LeBron James might have done it all already to prove he is only comparable to the GOATs of the game. However, neither Michael Jordan nor Kobe Bryant ever faced the animosity James does when their names started getting included in these conversations.
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And Tracy McGrady, one of the greatest pure-scorers of the game, who has played against all three of them has been honest about his surprise at what James has gone on to achieve in his career.
The man even doubted The King to ever reach Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record just a few years back.
Tracy McGrady never believed LeBron James could beat Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attain NBA’s Top Scorer spot
McGrady has never shied away from putting his forward, as flagrant as might be to the audience. The man, who truly believes he deserved the 2003 MVP award over Tim Duncan, once stated his doubts about LeBron reaching Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record on the sets of ESPN.
Even Ramona Shelburne echoed his opinion at the time. Watch them getting it all wrong with Rachel Nichols back in the day.
Four years down the line, James did not just take over Kareem as a scorer, when considering total career points (regular season + playoff points), he is just 936 points behind him to take him over as the official top scorer of the league.
McGrady’s take wasn’t as absurd because James was in his 15th year in the league that season, and had avoided any serious injuries until then.
And so, it should have been coming anytime soon. But, to think that he wouldn’t get in any serious injury trouble for the next 4-5 years would have been a far reach at the time. But we are sorry, Tracy.
How James has been proving every doubter wrong since Day 1
Coming in as the #1 pick in 2003, ‘the Kid from Akron’, who was also the biggest basketball prodigy of all time, always had more than enough doubters throughout his career to make a 17-year-old lose his mind.
19 years, 18 All-Star appearances, 18 All-NBA selections, 4 NBA titles, 4 MVPs, 4 Finals MVPs, and several other accolades later, he has established himself as one of the GOATs of the game.
