by LOS ANGELES – The king has now become the king of scoring.
Ever since LeBron James graced the cover of Sports Illustrated as a teenager, so much has been expected of him. He was expected to lead teams to championships, to become an MVP and a global icon.
Surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer was a bridge too far, even among all the accolades James has garnered during his two-decade reign under the NBA’s incandescent spotlight. His four MVPs trail Bill Russell, Michael Jordan (five each), and Abdul-Jabbar (six) for the singles individual championship honor, and many players of different eras have multiple championships – with Stephen Curry matching James with four rings with the Golden State The Warriors’ last title in June.
But it stands alone at the top of the score list. With a step back late in the third quarter Tuesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder, James took his place in history.
Abdul-Jabbar went down and worked his way up to 38,387 points, outscoring Wilt Chamberlain in 1984 with a sky hook down the right wing against the Utah Jazz, then putting the record nearly out of reach before his retirement in 1989.
James has no such move and is falsely labeled “not a scorer,” but managed, with devastating consistency, to reclaim the title — looking down on Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant and Jordan in the top five of all- tempo markers.
Chasing the score became more of a focus even as James entered what should be his twilight. Though he’s led the league in scoring average just once (2008), two of his four best have come in a Laker uniform: He’s hovering around 30 points a game this season and averaging 30 ,3 in 56 games in 2021-22.
Surprisingly enough, he averages higher as a Laker than he did when he was a much younger man. In his first stint in Cleveland, he was almost a reluctant scorer, but his high volume meant he would go a long way. In Miami, he was the most complete and devastating version of himself, adding efficiency and becoming an excellent 3-point shooter. During his second stint in Cleveland, he found himself mixing the two roles, depending on his teammates and, at times, his mood or desire to take over.
His gifts have always been undeniable and he has rightly honored them as he is still an impact player at the age of 38.
But his ability to see trends and adapt to them has been underestimated, perhaps. When he entered the NBA in 2003 as an 18-year-old on opening night, the league was still in the grind phase, when teams scoring 100 points were a fight and cause for celebration.
James traded his growing physical strengths and advanced skills to compensate for his natural scoring ability, and he evolved naturally just as the league opened things up to make room for him and teammate (later, teammate team) Dwyane Wade.
Too big, too strong, and essentially too big for almost any player or team to handle. His greatness has lived on, aided by his hand at team building, as the NBA has moved faster than at any point in its nearly 80-year existence.
The league emphasized post-up play and direct-to-the-basket pick-and-roll as James began his career, aided by mid-range jump shooters who dominated the top of the scoring charts. James has never been as insatiable as Allen Iverson (the 2005 scoring champ) or Bryant, who led the league in scoring a couple of times. Nor was James a clinical scorer like Kevin Durant, who won the season title three times in four years.
But he always found himself in the top five, hungry enough to eat with the best while also wearing a distributor’s clothes. After his rookie season and going into his 14th, James never finished outside the top five in scoring average.
His passing ability and desire to make the right play have been his long-standing reputation, but James found ways to manipulate his game to still have a heavy footprint in the score column.
It was no coincidence that he landed at this spot at this point in his career, especially when goal-scoring exploded and teams fell deeply in love with 3-point shooting. Images of James passing shots late in the game are vastly exaggerated: often, him shooting the last shot, first shot and much in between is the best possible result for the teams he played for.
Ray Allen’s shot in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals is considered one of the greatest in league history, and certainly in recent history. But the way the ball bounced off Allen was because James missed a game-tying 3-pointer on the inbound pass—not as a way to criticize James but to illustrate his willingness to play a game. a seriesbe won or lost on his shoulders.
Even though Chris Bosh was spotting Allen heading back to right corner, James could be seen cheering, pointing to another chance in history.
We are in the Curry era of flu. The score has increased across the board and there are no signs of slowing down. Last season, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Trae Young and DeMar DeRozan were the top five scorers – different tastes each and certainly a different brand than when James entered the league.
His greatness has transcended and endured over time. While James doesn’t fully indoctrinate himself into whatever trend the league is running, he does assimilate just enough to ride the wave.
He is consistent with all the big scorers. Jordan became the top midrange shooter during the hand control era after starting his career as a relentless driver all the way to the rim. Bryant has honed his game over the course of his career, probably because he’s never been the athlete of the caliber of Jordan or James.
Malone became an excellent elbow shooter after starting him as a pick-and-roll master with John Stockton: emphasis on roll with his muscular frame.
To some extent, James follows.
The only thing that has remained consistent is that James found a way to get to the basket or put the ball there. He won’t rank on anyone’s individual list in terms of a certain aesthetic, perhaps with the exception of being a devastating finisher on the rim, especially during his athletic prime.
His place at the top of the scores list won’t change anyone’s opinion of him and where he is on an all-time list, whether he is believed to be the greatest ever or somewhere behind the likes of Jordan or Abdul-Jabbar, or whoever.
The only thing that is indisputable: James said that a more heartfelt record could not be surpassed.
