If you visit the player page for Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James on Basketball Reference, you’ll see that he was listed as a shooting guard his rookie season, playing 74% of his minutes at the 2. That fact puts how much the game has changed in the last 15 years in perspective.
James is poised to play significant minutes at center is his debut season, after the Lakers let Julius Randle, Brook Lopez, and Thomas Bryant walk. Ivica Zubac is the lone returning big, joined by a rookie (Moe Wagner), and a nimble athlete who can’t play many minutes due to an asthmatic condition (JaVale McGee).