Against All Odds, LeBron James Is Still Getting Better

LeBron James’s talents are so encompassing that it can be hard to imagine any room for improvement. From nearly the day he first stepped on an NBA court, he has been one of the league’s most unstoppable scorers, best passers, most daunting defenders, and keenest observers. He has played every position and filled every role. It is natural to expect the almost-33-year-old’s abilities to diminish, at some point, or at least to stop growing. And yet, 15 years and some 42,000 minutes into his professional career, the world’s best player is somehow getting better.

Back before it started, this season was thought to represent a kind of holding pattern for James.—and with him, a good portion of their hopes for beating the Golden State Warriors in a potential fourth-straight Finals matchup. At that time, talk around the NBA centered not on how James might lift up his team in 2017–18, but on where he’d play the following year, after his current contract expired. His and filmmaking aspirations connected him to the Lakers, and his that he’ll “approach [free agency] when the summer comes” did little to dispel such chatter. Cleveland losing five of its first eight games to start the year only increased the sense that rumors and innuendo would seize the spotlight away from basketball, that the real action would wait until the offseason.