Would you rather build franchise around LeBron James or someone else?
It speaks volumes of his incredibly consistent dominance that basketball’s chief decision-makers finally answered the question above with a player other than the four-time MVP. What might be even more telling of James’ vice grip on the NBA? That it took a generational force like Anthony Davis to knock him from the top of basketball’s team-building hierarchy.
In his annual survey of league general managers, NBA.com’s John Schuhmann found that – for the first time since this project began in 2006 – a majority of respondents picked a player other than James as the one they would choose to start a franchise. And while Davis was the question’s most common answer by a landslide, Kevin Durant’s named finally edged even with James’, too.
James, Durant, and Anthony also ranked first, second, and third in last year’s preseason survey, which came on the heels of the Oklahoma City Thunder superstar winning MVP. Fifty percent of GMs picked James last season, while his top competition tied for second with 25 percent of the vote.
It’s key to remember that league executives weren’t asked to name the game’s best player here. If they were, it’s fair to assume that the Cleveland Cavaliers icon would receive a lion’s share of the vote; GMs think he’s most likely to win MVP in 2015-16, for instance.
But James is aging. He’s firmly on the downside of his career at 30 years old, and suffers from nagging back and knee pain that not only forced him to the sidelines for two weeks last season, but already required treatment since training camp began, too. The effects of aging are inevitable. And even if you’re among those who believe that James has yet to experience them, it’s still necessary to admit that it’s only of time until he finally does.
The 22-year-old Davis, conversely, has has the clock on his side. The New Orleans Pelicans superstar has an argument as basketball’s best player following one of the most precocious seasons in league history, and is still multiple years away from reaching the start of his playing prime. Durant, meanwhile, has just begun it. If not for the freak foot troubles that rendered his 2014-15 campaign a complete waste, it’s fair to say he might have been the respondents’ top choice to build around.
What should be the biggest takeaway from the general managers’ answer? That the league is flush with historic talents. Stephen Curry and James Harden, the reigning MVP winner and runner-up, didn’t receive a single vote, and neither did still burgeoning mega-stars like Russell Westbrook and Blake Griffin.
A biased fan might take issue with these results, basically. The nonpartisan hoops follower, though, should be thrilled the NBA has reached a place where there are worthy successors to one of the greatest players this game has ever seen. And even better? That James’ career is still a long way from over.
