than Magic’s 11.2; in fact, John Stockton (the all-time leader in total assists) is the only other player to average double-figure assists over the course of an NBA career at 10.5 per game. LeBron ranks 27th in assist average at 7.3 per game.
While we’ve contrasted the games of LeBron and Magic, the two have plenty in common as well. Of course, there is the tie to the Lakers as LeBron joined the team in 2018 and led Los Angeles to the 2020 NBA title, his fourth overall. Both players stand around 6-foot-9, while no other player ranked in the top 30 in assists stood taller than 6-foot-5, allowing them to see over defenses and pick them apart. Both had excellent court vision and could make passes from all over the court – in the half court, on the fast break, cross-court passes, full-court passes and no-look passes. While
Magic dished his dimes with a bit more flair, LeBron has unleashed
more than a few fancy passes of his own.
Big Z is still the player to receive the most assists from LeBron at 785. This is 283 more than Kevin Love in second place at 502.
When looking at LeBron’s numbers, he has assisted 166 total teammates over the course of his NBA career, but none more than Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who was the recipient of 785 assists from LeBron during their eight seasons as teammates in both Cleveland (seven seasons) and Miami.
| PLAYER | TEAM(S) | ASSISTS |
| Zydrunas Ilgauskas | Cleveland/Miami | 785 |
| Kevin Love | Cleveland | 502 |
| Chris Bosh | Miami | 482 |
| Dwyane Wade | Miami/Cleveland | 428 |
| Drew Gooden | Cleveland | 356 |
| Anderson Varejao | Cleveland | 354 |
| Anthony Davis | Los Angeles | 293 |
| JR Smith | Cleveland | 287 |
| Kyle Kuzma | Los Angeles | 248 |
| Mo Williams | Cleveland | 231 |
LeBron’s 20-year career has played out in four different stages – first run in Cleveland (seven seasons), Miami (four seasons), second run in Cleveland (four seasons) and Los Angeles (currently in fifth season). And with each of those stops has come a new group of teammates to build chemistry with, learn their tendencies, their favorite spots on the court, all the things necessary to be a great playmaker for a team.
| TEAM/ERA | SEASONS | ASSISTS | GAMES | AST/GM | POINTS CREATED BY ASSISTS |
| Cleveland I | 2003-04 to 2009-10 | 3,810 | 548 | 7.0 | 8,633 |
| Miami | 2010-11 to 2013-14 | 1,980 | 294 | 6.7 | 4,586 |
| Cleveland II | 2014-15 to 2017-18 | 2,418 | 301 | 8.0 | 5,977 |
| Los Angeles | 2018-19 to present | 1,925 | 237 | 8.1 | 4,545 |
LeBron enters Friday’s game against Milwaukee having scored 37,423 points on his own and created another 23,741 points with his assists. That’s a total of 61,164 points over his 1,380 career games for a career average of 44.32 points scored or created per game.
And he still has more work to do as his epic battle with Father Time continues. LeBron is already the only player to rank in the top 10 in both scoring and assists, and by season’s end, he could be in the top four in both categories.
Averaging 6.3 assists per game this season, he may need two games to pass Magic — LeBron has a season-high of nine assists and has hit eight assists in half of his 14 games played – but once he passes Magic, he can set his sights on Mark Jackson (10,334) and Steve Nash (10,335), who currently rank fifth and fourth, respectively, and are separated by just a single assist. Based on his current average, LeBron would need 33 games to accumulate the 203 assists needed to pass both players. The Lakers still have 60 games remaining on their schedule for LeBron to work with, beginning tonight against the Bucks.
Taking a look at LeBron's career as an elite playmaker and scorer as he climbs up the leaderboard this season.
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