3's were not as common and I can guarantee he would not have spent much time shooting them. The expectation for a guy like LeBron would have been to pound the ball in the paint and bully guys. No coach in the 80's or 90's would have had a job more than a year if they utilized LeBron the way he is today. Sorry @DominantBig for taking your thread down another road.
I think you are confusing 40 year LeBron with 20 year old LeBron. He was an elite defender for the first 10 years of his career. But all anyone remembers now is what he currently is doing which is being old and saving energy.
I don't think that he was an elite defender for the first ten years of his career, at least not consistently. He could dial it up when he wanted to and was capable of being a lock down defender against most opponents - but he really didn't have the focus to do it consistently. He is at worst one of the 4-5 best players to ever live, and he would dominate in any era - but I don't think that he would necessarily dominate defensively in the 1980's and 1990's as most elite offensive perimeter players did not, and defense wasn't the focus of LBJ. Michael Jordan was just built different - even guys like Kareem, who were very capable defenders lacked the mindset.
Literally no one for him to even guard in that era. You telling me he can't guard Kenny smith? The skill in the guards today are vastly better and more athletic. Most teams had a 6'3 shooting guard and you think LeBron would struggle against that? Plus the style of play where teams didn't shoot as many threes you literally could play off guys. He would be the greatest defender the league has ever seen, I've seen him shut down prime Derek rose. And prime curry. There is no KD for him to guard. And he gets to hand check. Tell me how you score against a 6'8 260 lb athletic freak that is just pushing you the whole time.
Calvin Murphy in today league would be the MVP for sure. Remember he is a fighter, too. The black mamba on steroids. His scoring goes up to because he played before the 3 point line.
As a BYU alum, my friends and I often discuss the crappiness of the situation Jimmer was drafted into. Egor Demin was also drafted about 10 spots too high and also facing a similar poor development situation. It's one of the dangers of being a high draft pick - being picked by the Hornets, Pelicans, Kings, Bulls, Nets, etc. (Jimmer played for three of those, lol.)
His BYU career might be my favorite of all time. I swear system and culture are almost as valuable as talent on making it
I was at BYU the same time he played, and while Kawhi was at San Diego State in the Mountain West conference. Good times watching some of those games live.
The easy answer, for me, would be Wilt. His numbers are so absolutely ridiculous that they are almost universally disregarded. People just say, "Yeah, but... the competition was super weak. Yeah, but... the rules allowed for him to do those things." Those things might and probably are true, but that's why he would be the most compelling person to see if he grew up with today's emphasis on competition and training, to see how it might translate. The other one to me, as a Rockets fan of course, would be Hakeem. Even though the Center position isn't as important as it used to be, the way that he moved, I feel fairly convinced if he grew up playing basketball and had the emphasis on shooting, that he wouldn't be an even more dominant offensive force than he was. Although I also bet his defense and blocks numbers would decrease, unfortunately.
Lebron would prob be the undisputed goat if he played in the 80s/90s. You only look at the damage other people are gonna do to him but ignore the damage he would do to others. He is Karl Malone with Kobe's quickness if he can hand check all the guards like MJ prob wont be able to score over 10 pts.
