It was in a loss that it happened, but that doesn’t take away from the immensity of the accomplishment LeBron James achieved that night. In the match between the Lakers and the Warriors, the King scored 26 points and therefore hoisted his place at the top of a new all-time ranking… and not the most discreet that exists: it’s now official, nobody scored as many points as LeBron in NBA history, regular season and playoffs combined.
There it is, there it is.
Its good.
He hasn’t yet the record, which is that of the regular season belonging to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but it is only a matter of time. And LeBron’s career could end tomorrow that an extraordinary record would already be in his possession in the category get buckets, since the books were changed this Saturday. Indeed, since his arrival in the NBA in 2003, James had accumulated huge regular seasons with the big Playoffs. It wasn’t either one or the other, it was one and the other. No ring constantly at the end, but a certainty that has accompanied a whole generation of enthusiasts or simple observers: from October to June, from the 2000s to the 2010s or 2020s, when we start a basketball season with LeBron we will score points galore from start to finish. Matches, and more matches, and more matches, putting a strain on this exceptional body that seems to resist the laws of aging. Minutes, and more minutes, and more minutes, pushing LeBron to ridicule the standards imposed on athletes of any generation. What we’ve known for months now is that it’s only a matter of time for LeBron (36,552 career points) to overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points) in the standings. of the best scorers in NBA regular season history. And this record is the one that everyone is aiming for, that no one seems to be able to touch. Why ? Because the League mainly highlights the exploits achieved from October to April, therefore in the regular season, rather than in the Playoffs. In the Playoffs, we don’t face all the NBA teams, whereas in the regular season, we do. It is therefore a legendary meeting that will take place in a very short time, when LeBron will have passed Karl Malone and will pass KAJ in regular season scoring.
However, even if it takes him six months, twelve months, twenty-five months if he wants, LeBron already has the possibility of claiming that he has put more points than anyone in NBA history. Why ? Because in addition to his 36,552 points scored in the regular season, James planted 7,631 in the Playoffs. Which makes him, cumulatively, the most prolific all-time man in the art of putting the ball in the basket.
LeBron James has passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time scoring leader (regular season & playoffs).
◻️ LeBron – 44,152
◻️ Kareem – 44,149???? @Lakerspic.twitter.com/XB8KolCiFi
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 13, 2022
Here is this famous classification, when we combine the regular season with the Playoffs.
- 1️⃣ LeBron James : 44,157 points
- 2️⃣ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar : 44,149
- 3️⃣ Karl Malone : 41,689
- 4️⃣ Kobe Bryant : 39,283
- 5️⃣ Michael Jordan : 38,279
- 6️⃣ Dirk Nowitzki : 35,223
- 7️⃣ Wilt Chamberlain : 35,026
- 8️⃣ Shaquille O’Neal : 33,846
- 9️⃣ Tim Duncan : 31,668
- ???? Hakeem Olajuwon : 30,701
The King’s longevity allows him to put all of the game’s greatest legends in the rearview mirror, with Malone and Abdul-Jabbar among the stalwarts in the long-lived category. What’s worse for them and the competition is that LeBron doesn’t seem to be slowing down as he’s in one of his biggest offensive seasons of his career…as he’s soon entering his 20th pro season. . Like many things in the course offered by LBJ since 2003, this has not any sense. There’s no athlete to compare him to, and there’s no perspective to look at. And if he continued to play like this for another 3-4 years? What if he was going to hit his 40,000 points in the regular season and 8,000 points in the Playoffs? And if he was going to distance KAJ from close… by 5000 points in the end? No, it’s too much, and at the same time this is the kind of dimension in which LeBron invites us, a human being whose true Plutonian origin will certainly be discovered in a few years.
Today, only Kevin Durant seems to be able to talk a bit, but somehow it’s already too late with the winger’s known injuries. By combining regular season and playoffs? KD hasn’t scratched 30,000 career points yet… Which would mean that he still has 15,000 points to put on us, when he is 33 years old and has just come back from one of the worst injuries in professional sport? Come on. No, in real life it will be necessary to follow the exploits of Luka Doncic, potentially Giannis, and other boys of the genre, to try to join even the 35K club, by combining Playoffs and regular season. So imagine the 45K club, which LeBron will whistle open in a few weeks…
The real crowning moment, the moment that will be unforgettable, will be in a few months with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar exceeded in scoring in the regular season, a record that seemed untouchable for eternity. At this moment ? We can say it, it’s good, that’s it: the best scorer in the history of the regular season, the best scorer in the history of the Playoffs, and therefore the large NBA all-time leading scorer is LeBron James. Not bad for a guy who thinks first and foremost about passing…
