LeBron James is most likely not going to be in the race for a championship this season. The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of roster improvement to do before LBJ can realistically hope to compete deep into the NBA Playoffs. LeBron has spent the better part of his career in the NBA Finals, so he needs things to motivate himself to get through the 82-game grind in Year 20.
Everybody knows that LeBron is chasing down Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer this season. Based on his 34-point performance in the season opener, LeBron hasn’t completely lost his scoring touch. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg, as LeBron has a lot of all-time lists to target this season.
Milestones that LeBron can hit along the way this season:
1st all-time in regular-season scoring
4th all-time in regular-season assists
8th all-time in steals
8th in 3PM all-time
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(via @TheAthletic) pic.twitter.com/mnEfWA9L1i
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 19, 2022
Being in the top 10 for 4 different all-time categories as a player in the modern era is quite insane. Scoring and assisting have been LeBron’s bread and butter for most of his career, so his high placement on those lists isn’t surprising. Longevity is key in this as LeBron is also on the steals and 3-pointers made list based on the sheer number of games LBJ has played in.
Is LeBron Stat-Padding For All-Time Records?
During the Lakers’ season opener loss to the Warriors, LeBron had a rough start. While James wasn’t able to hit his shots early, he did get his numbers in toward the end of the game. The Lakers were down 35 points in the game when LeBron had 19 points, ending the game with 34 as the Lakers failed to make a comeback.
Fans said that LBJ is staying in and ensuring that he can get his numbers up, which might have been the case considering the Lakers had already lost the game. Either way, these may be the final few seasons of his career and even if he’s playing longer to stat-pad, it might be the last time people in arenas across the country see LeBron play in the NBA.
