The American professional basketball player LeBron James began his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) when he was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft. He was subsequently named the Rookie of the Year with the Cavaliers in the 2003–04 NBA season. In 2005, James made his first appearances in the NBA All-Star Game and the NBA playoffs, and led the Cavaliers to their first NBA Finals appearance in 2007. He was also the top scorer for the 2007–08 NBA season and was named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2009 and 2010.
In 2010, James announced on television that he would join the Miami Heat. With the Heat, he formed a trio with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. They led the team to four consecutive Finals appearances from 2011 to 2014, winning back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013, with James being named the league MVP and the NBA Finals MVP both times. He returned to the Cavaliers in 2014, and led the team to four straight Finals appearances from 2015 to 2018, giving James eight straight Finals appearances. The Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors for their first championship in 2016, and James was voted the Finals MVP for the third time in his career. He signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, and led the Lakers to an NBA championship in 2020. James was named the Finals MVP for the fourth time in his career, becoming the only player to do so with three different teams.
James holds NBA records with the most NBA All-Star and All-NBA Team selections, with 22 and 21 respectively, including a record 13 First Team selections, and for the most minutes played in league history. He has also been selected into the NBA All-Defensive Team six times. He is currently the NBA's all-time scoring leader, having surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 2023. He also ranks fourth in career assists and sixth in career steals. In 2025, while still being active in the NBA, James was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.
NBA career statistics Correct as of the 2025–26 NBA season.
Regular season
|style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |79||79||39.5||.417||.290||.754||5.5||5.9||1.6||.7||20.9 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |80||80||style="background:#cfecec;"|42.3*||.472||.351||.750||7.4||7.2||2.2||.7||27.2 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |79||79||42.5||.480||.335||.738||7.0||6.6||1.6||.8||31.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |78||78||40.9||.476||.319||.698||6.7||6.0||1.6||.7||27.3 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |75||74||40.4||.484||.315||.712||7.9||7.2||1.8||1.1||style="background:#cfecec;"|30.0* |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |81||81||37.7||.489||.344||.780||7.6||7.2||1.7||1.1||28.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |76||76||39.0||.503||.333||.767||7.3||8.6||1.6||1.0||29.7 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Miami |79||79||38.8||.510||.330||.759||7.5||7.0||1.6||.6||26.7 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|† |style="text-align:left;"|Miami |62||62||37.5||.531||.362||.771||7.9||6.2||1.9||.8||27.1 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|† |style="text-align:left;"|Miami |76||76||37.9||.565||.406||.753||8.0||7.3||1.7||.9||26.8 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Miami |77||77||37.7||.567||.379||.750||6.9||6.4||1.6||.3||27.1 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |69||69||36.1||.488||.354||.710||6.0||7.4||1.6||.7||25.3 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|† |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |76||76||35.6||.520||.309||.731||7.4||6.8||1.4||.6||25.3 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |74||74||style="background:#cfecec;"|37.8*||.548||.363||.674||8.6||8.7||1.2||.6||26.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |style="background:#cfecec;"|82*||style="background:#cfecec;"|82*||style="background:#cfecec;"|36.9*||.542||.367||.731||8.6||9.1||1.4||.9||27.5 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers |55||55||35.2||.510||.339||.665||8.5||8.3||1.3||.6||27.4 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|† |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers | 67 || 67 || 34.6 || .493 || .348 || .693 || 7.8 || style="background:#cfecec;"|10.2* || 1.2 || .5 || 25.3 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers | 45 || 45 || 33.4 || .513 || .365 || .698 || 7.7 || 7.8 || 1.1 || .6 || 25.0 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers | 56 || 56 || 37.2 || .524 || .359 || .756 || 8.2 || 6.2 || 1.3 || 1.1 || 30.3 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers | 55 || 54 || 35.5 || .500 || .321 || .768 || 8.3 || 6.8 || .9 || .6 || 28.9 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers | 71 || 71 || 35.3 || .540 || .410 || .750 || 7.3 || 8.3 || 1.3 || .5 || 25.7 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers | 70 || 70 || 34.9 || .513 || .376 || .782 || 7.8 || 8.2 || 1.0 || .6 || 24.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers | 60 || 60 || 33.2 || .515 || .317 || .737 || 6.1 || 7.2 || 1.2 || .6 || 20.9 |- class="sortbottom" |style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career |1,622||bgcolor="EOCEF2"|1,620||37.6||.507||.348||.737||7.5||7.4||1.5||.7||26.8 |- class="sortbottom" |style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|All-Star |bgcolor="EOCEF2"|23||bgcolor="EOCEF2"|23||24.3||.511||.303||.738||5.3||5.1||1.0||.3||19.5
Playoffs
