With LeBron James set to overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time scoring record, people are finally starting to dwell on his positives.
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If there’s one player who’s epitomized sustained excellence for a long period of time in any sport, it’s King James. The 20-year veteran is still producing at a high level – arguably as a top 5 player in the NBA today.
James has achieved practically everything there is for a single player to win in terms of accolades. The one award missing from his trophy cabinet is the DPOY trophy, and he’s finished 2nd in that regard twice.
“I’m running past 21-year-olds, jumping higher than 23-year olds. I feel real good on how I’m playing the game… I’m just so much more sharper now at year 20 than I was at year 10, or even year 15.”
LeBron James on still playing at a high level at 38pic.twitter.com/qvWG7HeGsn
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) February 6, 2023
People have run out of things to falsely accuse him with at this stage of his career. And whether or not he’s universally loved, James is undoubtedly a Mount Rushmore guy if not the GOAT.
JJ Redick rants about the stupid narratives surrounding LeBron James
As always the voice of reason, JJ Redick recently uploaded a segment to his podcast ‘The Old Man and The Three’. This was regarding the media coverage about LeBron James through the course of his career.
JJ took aim at all those sensationalizing James’ perceived weaknesses, citing a bunch of statistics that telling prove his points:
“First Take last week had a segment. The question was ‘Is LeBron James an all-time scorer?’ It’s really interesting. I just want to point a couple of things out.”
“So LeBron James – we can talk about his longevity, and that’s part of the reason why he’s breaking this record. He’s got the 5th highest career scoring average in the NBA. Michael Jordan is #1 at 30.1, Wilt Chamberlain just behind him, 30.07.”
Here’s a classic @jj_redick rant, this time on the media narratives around LeBron James pic.twitter.com/173dYa8mGh
— TheOldMan&TheThree (@OldManAndThree) February 6, 2023
Redick went on to point out how bizarre the ‘LeBron is not clutch’ narrative is:
“The constant narrative about nitpicking things with LeBron, most of them are just not factual. ‘LeBron James is not clutch’, right? That’s another thing that people bring up all the time.”
“LeBron has the most clutch time points ever. He’s got over 2600. The only other player with over 2000 clutch time points is Kobe Bryant. LeBron has the second-most game-tying or game-winning shots in the final minute of 4th quarter or overtime.”
When will LeBron pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?
King James is 36 points shy of Kareem’s 38,387 points tally for the regular season. He’s eminently capable of getting those points in a single game – particularly against non-playoff opposition like the OKC Thunder.
However, if he doesn’t achieve the feat tonight, there is going to be no stopping him from getting the feat in 2 days against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Crypto.com Arena.
