A question making the rounds among NBA fans asks whether 22-year-old LeBron James — the version that dragged the 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers to the Finals and got swept by the San Antonio Spurs — was already good enough to be the best player on a title team. Drop him on the current Celtics instead of Jayson Tatum, the Thunder instead of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Bucks instead of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Does he raise the trophy?
The box score says he was close. The efficiency splits say there was a gap.
During the 2006-07 regular season, James averaged 27.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 6.0 assists on a .476 field-goal percentage. His effective field-goal percentage — which weights three-pointers — landed at .507, marginally above the league average of roughly .497. He finished fifth in MVP voting, made the All-NBA Second Team, and posted a 24.6 player efficiency rating. Those are superstar numbers by any era’s standard.
Then the playoffs arrived, and the shooting cratered. Over 20 postseason games, James shot .416 from the floor and .280 from three. His eFG% plummeted to .442 — more than five percentage points below the regular-season league average. He still led the entire playoffs in total points (501) and assists (159), and his 3.7 win shares topped all players. But the method was brute force: he attempted 16.2 field goals per game and got to the line 9.8 times, grinding out 25.1 points per night on volume that a championship offense typically cannot sustain from one player shooting that poorly.
The Finals exposed the ceiling. San Antonio held Cleveland to 76, 92, 72, and 82 points across four games — an average of 80.5, nearly 16 below the Cavaliers’ season mark of 96.8. Tony Parker won Finals MVP averaging 24.5 points. James shot .356 from the field across the series. The Spurs dared him to shoot jumpers, and he could not make them pay.
What muddies any verdict is the roster. The Cavaliers’ second-leading scorer was Larry Hughes at 14.9 points per game on .400 shooting. Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 11.9. Drew Gooden chipped in 11.1. No other Cavalier cracked double figures efficiently. The team