|style="text-align:left;"|2006 |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |13||13||46.5||.476||.333||.737||8.1||5.8||1.4||.7||30.8 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2007 |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |20||20||44.7||.416||.281||.755||8.1||8.0||1.7||.5||25.1 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2008 |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |13||13||42.5||.411||.257||.731||7.8||7.6||1.8||1.3||28.2 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2009 |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |14||14||41.4||.510||.333||.749||9.1||7.3||1.6||.9||35.3 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2010 |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |11||11||41.8||.502||.400||.733||9.3||7.6||1.7||1.8||29.1 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2011 |style="text-align:left;"|Miami |21||21||43.9||.466||.353||.763||8.4||5.9||1.7||1.2||23.7 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|2012† |style="text-align:left;"|Miami |23||23||42.7||.500||.259||.739||9.7||5.6||1.9||.7||30.3 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|2013† |style="text-align:left;"|Miami |23||23||41.7||.491||.375||.777||8.4||6.6||1.8||.8||25.9 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2014 |style="text-align:left;"|Miami |20||20||38.2||.565||.407||.806||7.1||4.8||1.9||.6||27.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2015 |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |20||20||42.2||.417||.227||.731||11.3||8.5||1.7||1.1||30.1 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|2016† |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |21||21||39.1||.525||.340||.661||9.5||7.6||2.3||1.3||26.3 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2017 |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |18||18||41.3||.565||.411||.698||9.1||7.8||1.9||1.3||32.8 |- |style="text-align:left;"|2018 |style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland |22||22||41.9||.539||.342||.746||9.1||9.0||1.4||1.0||34.0 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|2020† |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers |21||21||36.3||.560||.370||.720||10.8||8.8||1.2||.9||27.6 |- |style="text-align:left"|2021 |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers |6||6||37.3||.474||.375||.609||7.2||8.0||1.5||.3||23.3 |- |style="text-align:left"|2023 |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers |16||16||38.7||.498||.264||.761||9.9||6.5||1.1||1.1||24.5
|style="text-align:left"|2024 |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers |5||5||40.8||.566||.385||.739||6.8||8.8||2.4||1.0||27.8 |- |style="text-align:left"|2025 |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers |5||5||40.8||.489||.357||.775||9.0||5.6||2.0||1.8||25.4 |- |style="text-align:left"|2026 |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Lakers |10||10||38.4||.459||.327||.746||6.7||7.3||1.3||.3||23.2 |- class="sortbottom" |style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career |bgcolor="EOCEF2"|302||bgcolor="EOCEF2"|302||41.2||.495||.332||.741||8.9||7.2||1.7||1.0||28.2
3rd most 3-point field goals made (480) 3rd most Finals appearances (10) 4th most rebounds (2,628) 6th most points per game (28.4) 6th most personal fouls (663)
Career – regular season and playoffs combined Most points (50,473) Most consecutive games scoring (1,855) (James has scored in every game he has played) Most minutes played (71,104) Most field goals made (18,459) Most field goals attempted (36,567) Most free throws made (10,516) Most 2-point field goals made (15,420) Most games played (1,854) Most free throws attempted (14,254) Most triple-doubles (150) Most 3-point field goals made (3,039) Most 2-point field goals attempted (27,802) Most defensive rebounds (12,118) 3rd Most finals appearances (10) Most turnovers (5,471)
Awards and accomplishments
NBA Cited from Basketball Reference's LeBron James page unless noted otherwise. 4× NBA champion: , , , 4× NBA Finals Most Valuable Player: , , , 4× NBA Most Valuable Player: , , , 22× NBA All-Star: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3× NBA All-Star Game MVP: , , 21× All-NBA selection: 13× First team: , , , , , , , , , , , , 4× Second team: , , , 4× Third team: , , , 6× NBA All-Defensive selection: 5× First Team: , , , , Second Team: NBA Rookie of the Year: NBA All-Rookie First Team: NBA scoring leader: NBA assists leader: 3× NBA minutes leader: , , J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award: 5× NBA Community Assist Award (2003–04) (August), (2005–06) (June), (2007–08) (June), (2017–18) (December, off-season) NBA Cup winner: 2023 NBA Cup Most Valuable Player: 2023 NBA Cup All-Tournament Team 41× NBA Player of the Month 70× NBA Player of the Week 6× NBA Rookie of the Month Award () (November, December, January, February, March, April)
United States National Team Cited from USA Basketball's LeBron James page unless noted otherwise.
4× Olympic medalist: 3× Gold: 2008, 2012, 2024 Bronze: 2004 FIBA Men's Olympics Most Valuable Player: 2024 FIBA World Cup medalist: Bronze: 2006 FIBA AmeriCup medalist: Gold: 2007 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year: 2012, 2008 (as a part of the 2008 Olympic Team)
High school Cited from the NBA's LeBron James prospect profile page unless noted otherwise.
National Basketball champion: 2003 3× State champion: 2000, 2001, 2003 2× Gatorade National Player of the Year: 2002, 2003 2× Mr. Basketball USA: 2002, 2003 2× USA Today High School Player of the Year: 2002, 2003 3× Ohio Mr. Basketball: 2001, 2002, 2003 3× USA Today All-USA First Team: 2001, 2002, 2003 2× PARADE High School Player of the Year: 2002, 2003 2× First-team Parade All-American: 2002, 2003 Second-team Parade All-American: 2001 Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year: 2003 Naismith Prep Player of the Year: 2003 McDonald's National Player of the Year: 2003 McDonald's High School All-American: 2003 McDonald's Slam Dunk Contest (Powerade Jam Fest): 2003 McDonald's All-American Game MVP: 2003 EA Sports Roundball Classic MVP: 2003 Jordan Brand Capital Classic MVP: 2003 Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year: 2003
NBA achievements Achievements are current as of the 2025–26 NBA season.
Game-winning shots with Cleveland Cavaliers with Miami Heat with Los Angeles Lakers