LeBron James has crafted an NBA career that’s about as consistent as your morning coffee—strong, reliable, and guaranteed to deliver. His averages with the Cavs, Heat and Lakers are remarkably and scarily similar. Recently, he hit an absurd milestone, keeping his streak alive of double-digit scoring in every game since January 5, 2007. That’s over 18 years without a single dud, easily eclipsing Michael Jordan’s own impressive run of 866 straight games. But hey, even Superman occasionally forgets his cape.

LeBron’s Lowest Scoring Games Ever

Twenty seasons and we’re going to dive into LeBron’s shockingly low-scoring nights. LeBron’s scoring fewer than 10 points is approximately as rare a quadruple double.

LeBron’s lowest scoring game happened his second season in the league all the way back in December 29, 2004. This was the infamous night when he dropped a career-low 3 points against the Houston Rockets. Between early foul trouble and just 17 minutes of court action, King James couldn’t buy a bucket, finishing 0-for-5 from the floor. This off-night definitely directly influenced the Cavs’ 98-87 loss, reminding us all that even basketball all-stars can occasionally look mortal especially early in their NBA careers. That kicks it off for all you LeBron haters. Now grab some popcorn and let’s look at a few more eyebrow-raising performances from the King’s legendary career.

No surprise, LeBron’s rookie year saw most of his scoring hiccups. While this isn’t his lowest scoring game, LeBron’s game on December 3, 2003 against the Los Angeles Clippers where he scored just 4 points might be his worst outing. Why is this even more infamous than his three-point game is because he played double the amount of time on the court with 34 minutes and wasn’t in foul trouble. As of this post, this is LeBron’s second lowest scoring game of his career marked by a frigid 2-for-13 shooting night. The Cavaliers, unable to overcome his off-night, suffered a 90-80 loss to the Clips.

Another tough rookie outing came against the gritty Detroit Pistons on November 28, 2003. LeBron scored just 6 points, despite playing 36 minutes. The Pistons’ stifling defense made life difficult for the young phenom, holding him to only 2-for-8 from the floor and forcing him into multiple turnovers. The Cavaliers dropped the game 92-88.

Again in 2003 specifically on November 5th against the Denver Nuggets, James played a full 41 minutes but tallied just 7 points on 3-for-11 shooting. Despite his limited offensive output, LeBron always contributes elsewhere, dishing out 7 assists and grabbing 11 rebounds, but Cleveland narrowly lost, 93-89. Fast forward to January 5, 2007—the game marking LeBron’s last single-digit performance to date.

And the Cavs lost all those games. In all the regular season games that LeBron scored no more than 10 points, his teams have won only four of those seventeen games; good for a 0.235 winning percentage (4-13).

LeBron’s Struggles Came in His Early Years

No surprise, LeBron James’ lowest-scoring games  were in his early years. From looking at the above chart, it’s clear that James rookie (2003-04) and sophomore (2004-05) seasons were notably inconsistent compared to the legendary reliability he developed later. Eight of his 17 lowest-scoring performances came in those first two years, often marked by inefficient shooting and extended court time. Particularly, in his rookie year, LeBron frequently struggled against teams known for tough defenses or on nights with high shooting volume yet low accuracy. Additionally, foul trouble severely impacted his lowest-scoring game ever—like his 3 point performance in 17 minutes against Houston in 2004.

Notably, none of LeBron’s lowest scoring games happened during his run with the Miami Heat during his mid-late 20s.