Even in the later stages of his career, LeBron James has shown that he is still one of the best players in the NBA. During Thursday's game against the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers star forward provided more concrete proof of that fact.
James received a pass from Avery Bradley with no one even close to him and proceeded to throw down a reverse windmill slam dunk. Moments later, the NBA's Twitter account posted an iconic photo of James -- taken by official NBA photographer Andrew D. Bernsteinof -- as he was going up for the dunk.
Year 17 pic.twitter.com/7iCOxAwK4g
— NBA (@NBA) February 7, 2020
Obviously, the dunk itself is absolutely special in its own right, but for a photographer to capture James in the moment is phenomenal. The angle of the picture truly shows how high James gets and how much open space he had. This photo could end of rivaling that of Michael Jordan when he was photographed leaping from the foul line during the 1987 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
It turns out MJ is not the only NBA legend that dunk reminded Lakers fans of. The club's social media department found a video of just about the exact same dunk by a young Kobe Bryant back in 2001. Take a look:
Same arena. Same basket. Same dunk. 19 years apart. 💜💛 pic.twitter.com/fj7HRmqv3c
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 8, 2020
James finished Thursday's game with 18 points on 8-of-19 shooting to go along with 15 assists and nine rebounds. While it wasn't enough, as the Lakers fell 121-111 to the Houston Rockets, this photo is one that will likely be historic as far as the NBA goes.
There's few players that are more dangerous in the open floor than James. Throughout his career, the Lakers superstar has shown the ability to throw down his fair share of ferocious dunks that will rattle the rim. This photo shows that James -- 17 years into his NBA career -- is still a special player that we can marvel. He doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
