In Saturday’s game against the Washington Wizards, LeBron James surpassed Karl Malone (36,928) for the most points scored in NBA regular-season history. The hunt for a historic record began last night as the Lakers leader scored 38 points in a game against his iconic team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is 1,402 points away. The Lakers will play 10 more games in the current regular season, and if LeBron stays healthy and at his current pace, he will become the record holder in the middle of next season – around the 42nd game.
Winning games is much more difficult for LeBron now than scoring points at a record pace – the win over Cleveland was only the Lakers’ second in their last six games. The team ranks ninth in the conference and already has no chance of making the playoffs directly — only through a play-in tournament.
That’s why the crowd in Los Angeles is greeting the new milestones in the legend’s career with modest applause – as if to be polite. When the Lakers lose to Washington by 20 points, a standing ovation is out of the question. And the strongest hugs on the court are not from teammates, but from rapper 2 Chainz.
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LeBron has already surpassed Abdul-Jabbar in total points (including playoffs) this season, but that moment went almost unnoticed amid the Lakers’ one-goal loss to the Golden State Warriors. Fans worry about the team’s immediate prospects and the padding of its leader’s stats is like a parallel competition.
Kobe Bryant’s final seasons with the hopeless Lakers were in a similar vein, but the Black Mamba who spent his entire career in Los Angeles was adored by fans unconditionally. LeBron has built a different career; he’s a conquistador. And outside of Ohio State (though things are complicated there, too, with the perception of the legend), he is loved for his trophies, his conquests and just the historic scale of his personality. But not just for being LeBron.
James probably won’t catch up to Jordan on championship rings or Abdul-Jabbar on regular season MVP titles. Chasing the scoring record is all King has left. Quite in the trend of American sports, where in another league Alexander Ovechkin is trying to catch up with Wayne Gretzky’s “eternal” record.
Abdul-Jabbar’s record has been held for nearly 38 years — when it was set, LeBron hadn’t even been born yet. But it will likely take him the same 20 seasons to score 38,388 points.
