LeBron James: A living legend
It took 20 NBA seasons for Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time leading scorer record, which was set back in 1984, to be broken. With 10 seconds remaining in the third quarter, King James’ fadeaway jump shot made him the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. James ended the memorable game with a staggering career total of 38,390.
“Everybody that has ever been a part of this run with me the last 20-plus years, I want to say thank you so much because I wouldn’t be me without all of you,” LeBron James said after the game yesterday while talking to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, alongside former Los Angeles Lakers player Kareem Abdul-Jabba (now the former NBA all-time leading scorer).
Now, let’s count the records LeBron James currently holds:
- All-time leading goal scorer.
- The youngest NBA player to reach 1,000 points, then 2,000… and all the way up to 31,000.
- The only player in NBA history to average more than 25 points per game for 20 straight seasons.
- The only player in the history of the NBA to reach the NBA Finals with three different teams (Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and the team he’s currently playing for, LA Lakers).
- The first and only player to average a triple-double in an NBA Final.
At 38 years of age, with possibly an extra two or three seasons still left in him, I see no one coming close to or breaking all the records he has set throughout his career. Like yesterday morning, many might have even forgotten, but LeBron didn’t just break Kareem’s record, nope, he also extended his record streak of double-digit games to 1,140.
Now, we’re shifting the focus to the GOAT debate between the greatest players of our generation – LeBron James and Bulls legend MJ. Although Jordan and James never shared the court together (Jordan retired in 2003, for the third and final time, and later that year, James was drafted first overall). In his 20-year career in the NBA, the 38-year-old record breaker has averaged 27.2 points per game while playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers (2003-2010 and 2014-2018), Miami Heat (2010-2014) and the LA Lakers (2018-present). Now, this is the conversation we should be having from now on while giving LeBron his flowers while he can smell them.
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