LeBron James had a very disappointing start to his 2022-23 season with an absolutely horrid performance against the Sacramento Kings in the Lakers’ preseason opener. James ended up with 4 points, all scored through free throws, as he went 0-7 on his attempts the entire game. These stats don’t count in the history books, so it’s not like any points he scored would have counted towards his all-time points total.
James is set to surpass the all-time points leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar this season, a man with whom LeBron has a complicated history. While Kareem has recently been praiseful towards LeBron, he had criticized LeBron heavily during the 2021-22 season when James did the ‘big balls’ celebration.
LBJ was asked about his relationship with Kareem ahead of his final chase of the scoring record, to which LeBron coldly said that he has no thought or a relationship with Kareem.
LMFAOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/DR3YUm2qwh
— 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙎𝙝𝙪𝙗𝙝 ⁶𓅓 (@OVOLakeShow) October 4, 2022
This makes the day when James crosses Kareem’s all-time scoring mark even more interesting. Will KAJ attend the game and watch history be made, or is there going to be bitterness about it? Kareem has previously said he will be happy for LBJ when the record is broken.
The Recent History Between LeBron And Kareem
In April 2022, Kareem openly criticized LeBron for doing the ‘big balls’ celebration, something that received a lot of traction very quickly. In addition, Kareem also said LeBron should be ’embarrassed’ about some of his claims on social issues. He later apologized for the comments, but it seems LeBron hasn’t let it go.
On the question of breaking the all-time scoring record, LeBron has given Kareem his flowers and said it would be deeply humbling for him to surpass KAJ. This is the most obvious cold shoulder LeBron has ever given an NBA legend like Kareem, but the pair should be able to work it out if they get to meet in person.
LeBron needs to average just 16.2 points this season to surpass Kareem. Hopefully, he enjoys good health and can stay on the floor for long enough to break the historic record.
