LeBron James is nine points away from reaching 40,000 points scored over his career in the regular season. After scoring 31 points against the Wizards last night, James opened up on what this accomplishment means to him.
“I can’t say no. Of course, no one has ever done it. For me to be in this position at this point of time in my career, I think it’s pretty cool. Does it sit at the top of things I’ve done in my career? No. Does it mean something? Of course. Absolutely. Why wouldn’t it? To be able to accomplish things among the greatest players in the league has been a dream of mine. To hit feats and milestones throughout my career, they all mean something to me. Obviously, there’s a pecking order with which ones come higher, but I would be lying to you if I said it means nothing.”
LeBron James (31 pts, 9 ast, 4 reb) on the win, Saturday's matchup against the Nuggets and what it'll mean to reach 40K career points. pic.twitter.com/fnloN4cgcT
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 1, 2024
His case for the greatest statistical scorer in league history is becoming unreachable, as James has already left the previous all-time scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the dust. He is expected to reach 40,000 in the Lakers’ next game against the Denver Nuggets. If he fails to reach 40,000 and scores less than 10 points, it’ll be the first time since 2006 that James failed to score double-digit points in a game.
LeBron could legitimately retire as the undisputed scoring leader in all of basketball, currently trailing Oscar Schmidt by 1,723 points (also including playoff points). If James can play a few more seasons, which he physically looks capable of, there will be no stopping LeBron from leaving a scoring legacy that may never be matched.
LeBron James Is Putting The Scoring Record Out Of Reach
LeBron is already 1,654 points ahead of Kareem in second place, the man who held the record before him when the world widely assumed it was unbreakable. But with James rewriting the concept of longevity and scoring increasing in the NBA, James blitzed through the record in his 20th season.
Players are playing longer seasons, but to reliably average over 25 points for over 20 seasons is a feat we may never see replicated. Former LeBron rival Kevin Garnett once said he thinks LeBron will retire with 41,000 points at least, which led to Paul Pierce joking James is aiming for 45,000.
“He gon’ finish with more than that. How many has he got now? Yeah, he gon’ end up with like 45,000.”
Even former teammate Shaquille O’Neal believes James is looking to add as many points to that record to ensure it’s never broken.
“He already has the most points, he passed Kareem, and he wants to take it to a place where the record will never be broken for the next 60 to 70 years. I know exactly what he’s doing.”
High-volume young scorers in the NBA like Luka Doncic could theoretically surpass LeBron one day, but Doncic has made it clear repeatedly that he has no interest in playing that long. It seems James will leave the scoring record at such a place that the next person to break it would have to be one of the greatest the league has ever seen.
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