LeBron James Makes History, Breaks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA Scoring Record
HISTORY.
With this bucket, LeBron James moves past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer! pic.twitter.com/N6V5RxPe6r
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 8, 2023
Love him or hate him, he’s simply the best. LeBron James is officially the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. With a fadeaway jumper late in the third quarter, LeBron passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most points logged in league history.
He celebrated by raising his arms high toward the ceiling of the sold-out Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Entering the game, James needed 36 points to overtake Abdul-Jabbar, which is not a guarantee on any given night.
But you could tell James wanted to lock it down at home in Los Angeles, so he put on a show and managed to hit 36 before the fourth quarter. He ended with 38 points, but more importantly, he now has 38,390 points throughout his career, which is three better than Kareem’s 38,387 record, which stood for nearly 40 years.
As the game came to a stop to celebrate the special night, James broke down in tears.
I write ‘The Man In The Arena’ on my shoe every single night from Theodore Roosevelt. Tonight, I actually felt like I was sitting on top of the arena when that shot went in, and the roar from the crowd. I’m not sure if I would be able to feel that feeling again, unless it’s a game-winning Finals shot. Everything just stopped. It gave me an opportunity to embrace it and look around and seeing my family, the fans, my friends. It was pretty cool. I probably can count on my hands how many times I have cried in 20 years, either in happiness or in defeat. So that moment was one of them when I kind of teared up a little bit.
In total, the game was stopped for around 10 minutes while James hugged his family, including his wife, mother and three children. Kareem was also in the arena, and he and James did a little passing of the torch ceremony with NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
It was a special night for everyone in the building, well, maybe everyone except Anthony Davis. LeBron’s teammate was captured sitting down when James made the shot. He seemed entirely unimpressed, even as everyone around him stood up and celebrated.
Had this DM’ed to me. Can’t help but wonder what was up with AD tonight. pic.twitter.com/zTruSPcqSk
— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) February 8, 2023
…damn. That’s gonna be an awkward conversation.
