He’s done it! More than 1,400 games into his career, LeBron James continues to break records and make history.
Late in the third quarter, the Akron, Ohio native caught the ball at the top right corner of the pain. Sizing up his competition, he moved to the top left corner of the paint and let a jumper go. However, this isn’t just any jump shot. It was his 38,388 career point, breaking the NBA’s all-time scoring record.
As the clock inched closer to the end of the third quarter, the entire crowd stood at its feet. Twenty years into his career, James etched his name into other portion of the history book as the record’s previous holder, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, stood courtside.
“If you would have told me then that this guy is going to break Kareem’s record, I would have just rolled my eyes. If you had said that about anybody, I would have rolled my eyes. 38,000 and some points? I mean, come on! Nobody is going to do offensively what Kareem has done. So, no, there is no way I would have predicted this,” former NBA head coach Stan Van Gundy said.
“You could see then that LeBron James was going to be a special player and an All-Star-level guy. But you’re going to tell me at 38 years old, he’s going to average 30.0 points per game? No, come on. There is no way. It’s beyond belief.”
James isn’t done just yet. With 36 points through three quarters of Tuesday night’s game against Oklahoma City, the Lakers find themselves just a few points back of the Thunder in an important game. The Lakers are currently 0.5 games back of the Thunder for the 12th spot in the Western Conference and 1.5 games back of the Utah Jazz for the 10th spot in the Western Conference. A win against the Thunder could put the Lakers in a prime position to inch closer into the play-in picture.
The moment LeBron James passed Kareem for most points all-time #GOAT? pic.twitter.com/6yT97yzK6V
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 8, 2023
