In his 20 year NBA career Lebron James has made 2,460 dunks. This breaks down as 2,107 in the Regular Season and 353 in the Playoffs. Lebron James has averaged 2 dunks per game for his career and sits 4th all time for Regular Season dunks and 2nd all time for Playoff dunks. Lebron has recorded a dunk in 78% of the games he has played in and made 96% of the dunks he has attempted.
We have listed the highlights of Lebron’s dunk stats above, below we dive into his career and how its different phases have impacted on the dunks Lebron James attempts. His time in Cleveland, Miami, Cleveland again and LA have all shaped him as a player, the dunk has been an ever present weapon in his arsenal.
How often does Lebron James dunk?
While Lebron has consistently made around 96% of the dunks he has attempted each season, the amount of games he dunks in has fluctuated. Starting his Rookie year in Cleveland (2003-04) James dunked in just 52 of 79 games (66%) before rocketing this number to 65 of 80 (81%) the following season when his body started to adjust to the rigors of NBA life. His rookie year remained his lowest number until the 2020-21 season, the 18th of his career and third in LA. During this injury plagued season James dunked in 29 of 45 games (64%) this is his lowest mark to date. The previous season when he led LA to a title in the Orlando Bubble he had recorded dunks in just 69% of his games, perhaps an indication his body was beginning to fail him. However, he would bounce back in his two most recent seasons, recording dunks in 86% and 78% of the games he played in respectively. Perhaps the King isn’t so washed after all.
The below graph paints a visual picture of how Lebron’s regular season dunk profile has evolved over the years.
Lebron James dunks and the assist
In our article about the most frequent dunkers of all time we looked at the impact of the assisted dunk. Dunks in the NBA largely fall into two categories. The assisted dunk, which can be explosive and exciting but is dependent on the passer as the creator and the non-assisted dunk which more often than not gets the crowd on its feet as an elite creator finds a seam in the defense and rises up to destroy a defender off the dribble.
The top of our non-assisted dunks table sat Westbrook, Kobe, Wade and Vince Carter… all human highlight machines that liked to dominate with the ball in their hands. Lebron typically sits just below this group. Over his 20 year career Lebron has been assisted on 64% of his dunks. For context Westbrook leads the league being assisted on just 48% of his dunks. Vince Carter trails the 4 players mentioned with 61%. With Lebron James, it’s not that he doesn’t have the same dribble penetration and leaping ability as the others, he may even be more dangerous as a rim attacker, but he has always seen himself as a pass first player, often giving the ball up and receiving it back for an easier, assisted dunk. The chart below shows how this has trended during his time in the NBA. As you will note his 3 most recent seasons see his highest dunk assist percentage as he takes more of a back seat, allowing his team mates to create for him.
Lebron’s previous peak for assisted dunks came in the 2012-13 season. His second title in Miami, when he had Bosh and Allen spreading the floor and Dwayne Wade playing so in sync with him it was almost unfair.
Lebron James Dunk Stats
Below we have listed the stats tables we created for this article. Big thanks to Stat Head for the baseline data.
