Kareem Abdul-Jabbar “Thrilled” LeBron James Broke His Scoring Record On Tuesday Night
Lebron #Lebron
With LeBron James becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on Tuesday night, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talked about what LeBron passing him for first on this list means.
A record that many thought would never be broken, LeBron James did the improbable on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 career points mark and becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
Now in his 20th season in the NBA, James continues to stake his claim as the greatest player of all-time and what he has been able to accomplish in his career is simply unimaginable.
There were a ton of celebrities and former basketball greats in attendance for Tuesday’s Los Angeles Lakers game, but none of them stood out more than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar himself, who was there to watch James make history.
Everyone is always excited and thrilled to see records in sports broken… Well, everyone but the record holder usually!
This was not the case with Kareem though, as the NBA legend seemed extremely proud of the moment and he had no problem passing the title of the league’s greatest scorer to James.
“It’s as if I won a billion dollars in a lottery and 39 years later someone won two billion dollars,” Kareem wrote in a post published on his Substack. “How would I feel? Grateful that I won and happy that the next person also won. His winning in no way affects my winning.”
When Abdul-Jabbar played from 1969-89, basketball was a completely different sport than it is now. I mean, just look at the fact that teams are shooting three-pointers in excess now where Kareem made just one three-pointer his entire career and it came in a game where on four total threes were made!
As new eras of talent are ushered in, new ways of playing the game come to light and for LeBron James, what he has been able to achieve in his career should not take away from what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was able to achieve, both on- and off-the-court.
“It means someone has pushed the boundaries of what we thought was possible to a whole new level,” Kareem wrote in regards to why major sports records being broken should be celebrated. “And when one person climbs higher than the last person, we all feel like we are capable of being more.”
LeBron James is now the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,390 career points and counting. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar may no longer hold this record, but he will never be forgotten, as you cannot tell a story of the league’s history without mentioning the great Kareem.
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