Could LeBron James ever surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in scoring?

“The King” and “The Goat.” Both are names for the current best player in the NBA, LeBron James. He has always been under the spotlight, regardless of whether he was in Cleveland, Miami, or now in Los Angeles.

LeBron Raymone James Sr. was born on December 30, 1984, in Akron, Ohio. He attended the local high school St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, where he got noticed by countless NBA scouts. Straight after high school he signed a contract of approximately $90 million with Nike. In 2004 James entered the league as a rookie, launching his legendary career. He held numerous “youngest to” distinctions, specifically youngest player to score 1000, 2000, 3000, and all the way up to 31000 career points. He was also the youngest player to win the all-star MVP, defeating same year rookie Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and MVP players Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal.

After completing his rookie year, James was able to average at least 25.3 points per game every season. “LeBron James can get a shot off under any circumstances, and he makes them,” commented Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the best scorers in the NBA history and the current leader of the NBA all-time scoring list. On November 16 James displayed enormous strength by scoring 44 points in a game against the Portland Trailblazers, passing Wilt Chamberlain in the top 5 NBA all-time scoring list. He is currently only less than 1000 points away from Michael Jordan who is 4th in NBA all-time scoring list. If James maintains his current status of averaging 28.6 points a game, he will be able to surpass Jordan in the NBA all-time scoring list in less than 26 games. The game where James exceeds Jordan will be a classic recorded in history, just like the game when Kobe surpassed Jordan in the NBA all-time scoring list on December 15, 2014, against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

James is also considered a player with superhuman resilience. Throughout his 16 years in the NBA, James played at least 62 games each season, but he has never gotten a career-threatening injury before. On March 19, the Cavilers led by LeBron James went to Portland to play the Trail Blazers. During the game, James’ ankles turned 90 degrees in an accident. He went off the court, massaged his ankle for a minute, and then came back on the court and dominated the game. Other 33-year-old players would at least be out for the month. This is only one example of his superhuman recovery abilities during his 16 seasons in the NBA. With this resilience, there is no doubt that James could play until 40. If he can play an average of 60 games a season until he is 40, he only has to average 16.3 points to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to be the leader of the NBA all-time scoring list. Therefore there is a considerable chance that LeBron James could be the leader of the NBA all-time scoring list.

Featured Image – LeBron James dominating the game in Utah against the Jazz Courtesy of Andrew D. Bernstein

by Andy Kim