There are some who believe that Philadephia 76ers stud Ben Simmons is destined to be the LeBron James of his generation. A recent statistic unearthed by redditor u/pm_me_ccups might actually prove that the Sixers superstar is already ahead of James at this point in his career.

The particular stat that is being looked at is shooting percentage. According to the reddit post, Simmons shot better than James percentage-wise as a rookie. Here are the numbers to prove it.

Simmon shot 74.4% from within 0-3 feet last season. This is almost 15% better than James who only made 60.4% of his shots from within the same distance during his rookie year.

Within 3-10 feet, Simmons' shooting output was at 41.7%. Again, this is far better than LeBron who shot 35.6% from that same distance as a rookie.

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The percentages were much closer within 10-16 feet, but Simmons again had the better of James. The former shot 31.6% against the latter's 31.3%.

Finally, beyond 16 feet, Simmons was still better at 39.3% versus LeBron's 35.2%.

Although a bit of a stretch, these numbers may prove that at least in terms of shooting percentage, Simmons was better as a rookie compared to the great LeBron James.

James is already entering the twilight of his career and has already accomplished everything there is to achieve in the NBA. For his part, Simmons still has his whole career ahead of him and has the benefit of time time to prove himself as the superior player, if he so chooses.