Basketball

“Oh look, LeBron James is chasing another individual milestone”: The Lakers superstar needs to play 3 out of the next 7 games to secure his 2nd scoring title

Jeet Pukhrambam
|PublishedMar 31, 2022

"Oh look, LeBron James is chasing another individual milestone": The Lakers superstar needs to play 3 out of the next 7 games to secure his 2nd scoring title

LeBron James is on the verge of adding yet another individual award to his trophy cabinet. But wait, there’s a catch.

The King is a statistical anomaly. His longevity is unmatched and yet, with just four championships to his name, has he done enough?

While that question is subjective, his statistical prowess is not. James is closing in on his second scoring title, in year 19. Now that is unheard of.

Despite the praiseworthy achievement, it begs the question, why is his scoring ability not pushing the Lakers to the top? How are the Lakers sitting 1 game behind the 9th seed and just half a game adrift of the 11th seed?

Also read: “LeBron James averages the highest PPG for a Laker since Kobe Bryant”: A closer look into the King’s epic month of March

LeBron James needs to play just three more games to secure the scoring title

LBJ is averaging 30 points a game this season. He is leading Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid by just 0.2 ppg.

At 37, that is a baffling achievement by itself. Yet, he is still under the criteria of the minimum games to win the scoring title.

The NBA requires players to play a minimum of 58. LeBron has played 55.

LeBron is leading the league in scoring but as it stands he is not eligible to win it.

At 55 games, he needs to play at least 3 more games to meet the NBA’s criteria of 58 games.

The Lakers have 7 games remaining and he’s already ruled out Thursday. pic.twitter.com/pJHOMHQ2cA

— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 30, 2022

Will the King maintain his scoring average across three more games? Will he eclipse it? It’s all to play for.

The important question here is will he lead the Lakers to victory and secure the Play-in tournament? It would be disappointing, to say the least, if the King were to win a scoring title and not make the playoffs.

The last time that happened? Russell Westbrook in 2014-15, who is now LeBron’s teammate. Premonition? We hope not.

About the author

Jeet Pukhrambam

Jeet Pukhrambam is The SportsRush's Lead Editor for Basketball. After freelancing for five years as an independent writer, Jeet created thousands of blog posts and articles. He now covers intriguing news reports and throwback stories on all things NBA. His interest in NBA started with the ascendancy of Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 2016-17 season. Since then, Jeet has managed to coalesce his knowledge of the game and his writing to create pieces that are reflective of the current state of the league. Now, he ensures that The SportsRush produces the highest quality of writing. In his free time, he enjoys playing football, cooking, traveling, and dancing to techno. Jeet takes pride in his critical thinking, music playlists, and his love for spaghetti.