What LeBron passing Kareem means to NBA, greatest debate

It has happened. LeBron James finally has passed KareemAbdul-Jabbar for the NBA’s career scoring record, the torch gettingpassed from one member of the Los Angeles Lakers to another.

The record-breaker came Tuesday, when James scored 38 points topush his career total to 38,390 — three more than Abdul-Jabbar.

Here’s the significance of James passing Abdul-Jabbar:

WILL THIS RECORD BE BROKEN AGAIN?

Perhaps, but no time soon.

James is on pace to eclipse the 40,000-point mark next seasonand is under contract for one more season after that as well. Andeven then there’s no guarantee that he won’t continue playing; hehas said many times he would like to stay in the NBA long enoughfor his son, LeBron James Jr. — he goes by “Bronny” — to get to theleague, something that won’t happen until 2024-25 at theearliest.

The closest player currently in the NBA to James on the all-timelist is Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, who has 26,684 points. Durantwould probably have to play at least another six or seven seasonsjust to catch Abdul-Jabbar’s mark — and who knows how far Jameswill raise the bar by then.

Philadelphia’s James Harden and the Lakers’ Russell Westbrookare just over 24,000 points apiece. Both of them are all-timegreats, but they’re not going to catch James.

Dallas’ Luka Doncic is averaging 27.4 points per game so far inhis career. But for as great as Doncic is, he’ll need to averagethat many points for another 14 seasons or so before he gets to the38,000-point mark.

So unless the NBA adds a 10-point shot, the record won’t bebroken for a very, very, very long time.

HOW DID JAMES GET TO THIS POINT?

James entered the NBA straight out of high school; Abdul-Jabbarhad a college career before he was eligible to join the league.James was 18 when he scored his first NBA points; Abdul-Jabbar was22.

It took Abdul-Jabbar 20 seasons to get to 38,387. James caughthim in his 20th season.

James has been durable, especially over the first three-quartersof his career. He missed only 71 games in his first 15 seasons.Since joining the Lakers 4-1/2 seasons ago, he has missed nearly100 games. But he has always avoided major injury; part of that isjust good luck, but much of it is because he reportedly investsmore than $1 million annually on his body.

For almost the entirety of James’ career, keeping The King fithas fallen on the shoulders of Mike Mancias, one of themost-trusted members of James’ inner circle. Mancias never wantsany credit for his work; he shuns limelight the way James blowspast defenders. But in 2019, when James was revealed as TheAssociated Press’ male athlete of the decade for the 2010′s,Mancias shed a tiny bit of light on James’ work ethic.

“He does whatever it takes when it comes to fulfilling hiscommitments to everything,” Mancias said, “especially his game andhis craft.”

DIDN’T JAMES BREAK THE RECORD LAST YEAR?

Official NBA records are based solely on regular season games.Playoff games are in their own category. That’s why the record, foralmost 39 years now, was Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387 points. But whenadding postseason games to that total, Abdul-Jabbar actuallyretired with 44,149 points.

And that’s the figure James — again, when adding in his playoffpoints — eclipsed on Feb. 12, 2022, in a Lakers loss against theGolden State Warriors. So while that is “a” record, it’s not “the”record.

DOES THIS SETTLE THE ‘GOAT’ DEBATE?

For those unfamiliar with the acronym, ‘GOAT’ is shorthand forGreatest Of All Time.

James may very well be the GOAT, based on his longevity, hisaccomplishments, how no one in NBA history has been so hard to stopfor 20 years and counting. Abdul-Jabbar should be in theconversation as well; his sky hook — a one-handed shot releasedhigh over his head, impossible for any defender to stop without theuse of a stepladder — is one of the most dominant weaponsbasketball has ever seen.

Michael Jordan won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bullson his way to becoming a global icon and might have been thegreatest competitor in the sport’s history. Golden State’s StephenCurry is the most prolific 3-point shooter the game has ever seenand still going strong. The Lakers’ Magic Johnson and Boston’sLarry Bird had a rivalry that brought them both multiplechampionships and might have saved the NBA in the 1980′s. SanAntonio’s Tim Duncan spent nearly two decades in the league and wasmaybe the most fundamentally solid player ever.

Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game and once averaged50 for an entire season. Kobe Bryant had an 81-point game, finishedwith five championships and spent years being simply unstoppable.And Bill Russell won 11 championships with the Boston Celtics.

This record doesn’t even settle the debate on greatest scorerever. James is passing Abdul-Jabbar for the most points — butJordan still averaged the most, his 30.12 per game pace over theentirety of his career ranking just ahead of Chamberlain’s 30.07.James averages around 27 per game; Abdul-Jabbar averaged around25.

The answer to the GOAT debate is there isn’t one. There aremany. Personal preference prevails.