“If I Really Wanted….I Could Win It Every Single Year”: When LeBron James Disregarded Winning Scoring Title in 2010

LeBron James was still trying his hardest to make a name for himself back in 2010. There didn’t seem to be many prospects as he was still working out ways to make sure the Cleveland Cavaliers performed well in the playoffs. However, even with all the pressure on him, he seemed sure of his capabilities.

Could LeBron James win the scoring title every year?

Back in 2010, when LeBron James played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team had a responsibility of the defending champions. Brian Windhorst, a Cleveland Plain Dealer beat writer then, talked to LeBron about the same. The reporter wrote a story about James, based on this  mini interview.

While talking about a second straight individual scoring title, LeBron didn’t seem too concerned. It seemed like he believed the team should go with the flow. According to Windhorst’s story and a clip of the James talking,  said,

“If it happens, it happens… It is not important to me at all.”

“Our team is trying to clinch [home court advantage] for the whole playoffs,” he said, “and that is more important… individual accolades take care of themselves.

After this, LeBron James said something that may seem like a rather bold declaration. The then 28-year-old said he believed that if he really wanted to, he could clinch the scoring title every year. The only thing holding him back, it seems, was…well.. that it just didn’t matter to him.

“If I really wanted to, if I really wanted to win the scoring title, I could win it every single year,” he (James) said.

“Every single year, I could really do it. But it doesn’t matter to me.”

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Looking at James’ stats at the time, one may conclude that he could definitely post way more points if he wanted to.

In 2010, James ranked sixth in assists in the entire league, with 8.6 per game. Ten years later, after obvious ups and down in the category, he now leads the NBA in terms of number of assists, with 10.6 assists per game. It seems involving the entire team was always what James aimed for.

The NBA community now also knows that James does a lot to keep his current Lakers’ teammates motivated. He seems to be a natural-born leader. James’ comments from 2010 also prove the same. We feel this way as he talked about getting an advantage for winning the championship title with the team and said that the individual achievement of a scoring title wasn’t as important to him.

This attitude at that time must surely have paved the way for the fierce player and supportive teammate that James is now.