LeBron James now ranks second on the NBA all-time scoring list as he surpassed Karl Malone's total career points on Saturday night as the LA Lakers played against the Washington Wizards.
The 37-year old basketball superstar is not less than 1,500 points from becoming the league's all-time scoring leader, which is now being held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the Lakers' superstars during the team's "Showtime" era in the 1980s.
Abdul-Jabbar holds a total of 38,387 points in his career, 1,459 points more than Malone, who also played for the Lakers in his last NBA season in 2004.
Midway through the second quarter, James tied Malone after hitting 8-of-12 from the field. He then took a ball from Stanley Johnson and made a layup to pass Malone's record, earning applause from the Wizards' fans as per Yahoo! Sports.
James finished the game with 38 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists but the Lakers lost the game. Now he has a total of 36,947 career points.
He said, however, in an interview reported by CBS Sports that he will not dwell so much on his latest achievement.
"I've always just played the game the way I've been playing it over the years, and these things have just happened organically by just going out and just playing the game the right way," he said. "Trying to win every game, playing the right way, playing for your teammates and things of that nature."
Close To Becoming The GOAT
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) March 20, 2022
James, who entered the league in 2003 at 18 years old, is expected to reach the record set by Abdul-Jabbar before retiring. Entering his recent game, he already made more than 1,500 points this season, his 19th in his NBA career.
The other players who have surpassed the 30,000 points mark in their careers are Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Wilt Chamberlain.
After the game, Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns posted on social media an appreciation for his close friend's latest accomplishment, ClutchPoints reported. While former teammate Kevin Love congratulated James, and event went far implicating that the Lakers superstar is the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) by putting goat emojis on his post.
According to former NBA champion Isiah Thomas, per Sportskeeda report, when "King James" passes Kareem-Abdul Jabbar for the most points scored in NBA history, that claim will carry even more weight.
Last month, former Detroit Pistons point guard Isiah Thomas argued that James is on track to be considered as the greatest basketball player of all time.
In his guesting in ESPN's First Take, the two-time NBA champ said that when James passes Kareem's scoring record "you have to anoint him as the GOAT."
Thomas predicted that when LeBron retires, "he is the only player in the history of our game that will probably be ranked top-ten or top-five in every statistical category." Thomas said. "Never been done before."
Great Achievement, Losing Effort
Meanwhile, sports commentator Skip Bayless tweeted his congratulations for LeBron James' feat, which he called "19-year longevity achievement."
Later on, he blasted James when the Lakers, with Russel Westbrook and Melo Anthony, lost to the "29-40 Wizards without Bradly Beal AND [Kyle] Kuzma." The final score: 119-127.
"Good Lord, LeBron, act like you're upset that you just blew a game to the Wizards. Nope. All you care about now is scoring achievements. You certainly wanted no part of defending Porzingis, which was your responsibility in the 4th quarter," Bayless posted on Twitter.
As of present writing, the LA Lakers are 9th seed in the Western Conference, with 30 wins and 41 loses.
