’34 years.’ LeBron James (LA Lakers) rewrote NBA history. He finally broke the NBA all-time scoring record.
On the 8th (Korean time), James became the protagonist with the most points in his personal career in a home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2022-23 season NBA regular season held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, USA.
He threw a fade away shot in front of the goal with 10.9 seconds left before the end of the third quarter, and the ball went through the rim. It was the 36th point James posted that day, and he reached 38,388 points in his personal career.
James had 38,352 points up until the game, and it was highly likely that he would surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), who had held the top spot in NBA career scoring for 34 years. The game was paused when James broke Abdul-Jabbar’s record.
James hugged his family. Abdul-Jabbar, who visited the 스포츠토토court himself, delivered the game ball to James on this day and congratulated the ‘junior’ for breaking the record. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also acknowledged the achievement, and James shed tears of emotion.
James said, “I am grateful to all the people who have been running with me for the past 20 years. I was able to come this far with their sacrifice and passion,” and said, “There will never be a better day than today.” He became the main character of the record, but James could not laugh at the game that day.
The Lakers lost to Oklahoma City 130-133. James added two points in the final fourth quarter to score 38 points on the day and increase his career scoring tally to 38,390. The Lakers went 25-30 and ranked 13th in the Western Conference, while Oklahoma City finished 11th with 26-28.
Born in 1984, James was considered a top prospect while attending St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, and was selected by his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft as a high school graduate. He played for Cleveland from 2003-0 to 2009-10 and wore a Miami Heat uniform from 2010-11 to 2013-14.
He returned to Cleveland for the 2014-15 season and played through the 2017-18 season. He started his relationship with the Lakers from the 2018-19 season. He won four NBA championship games in his personal career through last season.
He was also selected as the best player (MVP) in the regular league four times, including the championship match. Abdul-Jabbar is one of the ‘legends’ that symbolizes the NBA as a tall center.
His real name was Ferdinand Liu Al Cinder Jr., but he changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after converting to Islam. Abdul-Jabbar was drafted 1st overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1969 NBA Draft out of UCLA.
He played for Milwaukee from 1969-70 to 1974-75 and wore a Lakers uniform from 1975-76 to 1988-89. Abdul-Jabbar won the championship game once in Milwaukee and lifted the championship trophy five times after moving to the Lakers.
Playing with Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Michael Cooper, and Brian Scott at the Lakers, he formed a rival team and dynasty representing the NBA with the Boston Celtics, which included Larry Bird, Kevin McHhehill, Dennis Johnson, and Robert Parish at the time.
James set the same record as Abdul-Jabbar in his 20th season, but faster in terms of the number of games played. James surpassed Abdul-Jabbar (1560 games) in 1410 games.