LeBron James created another incredible piece of NBA history on Saturday night when the King surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading NBA scorer. This record is for points in the regular season and playoffs combined, with Kareem still more than 1,000 points away in terms of the regular season record. In any case, this is a huge achievement for King James, who continues to build his case to be considered the greatest basketball player of all time.
It’s sort of fitting that LeBron managed to do it in a game against the Golden State Warriors, a team that has beaten him 3 times in the NBA Finals but also the one that he has his greatest achievement against. A healthy rivalry exists between LeBron and Golden State’s stars in Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, but Klay was the first to share his admiration for what LeBron has managed to do in his career during the post-game press conference.
Klay spoke about the greatness of LeBron James: pic.twitter.com/LIJmRyZ21h
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) February 13, 2022
“That’s unbelievable. I mean, Kareem, kinda feel for him because he had to play four years of collegial ball but that doesn’t take anything away from what LeBron did. That type of consistency and dedication to the game, only the greats have that in him and, you know, he is obviously one of the best to ever do it.”
“So, I don’t know how much longer he has, maybe it’s 2 years, 3, but NBA fans should just appreciate him while we are watching an amazing athlete.”
LeBron ultimately didn’t end up winning the game against the Warriors on the night, with his Lakers succumbing to a painfully close loss. That was in no small part thanks to Klay Thompson, who went nuclear in the 4th quarter, ending up with 33 points and truly announcing his return to the NBA after a lengthy absence.
While rivalries in the NBA are always fun, it’s great to see Thompson give LeBron his flowers while James is still playing at his peak. The King is averaging 29 points per game despite being in his 19th season in the league and it almost seems inevitable that he will break the regular-season scoring record as well. Love him or hate him, LeBron James is undoubtedly in the conversation as the greatest player of all time!
