Eye-popping stat proves LeBron James is half as clutch as Kobe Bryant
If you're of the opinion that LeBron James shrinks in the moment, these numbers are for you.
On Friday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a chance to force overtime (or secure a win) in the closing seconds against the Toronto Raptors. The Cavs did what most teams do in this situation, trusting their best player to take the final shot. And he missed.
No big deal, right? It happens, especially when you take a lot of clutch jumpers; Michael Jordan famously said that he missed dozens of shots with the game on the line, which helped shape him into one of the greatest.
But it might be time to start calling out LeBron for his failures in the clutch. Stretching back to the 2006-07 season, James is just 5-for-47 in the regular season on shots to tie or take the lead in the closing five seconds, according to Basketball-Reference:
That's 10.6 percent, which looks more like a nightmarish sales tax rate than the field goal percentage for one of the NBA's best players, regardless of the game situations. League average in that same timespan has been 22.6 percent.
For comparison's sake, Kobe Bryant, who hasn't exactly been at his best lately, is 13-for-48 (27.1 percent) on those same shots over the past 10 seasons, making the Black Mamba almost three times more clutch than The King.
In fact, we have the video evidence to prove it. So enjoy this super-cut of some of LeBron's biggest clutch misses -- and sorry, Cavs fans.