His scoring totals were heavily subsidized with FTAs. 5th all time to get him there. He is still a great player folks.
Does drawing fouls not count as basketball? And as you say he is 5th all time behind both Malones, Wilt, and Shaq. He has scored more points than those 4 guys. Kareem is 8th all time (though about 1500 FTA's behind James). Kobe is 6th, Dwight is 7th (that surprised me), Oscar is 9th, and West is 10th. The next 5 are Gilmore (includes his ABA time as well), Jordan, Barkley, Pierce, and Duncan (Dantley is next and he is 15th in NBA only if you take Gilmore's ABA time out - Moses goes from 2nd to 4th if you don't include ABA). Aside from Gilmore, Pierce and Dwight, those guys are all the best of the best (and those 3 are all obviously HOFers, just not quite the same level as the others).
What sets James apart from other wings is his 2 point FG%. For his career, James is 55.4% from 2. That is only slightly behind Kareem's 56%. Jordan "only" shot 51% from 2 (same as Dr. J - including his ABA time as well as NBA). Kobe was 47.9% from 2 (Carmelo is 47.2%, Dominique 47.8%). Even Durant who is now up to 18th (on combined list or 15th in just NBA), has only shot 53.9% from 2.
In fact of the top 20 scorers in NBA history, only Shaq and Kareem shot better from 2 point range than Lebron (Gilmore did as well, but you have to include the ABA number for him to be in the top 20). Lebron overall is currently 32nd all time in 2 point percentage. The only HOFers better than him are those 3, Dwight and Giannis (obviously they will be HOFers when they retire), Barkley, and McHale. Some other notable names ahead of him are Gobert, Towns, and Bam, but it is too early to call them HOFers. The rest of the list are almost exclusively big man role players like Harrell, Capela, Adams.
James doesn't get near enough credit for his efficiency among the trees. It is hard to go down low like that time and time again and just keep getting hit and still hit shots at that percentage. James should be praised for getting to the line, not downgraded for doing so.