The last couple of days have been quite eventful for the NBA, as well as for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. On February 7, 2023, LeBron James scored the 38,388th point of his regular-season NBA career. With a fadeaway jumper, LeBron skyrocketed past Kareem for the NBA’s All-Time Leading Scorer.
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With this bucket, LeBron broke an NBA record that had stood for nearly 39 years. Ahead of the game against the Milwaukee Bucks last night, the NBA chose to hold a ceremony for Bron as he became the #ScoringKing.
Kareem attended the ceremony as well. After the game ended, he was also a part of the media session, where he talked to the reporters for quite some time.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar chooses between sky-hook or jump shot
In today’s NBA, the three-point shot has become a necessary part of every team’s arsenal. So far this season, teams are averaging 34.1 threes a game. Making or missing threes often becomes the gap between winning or losing games. However, the case wasn’t the same when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was in the NBA.
In his 20-year NBA career, Kareem attempted a grand total of 18 threes. Out of those 18 attempts, the Cap only made one. Kareem’s career three-point attempts are barely half of what the teams attempt in a single game nowadays.
Talking about the same, a reporter asked Jabbar how he’d adapt to the current-day NBA, and whether he’d take Sky-Hooks as 3-pointers or regular jump shots.
Kareem replied and said,
“No I’d get as close to the basket and shoot a high-percentage shot. That’s the way to win a game as far as I know.”
Even though the game has moved forward, dominating in the paint is a skill that will never go out of style, and Kareem knows a thing or two about the same.
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How many more points would Kareem have had if he had attempted more threes?
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in an era of the NBA where the league-wide average of three-point attempts was less than seven threes a game. However, Kareem himself had never attempted three threes in a season.
Had the number been higher, and if Kareem actually made an effort to improve his three-point shooting, maybe the number Bron had to chase wouldn’t have been 38,387. It could have been even in the 40,000s.
