The history of the NBA is vaunted because of the absolute superstar names that adorn the history books. One of the most incredible records that any player can hope to one day break is becoming the most prolific scorer in NBA history. For years, people have considered it unbreakable, as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 21-year career with incredible offensive numbers made people think the record will be his forever.
Over the last 2 seasons, it has become increasingly obvious that Kareem’s record will most likely be surpassed by LeBron James. LeBron had an incredible scoring season in 2021/22, as he ended up averaging over 30 points in Year 19 of his NBA career. LBJ needs to average just 16.2 points next season to break Kareem’s record by the end of the year.
LeBron is already entering record books for things that never seemed possible. Despite that, James received hate from fellow players as well as media members. Karl-Anthony Towns wasn’t going to wait to give LeBron his flowers, as he shared a tweet on what LBJ needed to average to become the scoring leader with the caption ‘appreciate greatness everyone’.
Appreciate Greatness Everyone 💐 https://t.co/jAkI2hhBGA
— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) July 26, 2022
LeBron is 1,325 points behind Kareem on the all-time scoring list and has already surpassed greats like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, while also passing Karl Malone, who was the previous number 2 on the list. Given LeBron has good health and can continue performing as he did last season, LBJ is going to break the record and extend it by continuing his career for the next few seasons.
Towns is right. We should appreciate what we are seeing from LeBron James, as it is truly unique. Some of the players we hold in high regard don’t even come close to breaking records like this. To see LeBron actually become the greatest scorer all-time will be a generational moment and one that fans and players alike should appreciate.
