It’s about to happen. LeBron James is on course to overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA points record, which means the torch will therefore pass from one member of the Los Angeles Lakers to another.
James is 35 points off Abdul-Jabbar’s total of 38,387. The record could fall as early as Tuesday when the Lakers host the Oklahoma City Thunder, or Thursday in Los Angeles against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Will this record be broken again?
Maybe, but not anytime soon.
James is set to eclipse the 40,000 points mark next season and is also under contract for one more season thereafter. And even then, there’s no guarantee he won’t continue playing; he’s said multiple times that he’d like to stay in the NBA long enough for his son, LeBron James Jr. – more commonly known as ‘Bronny’ – to make it to the league, which won’t happen until 2024-25 at most early.
The closest active player currently to LeBron James in the NBA is Kevin Durant, with the Brooklyn Nets, who has 26,684 points. Durant would probably have to play at least six or seven more seasons just to catch up with Abdul-Jabbar’s mark – and who knows how high James will raise the bar by then.
So unless the NBA adds a 10-point shot, the record won’t be broken for a long, long time.
How did James get to this point?
James entered the NBA right out of high school; Abdul-Jabbar had to have a college career before he could join the league. James was 18 when he scored his first NBA points; Abdul-Jabbar was 22 years old.
It took Abdul-Jabbar 20 seasons to reach 38,387 points. James will catch up with him in his 20th season as well.
LeBron James has been able to stay consistent, especially through the first three quarters of his career. He missed just 71 games in his first 15 seasons. Since joining the Lakers 4 and a half seasons ago, he has missed almost 100 games. However, he always avoided serious injury; some of it is down to luck, but a lot of it is down to the fact that he would invest over a million dollars a year in caring for his body.
Is he the best of all time?
LeBron James can very well be considered the greatest of all time, due to his longevity on the court, his accomplishments, and also the fact that no one in NBA history has been so hard to stop in more than 20 years. But other legends are also in the conversation, such as Abdul-Jabbar, with his points record, and his signature shot, the ‘sky hook’. Six-time championship winner Michael Jordan is one of the greatest athletes in sports history. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, who is the most prolific three-pointer in history, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and many more.
In the end, the answer to the debate about who is the greatest player of all time is that there is not just one, but many. And at this level, it’s more a matter of personal opinion.
