Scorer king: LeBron James beats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become NBA scoring champion
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James has received the first official recovery statistic from his NBA career. His next entry in the statistics was an assist.
Even then, glasses were not a priority. They never were.
Somehow, he became the highest scoring scorer in NBA history. It finally happened on Tuesday night when the Akron, Ohio lad connected jumping with stepback, bringing his career total to 38,388 and breaking a record that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar held for almost 39 years.
James held out his hands after his 36th point for the Los Angeles Lakers, threw both hands up, then smiled. Abdul-Jabbar rose from his seat and applauded. The game was halted as members of James’ family, including his mother, wife and their three children, took the floor at a ceremony commemorating the moment.
“It never pissed me off,” James told The Associated Press when asked what scoring means to him. “I am there now because I never, never thought about it. The only thing I ever thought about was winning championships, maybe an MVP or two, maybe Defensive Player of the Year. But I tell you, I never thought about winning championships and setting records.
Abdul-Jabbar, a longtime Lakers player and one of many celebrities and sports stars who made sure to see history, became the league’s all-time leading scorer on April 5, 1984, and retired in 1989 with 38,387 points. It was a record that some thought would last forever, and very few even came close to it. Karl Malone was 1459 points behind Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant was 4744 points behind and Michael Jordan was 6095 points behind.
James overtook them all and then caught Abdul-Jabbar as well. The 38-year-old, who scored 38 points in a 133-130 loss to the Lakers, did so in his 20th season. Abdul-Jabbar also played 20 seasons in the NBA.
“You have to give him credit for how he planned to last and dominate,” Abdul-Jabbar told TNT.
And now King James – a nickname he’s had since high school when he was a kid from Akron – is the NBA’s king of scorers with 38,390 points and growing.
“A record that stood for almost 40 years and that many thought would never be broken,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
Abdul-Jabbar held the ball up and then passed it to James, ceremonially passing the torch. They posed for pictures with Silver, then with each other. James wiped tears from his eyes and addressed the crowd.
“I just want to say thank you to the loyal Lakers. You guys are one of a kind,” James said. “To be in the presence of a legend like Karim is very humiliating. Please give the captain a standing ovation.”
James then thanked his family and those who supported him, including Silver and the late NBA Commissioner David Stern.
“I thank you guys for letting me be a part of what I have always dreamed of,” James said.
At least 16 different players have technically been the top scorers in the league’s history – most of them came in the league’s first month in 1946, when everyone was starting from scratch, and nine different players topped the scoring list. in the first 16 days.
But only six have officially finished the season as all-time leaders: Joe Fulks, George Mikan, Dolph Schies, Bob Pettit, Wilt Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar.
James will be the seventh name on this list and he will probably stay there for a long time. No active player is 10,000 points behind James, who has a two-year contract and is close to becoming the league’s first 40,000 point scorer next season.
“No one will ever, ever touch him,” said Cleveland’s forward Kevin Love, James’ teammate on the 2016 championship team. “The performance record will now never be surpassed. I don’t care. It will never, ever be touched. It will never happen again.”
James could have hit the record a long time ago if he wanted to. But he always preferred passing. James is second only to John Stockton, Jason Kidd and Chris Paul in the all-time list of assistants. None of them were or are close to the scorer, which is James. Of this group, Paul comes closest, ranked 38th in NBA history.
And Paul is 17,000 points behind the new top scorer.
“I didn’t think of it that way, but it’s very true,” Silver told AP ahead of the record night. “I think it even adds — right? – what an achievement for a guy who became a scorer because he decided that it was necessary to win. And you’re right, he probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves for his selfless acting because he gets so much attention and attention. … I think that makes him even more special, that he’s more likely to be known for his passes than his baskets.”
James is the only member of an NBA 3-5 club with at least 10,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists. In two of those categories, 44 players reached five figures.
He will almost certainly become the all-time NBA top earner when he retires; adding the $97 million he’ll earn over the next two seasons, his on-court salary alone would top $500 million. He made 19 All-Star appearances, setting Abdul-Jabbar’s record. If he plays in the game on February 19 in Salt Lake City, he will set a record for the number of matches.
Others may have been so good. It’s always an argument. But no one has ever been so good for so long. James — a two-time Miami champion, 2016 Cleveland champion, and 2020 Lakers champion — is averaging 30 points per game in his 20th season; only three other players have averaged over 10 points per game this deep in their careers, and none of them have averaged more than Bryant’s 17.6 in his 20th and final season.
“I never said, ‘It’s good if I play this long and average it out,'” James said. “I have never done this with anything in my career. I have always said, “If it happens, it will happen.”
It happened.
Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News
texasstandard.news contributed to this report.