There’s likely a way to figure out how many triple-doubles LeBron James would have this season if Kyle Korver wasn’t around. I don’t know what that way would be, and I’m way too lazy to calculate it manually, so I’m going to use my preternatural powers of intuition to estimate the answer: zero.
Zero triple-doubles for LeBron James for the 2017-18 NBA season if there wasn’t an assist-sponge in the form of Korver always running off screens. Maybe one. Maybe, but probably not. Does Korver even receive passes from other players? I don’t think so.
Thinking about it more deeply, it seems unfair that LeBron gets all the credit for the triple-doubles he gets, when Korver has just as much to do with them as The Chosen One does. Even his point totals are suspect. How many easy points at the rim would he score if Korver wasn’t spacing the floor all the way out to 40 feet?