LeBron James entered tonight’s season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves on the verge of becoming the NBA’s all-time leader in shot misses, trailing six behind Kobe Bryant. That record now belongs to LeBron, as he put up his sixth miss in the game and all-time miss No. 14,882 on a transition layup in the third quarter, a bucket that once would have been an easy guarantee for James in his prime.
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LeBron hasn’t been the No. 1 option for the Los Angeles Lakers in the game over the Timberwolves through the first three quarters. He’s put up just eight points on 4-10 shooting as the Lakers enter the fourth quarter with an 82-74 lead over the Timberwolves.
The fact that James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer two seasons ago and has tied Vince Carter for most seasons played in the NBA with tonight’s appearance, it’s surprising that LeBron didn’t own this record sooner.
Kobe Bryant missed 14,481 shots in his career primarily due to his high-volume and high-usage style of play. He averaged 25.0 points per game over his career and retired with 33,643 total points, good enough for fourth on the all-time list. Kobe’s shot selection wasn’t a major impediment to his team’s success over his career as the lifelong Laker won five championships with the franchise.
LeBron played 146 more games than Bryant and scored more points overall, but the nature of his offensive game compared to Kobe’s tough mid-range style likely caused the discrepancy. James was a downhill player for most of his career and is one of the most efficient inside scorers of the last 20 years despite being a wing who is now taking more jump shots than ever.
When you score a lot, you’re going to miss a lot, which is why the two names atop this list are arguably two of the greatest scorers in NBA history, with both ranking top-five in all-time scoring.
James will likely add a whole lot more misses to his tally before the end of his career, but if his offensive impact allows the Lakers to win more games, he won’t mind it.
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