LeBron James is the king of the mountain – statistically speaking, let’s debate who is the best NBA player of all time. James broke a record most NBA watchers thought was unattainable, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar’s regular-season total.
Abdul-Jabbar set the record in 1984 when he overtook Wilt Chamberlain. He would continue to play until 1989 and retire from the NBA scoring 38,387 points in 20 seasons.
Who would have predicted that someone might have the combination of talent and longevity to surpass that total? As James was hyped in 2003 when he enlisted in the army after graduating from St. Vincent St. Mary of Akron, Ohio, no one can tell on PTI or Around the Horn that he will one day break Abdul-Jabbar’s record.
This record has been around for a long time
Well, James is currently in his 20th NBA season and has done the unthinkable. He broke the record. With 10 seconds left in the third quarter on Tuesday, February 7, at the Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles, James did it. With a jump back. And it took him only 26 minutes. Kareem was sitting by the courthouse and seeing the whole thing.
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He deserves every single superlative there is in the English language to describe how remarkable of an achievement this is.
To pull this off James had to combine great talent, with consistent improvement, great health, and longevity that is the rarest of rare in professional sports. He has played 20 seasons in the NBA and is currently averaging 30 points per game on 50.5 percent shooting from the field.
At 38-years-old he is the leading vote getter among current NBA all stars, and still being counted on to be the Lakers top playmaker. He has the fourth-most regular-season assists in NBA history, trailing only Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, and John Stockton. James is currently averaging the second-most assists on the Lakers with 7.1 per game.
A Sports Illustrated cover story was written about him at 16 years old with words “Chosen One” splashed next to his name. This was at a time when that cover was one of the most prominent places for a professional athlete to be featured. As junior in high school, this was the type of hype that he was being asked to meet with his play.
Now that he is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, saying that he has far exceeded the hype is now an objective statement.
James now has his own place in the NBA world. A place where currently no one who has ever played in that league has ever been.
38,390 points and counting.
