The 3 Best Seasons of LeBron James' NBA Career
2. Cleveland Cavaliers, 2009-10
Prior to ever leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency, LeBron gave Cleveland a season to remember. With 25.4 nERD, the 25-year-old achieved the second MVP of his career, and he edged Durant, the nERD runner up, by 4.7 in terms of our in-house metric.
Compared to his best season in Miami, LeBron was one step above offensively and nearly as good defensively in his seventh season in Cleveland. He put up more points (29.7) and assists (8.6) on a per-game basis with a usage rate of 33.5%. He also averaged 1.6 steals and had a defensive rating of 102.
That resulted in 13.3 offensive win shares and 5.2 defensive win shares -- good for 18.5 total wins shares for a rate of .299 per 48 minutes. Like the previous season, LeBron's PER of 31.1 led the NBA.
What sticks out from this season among the other 13 is that James was a force to be reckoned with, forcing his way to the line at a rate of .506 free throw attempts per field goal attempt, the highest of his career. And he hit a personal-best 7.8 free throws per night on 76.7% shooting.
Despite all the great numbers, the individual honors and a 61-21 regular season record, LeBron and the Cavaliers, as a team, had a disappointing playoff appearance. They defeated the Chicago Bulls in the first round before being ousted in the next round by the Boston Celtics' super-team of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo.
