LeBron James does not run out of challenges. After winning everything in the NBA (four rings, four MVP’s, four MVP’s of the Finals…) the 38-year-old forward still has fire left in his body to continue making history. And the new challenge before him is once again huge: to be the all-time leading scorer in the NBA.
How many points does LeBron need to break the record?
117 so many. That is the distance you have left for match the mark (38,387 points) of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. A record that seemed unattainable since the pivot retired in 1989, but which in the hands of LeBron (38,270 right now) has remained as an earthly brand, which has a short time to live.
When will LeBron surpass Jabbar
When will LeBron surpass Jabbar? There are two dates marked on the NBA calendar. On one side is on February 7, the game that the Los Angeles Lakers host the Oklahoma City Thunder. If ‘King’ James maintains his scoring average this season (30.2 points per game) he will barely need four more games to surpass the legendary center.
Nevertheless, The date that seems to be the favorite in the bookmakers is February 9 with the game that the Lakers will play in Los Angeles against the Milwaukee Bucks. It would be five games that the forward would need, maintaining the scoring average of his entire career: 27.2 points.
The schedule that the Lakers have left before the games in which LeBron James can become the leading scorer in NBA history are the visits to Brooklyn, New York, Indiana and New Orleans before returning to Los Angeles where, presumably, LeBron will break a new record in his 20-year career in the NBA.
The leading scorers in NBA history
When LeBron gets past Jabbar, he will become the seventh player in history to hold the title of all-time leading scorer. A race in which the first big name is Joe Fulks, player of the Philadelphia Warriors, and who was the first top scorer in the league and who led the NBA until 1952.
At that moment George Mikan, the first big star of the leaguetook the crown from him and kept it until 1958, when he entered the scene Dolph Schayes, player for the Syracuse Nationals and that he was the best scorer in the NBA for six years until he was surpassed by Bob Pettit in 1964.
In 1966 the NBA record man appeared Wilt Chamberlain and pulverized Pettit’s record, being the league’s leading scorer for nearly 20 seasonsuntil in 1984 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar received an assist from Magic Johnson and set a record which has remained in his possession for 39 years. Just until another ‘laker’ has claimed the throne for the best scorer in history.
