Although the Los Angeles Lakers are suffering through a miserable season, LeBron James has been having himself a tremendous year.
Coming into Saturday’s game versus the Washington Wizards, he was averaging 29.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game. He has a real shot at winning the scoring title, which would be quite an accomplishment for a 37-year-old with tons of mileage like him.
Less than a week ago, he became the first player in NBA history to reach 30,000 points, 10,000 assists and 10,000 rebounds. Now, against the Wizards, James has surpassed Karl Malone to move into second place on the NBA’s career scoring list.
He did so by scoring 38 points on 16-of-29 shooting from the field, to go along with 10 rebounds and six assists.
The big moment came with 5;20 remaining in the second quarter when he made a layup to move past the Mailman.
Unfortunately, James’ latest accomplishment was shaded by the fact that his team fell apart in the final 14 minutes or so and fell to the Wizards, 127-119.
The sad part of James’ remarkable individual season is that plenty of people may not appreciate it given how terrible the Lakers have been as a team.
Next milestone: Overtaking the captain
The only man standing between James and the NBA all-time scoring record is its current holder, Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
James is now just 1,440 points shy of him, and if he manages to remain healthy the rest of this season and into next season, he would surpass him sometime in the middle of the 2022-23 campaign.
Abdul-Jabbar scored 38,387 points during his 20-year career, 14 of which came with the Purple and Gold. He overtook Wilt Chamberlain in 1984 to achieve the record.
When Abdul-Jabbar did so, longtime Lakers play-by-play commentator Chick Hearn said he thought no one would ever overtake him. Well, James is now nearing the cusp of doing what seemed unthinkable for decades.
Then again, James has been doing things that were previously unthinkable for nearly 20 years, and as long as he remains healthy and viable, he will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
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