There has never been a more dominate offensive talent in the history of league. LeBron James has officially broken the great Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s 40-year scoring record with his 38-point performance last night against the Thunder, cementing his legacy as the best offensive player in NBA history.
I really mean it when I say that LeBron James is the greatest offensive talent the sport of basketball has ever seen.
Already one of the greatest passers of the ball in the game as he ranks 4th all-time in assists (10,354), King James has now secured the title as the greatest scorer the game has ever seen by surpassing the insurmountable 38,387 points tally Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set when he finished his career in 1988. It’s truly astonishing that a single player can have the all-time scoring record and be a Top-4 assist-maker in a sport that essentially dictates a player to be one or the other.
I mean, there’s a reason why John Stockton, the all-time assist leader, is not even in the Top-50 scorers in NBA history, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the former all-time leading scorer, is not in the Top-40 assist-makers. Normally, you are either a scorer and demand the basketball on every possession, or you’re a provider and set-up the scorers on your team. For LeBron James to be outstanding in both is a testament to how great, dominating, and unique a talent he truly is.
Now, I don’t want to get into the silly Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James G.O.A.T. debate as, in my humble opinion, it’s just ridiculous to compare two players of two very different eras.
You wouldn’t compare the best passer of the football between Tom Brady and Johnny Unitas or the greatest goal scorer between Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin (or at least you shouldn’t) as these players played in entirely different times where the rules, opinions, achievements, and viewpoints on what makes a “G.O.A.T.” in a field were completely different. So why is there a constant, relentless comparison between Jordan and James?
I get it’s a little different for the James vs. Jordan debate as their eras almost crossed paths (unlike the players I listed above), but they still had different rules and expectations to abide by and live up to. Therefore, it’s only fair to match LeBron’s career against his peers, and there can be no debate that he’s the very, very best of his era.
Obviously, he didn’t need this scoring title to earn that recognition, but it certainly cements it. There may be players who surpass King James in scoring or assists in the future, but I have a very hard time believing anyone will ever be able to achieve Top-4 status in both playmaking and scoring in one career. Such an achievement is only possible by the rarest and most precious of talents, which perfectly categorizes the greatness of LeBron James.
It’s unfortunate that his Lakers couldn’t pull their own weight as the Lakers ended up losing 133-130 to the Thunder in what had to be the most star-studded game in Staples Cen-oh, wait, Crypto.com Center (what a stupid name) since the COVID pandemic as A-list celebrities like Denzel Washington, Jay-Z, Usher, Floyd Mayweather, LL Cool J, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bad Bunny, Phil Knight, Shannon Sharpe, etc. were all in the building and the Lakers couldn’t even beat the lowly Thunder?
It’s nice LeBron was able to break the record, but there’s no way the Lakers are breaking into the playoffs with performances like that.
Still, watching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar “pass the torch” by handing the game basketball to LeBron James in the middle of the court after James’ record-breaking fade away was one of the best NBA moments I’ve ever seen.
So, in closing, congratulations, LeBron James. Through hard work and dedication to you craft, you have earned this phenomenal achievement that will go down forever in history.
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