Lebron James Regular Season Dunk Stats
| Season No. | Season | Team | Games Played | Games Dunked In | % of Games Dunked In | Dunks Made | Dunks Attempted | Dunk % | Dunks Missed | Assisted Dunks | % of Dunks from Assist |
| Rookie | 2003-04 | CLE | 79 | 52 | 66% | 91 | 96 | 95% | 5 | 56 | 62% |
| 2 | 2004-05 | CLE | 80 | 65 | 81% | 126 | 128 | 98% | 2 | 78 | 62% |
| 3 | 2005-06 | CLE | 79 | 64 | 81% | 114 | 118 | 97% | 4 | 73 | 64% |
| 4 | 2006-07 | CLE | 78 | 59 | 76% | 108 | 111 | 97% | 3 | 63 | 58% |
| 5 | 2007-08 | CLE | 75 | 58 | 77% | 109 | 114 | 96% | 5 | 57 | 52% |
| 6 | 2008-09 | CLE | 81 | 67 | 83% | 128 | 134 | 96% | 6 | 75 | 59% |
| 7 | 2009-10 | CLE | 76 | 58 | 76% | 117 | 122 | 96% | 5 | 81 | 69% |
| 8 | 2010-11 | MIA | 79 | 53 | 67% | 98 | 101 | 97% | 3 | 60 | 61% |
| 9 | 2011-12 | MIA | 62 | 50 | 81% | 104 | 108 | 96% | 4 | 71 | 68% |
| 10 | 2012-13 | MIA | 76 | 64 | 84% | 144 | 147 | 98% | 3 | 107 | 74% |
| 11 | 2013-14 | MIA | 77 | 62 | 81% | 134 | 137 | 98% | 3 | 82 | 61% |
| 12 | 2014-15 | CLE | 69 | 53 | 77% | 88 | 92 | 96% | 4 | 51 | 58% |
| 13 | 2015-16 | CLE | 76 | 60 | 79% | 111 | 117 | 95% | 6 | 74 | 67% |
| 14 | 2016-17 | CLE | 74 | 66 | 89% | 145 | 151 | 96% | 6 | 94 | 65% |
| 15 | 2017-18 | CLE | 82 | 62 | 76% | 120 | 126 | 95% | 6 | 71 | 59% |
| 16 | 2018-19 | LAL | 55 | 44 | 80% | 85 | 89 | 96% | 4 | 55 | 65% |
| 17 | 2019-20 | LAL | 67 | 46 | 69% | 79 | 81 | 98% | 2 | 41 | 52% |
| 18 | 2020-21 | LAL | 45 | 29 | 64% | 47 | 50 | 94% | 3 | 36 | 77% |
| 19 | 2021-22 | LAL | 56 | 48 | 86% | 85 | 86 | 99% | 1 | 69 | 81% |
| 20 | 2022-23 | LAL | 55 | 43 | 78% | 74 | 76 | 97% | 2 | 53 | 72% |
| Total | – | – | 1,421 | 1,103 | 78% | 2,107 | 2,184 | 96% | 77 | 1,347 | 64% |
Lebron James Playoff Dunk Stats
| Season No. | Season | Team | Games Played | Games Dunked In | % of Games Dunked In | Dunks Made | Dunks Attempted | Dunk % | Dunks Missed | Assisted Dunks | % of Dunks from Assist |
| Rookie | 2003-04 | CLE | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2 | 2004-05 | CLE | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3 | 2005-06 | CLE | 13 | 8 | 62% | 13 | 14 | 93% | 1 | 6 | 46% |
| 4 | 2006-07 | CLE | 20 | 12 | 60% | 18 | 20 | 90% | 2 | 9 | 50% |
| 5 | 2007-08 | CLE | 13 | 11 | 85% | 16 | 16 | 100% | 0 | 13 | 81% |
| 6 | 2008-09 | CLE | 14 | 13 | 93% | 29 | 29 | 100% | 0 | 22 | 76% |
| 7 | 2009-10 | CLE | 11 | 10 | 91% | 13 | 13 | 100% | 0 | 8 | 62% |
| 8 | 2010-11 | MIA | 21 | 16 | 76% | 28 | 29 | 97% | 1 | 16 | 57% |
| 9 | 2011-12 | MIA | 23 | 18 | 78% | 30 | 32 | 94% | 2 | 17 | 57% |
| 10 | 2012-13 | MIA | 23 | 19 | 83% | 28 | 29 | 97% | 1 | 20 | 71% |
| 11 | 2013-14 | MIA | 20 | 12 | 60% | 20 | 20 | 100% | 0 | 10 | 50% |
| 12 | 2014-15 | CLE | 20 | 12 | 60% | 16 | 16 | 100% | 0 | 6 | 38% |
| 13 | 2015-16 | CLE | 21 | 18 | 86% | 43 | 46 | 94% | 3 | 32 | 74% |
| 14 | 2016-17 | CLE | 18 | 14 | 78% | 33 | 34 | 97% | 1 | 21 | 64% |
| 15 | 2017-18 | CLE | 22 | 16 | 73% | 23 | 24 | 96% | 1 | 12 | 52% |
| 16 | 2018-19 | LAL | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | 2019-20 | LAL | 21 | 18 | 86% | 25 | 26 | 96% | 1 | 19 | 76% |
| 18 | 2020-21 | LAL | 6 | 5 | 83% | 8 | 9 | 89% | 1 | 3 | 38% |
| 19 | 2021-22 | LAL | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 20 | 2022-23 | LAL | 16 | 8 | 50% | 10 | 11 | 91% | 1 | 7 | 70% |
| Total | – | – | 282 | 210 | 74% | 353 | 368 | 96% | 15 | 221 | 63% |