Jackson McCarty
For a record that has been marked as “unbreakable” for just over two decades, it has been captured by another all-time great. On February 7th, 2023 Lebron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
The NBA’s swiss army knife took a 14-foot fadeaway that would cause Crypto.com arena to erupt, send a packed arena into cheers, and the King into tears. It felt as if the play was in slow motion; there was so much anticipation from the entire world.
Lebron is the only player to be top-ten in points and top-ten in assists in NBA history. To put it in perspective of how impressive that is, there is nobody that is top-ten in points that is in the top-30 in assists and there is nobody that is top-ten in assists that is in the top-40 for points (NBA.com.)
Lebron needed 36 points in the matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder to surpass Kareem, and people were placing their bets on whether he would do it that night or two nights later in a passing-the-torch type of situation against the two-time MVP and NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo who many believe will take over the NBA following James’ retirement.
Even with all the anticipation of when he wanted to break the record, Lebron had 20 points at halftime with just 16 to go in a tight game it seemed inevitable that he broke the record. The King did not disappoint with a dominant 16-point third quarter to solidify his status as a top-three player of all time.
James now has arguably the most impressive career from start to finish ever, with the most pressure ever placed on an athlete as an 18-year-old he has surpassed any expectations that were set and done even more. Now being 38 he has collected an impressive plethora of NBA records that don’t seem to be broken anytime soon.
Lebron has been quoted that one of his last goals in his playing career is to play with his son Bronny James who is a senior at Sierra Canyon in California. The minimum amount of years that leaves is two for that to happen while the max is five years but Bronny would have to do four years of school for that to be the case, which is unlikely.
It seems Father Time has nothing on Lebron James as he has averaged 30 points in the past two seasons. Hopefully, we can be graced with his greatness for a couple more years and appreciate him while he is here. It is easy to say that Lebron has astounded us NBA fans for 20-plus seasons and I am excited to see what he has left in the tank.
