It’s about to happen. LeBron James is finally close to passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA career record, with the torch passing from one Los Angeles Lakers member to another.
James is 35 points away from Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 overall. The record-breaker could come as early as Tuesday when the Lakers host the Oklahoma City Thunder or Thursday in Los Angeles against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Here is the meaning of James passing Abdul-Jabbar:
WILL THIS RECORD BE BROKEN AGAIN?
Maybe, but not anytime soon.
James is on track to surpass 40,000 points next season and has one more season under contract after that. And even then, there’s no guarantee he won’t keep playing; He’s often said he wants to stay in the NBA long enough for his son, LeBron James Jr. — he calls himself “Bronny” — to join the league, which won’t happen until 2024-25 at the earliest.
The next player in the NBA currently closest to James on the all-time list is Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, who has 26,684 points. Durant would likely need to play at least another six or seven seasons to reach Abdul-Jabbar’s mark — and who knows how far James will raise the bar by then.
Philadelphia’s James Harden and the Lakers’ Russell Westbrook each have just over 24,000 points. Both are all-time greats, but they won’t catch James.
Dallas’ Luka Doncic has averaged 27.4 points per game so far in his career. But as great as Doncic is, he has about 14 more seasons to accumulate points before he reaches the 38,000 point mark.
So unless the NBA adds a 10-point shot, the record won’t be broken for a very, very, very long time.
HOW DID JAMES GET TO THIS POINT?
James entered the NBA straight out of high school; Abdul-Jabbar had a college career before he could get into the league. James was 18 when he scored his first NBA points; Abdul-Jabbar was 22.
It took Abdul-Jabbar 20 seasons to get to 38,387. James will catch him in his 20th season.
James was long-lived, especially in the first three quarters of his career. In his first 15 seasons, he missed just 71 games. He has missed nearly 100 games since joining the Lakers 4 1/2 seasons ago. But he has always avoided major injuries; Part of that is just luck, but a lot of it is because he’s reportedly investing more than $1 million a year in his body.
For most of his career, keeping The King fit has rested on the shoulders of Mike Mancias, one of the most trusted members of James’ inner circle. Mancias never wants recognition for his work; He avoids the limelight the way James blows past defenders. But in 2019, when James was unmasked as The Associated Press’s Male Athlete of the Decade for the 2010s, Mancias shed a little bit of light on James’ work ethic.
“He does whatever it takes to fulfill his commitments to everything,” Mancias said, “especially his game and his craft.”
DID NOT JAMES BREAK THE RECORD LAST YEAR?
Official NBA records are based solely on regular-season games. Playoff games are in their own category. That’s why the record for almost 39 years is Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387 points. But when you add postseason games to that total, Abdul-Jabbar actually retired with 44,149 points.
And that’s the number that eclipsed James — again, if you add his playoff points — in a Lakers loss to the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 12, 2022. It’s “a” record, but not “the” record.
WILL THIS END THE ‘GOAT’ DEBATE?
For those unfamiliar with the acronym, “GOAT” is short for Greatest Of All Time.
James could very well be the GOAT based on his longevity, accomplishments and how nobody in NBA history has been this hard to stop and count in 20 years. Abdul-Jabbar should also be in the conversation; His sky hook — a one-handed shot high above his head that no defender can stop without the use of a stepladder — is one of the most dominant weapons basketball has ever seen.
Michael Jordan won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls on his rise to becoming a global icon and may have been the greatest competitor in the sport’s history. Golden State’s Stephen Curry is the most prolific 3-point shooter the game has ever seen, and he’s still going strong. The Lakers’ Magic Johnson and Boston’s Larry Bird had a rivalry that both earned them multiple championships and could have saved the NBA in the 1980s. San Antonio’s Tim Duncan spent nearly two decades in the league and was perhaps the most fundamentally solid player of all time.
Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game and once averaged 50 for an entire season. Kobe Bryant had an 81-point game, finished with five championships, and spent years just unstoppable. And Bill Russell won 11 championships with the Boston Celtics.
That record doesn’t even end the debate about the all-time top scorer. James overtakes Abdul-Jabbar for the most points – but Jordan still averaged the most points, his 30.12 per game pace throughout his career, just ahead of Chamberlain’s 30.07. James averages about 27 per game; Abdul-Jabbar averaged about 25 years old.
The answer to the GOAT debate is that there isn’t one. There are many. Personal preferences prevail.
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