Lakers’ LeBron James makes case as GOAT debate rages on

In the wide world of sports, stats are key.

Numbers can tell the story of a player’s individual season or their entire career. Then there are numbers that feel like they belong in an alternate universe. 

Stats that are so ridiculous when you read them you think there’s no way it can be real. 

This is one of those. 

According to the Ringer, the first-round playoff series between the Rockets and Lakers the top two active players in total postseason minutes are going head-to-head?

Kevin Durant, who has missed four of the five games in the series, currently sits second among active players in total playoff minutes with 6,934. 

That puts him 14th on the all-time list. 

Durant has played 18 NBA seasons and won two championships. A resume that guarantees him a ticket into the Basketball Hall of Fame one day.

And yet, somehow, he’s not even close to the number one player on that list. 

After Game 5, LeBron James surpassed the 12,257-minute mark in the playoffs. To put that into perspective, that is over 204 hours of postseason basketball. The equivalent of nearly nine consecutive days. 

In his 23rd NBA season, James has nearly logged double the total playoff minutes that Durant has played in his 18 seasons. 

Even when you widen the lens to history, and add the top 25 players all-time on the total playoff minutes played list, the gap only grows more absurd. 

James isn’t just lightyears ahead of the pack, he’s lapping it. 

He’s nearly 3,000 minutes ahead of second-place on the all-time list, Tim Duncan. The rest of the top five includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (8,851), Kobe Bryant (8,641) Scottie Pippen (8,105) and Shaquille O’Neal (8,098).

James also has the most career playoff points at 8,400. Michael Jordan is second at 5,987. 

This isn’t a G.O.A.T. debate stat, but it does prove that James’s longevity and endurance dominate some of the greatest players ever to play the game.

But the numbers don’t just stop there. 

Even after the Lakers loss on Wednesday, James has won 187 career playoff games. That’s more than 21 different NBA franchises have won in their entire existence. 

His record in playoff series currently stands at 41-14. 

In closeout games, his winning percentage is 79%. That’s the best mark in league history among players who’ve played in over 25 playoff games. 

These kinds of gaudy numbers are not normal. They’re not even supposed to be humanly possible. 

Normally, longevity in sports comes at a cost. The body slows down. The numbers taper off, and the player fades like a sunset on a stormy day. 

But not when it comes to The King. 

James is over two decades into his career and he’s still adding to totals that already are unreachable for any mortal man. 

He defied the odds again against the Rockets and will continue to play meaningful games moving forward. Dragging the Lakers deeper into the postseason than anyone expected three weeks ago. 

Jordan vs. James will be an argument that goes on for years to come, but at some point a different question needs to be asked:

What does it mean to sustain greatness longer than anyone else who’s ever lived?

Because when it comes to NBA stats, regular season or postseason, James isn’t just ahead of everyone else. 

He’s in a universe all by himself.

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