Chris Paul made some predictions about LeBron James six years ago that seemed crazy at the time. But incredibly, he was right about everything he said.
Speaking to Fox Sports Ohio in February 2018, Paul said James would become the all-time scoring leader and reach 40,000 career points.
“This will be Bron’s 15th season, and he’s already hitting 30,000 (points),” Paul said at the time. “And he shows no signs of slowing down, so I mean, congrats to him, but we gon’ be saying this again when he gettin’ to 40 (thousand points). Just remember I said that. He gon’ get somewhere up there (on the all-time scoring list). I think he’ll be No. 1 by the time it’s all said and done.”
That might not seem like such a crazy thing to say now that it’s actually happened, but it was a pretty big call to make six years ago.
Back then, reaching 40,000 career points was pure fantasy. Even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who invented a new and unstoppable move to dominate the league for 21 years, eventually maxed out at 38,387 career points. Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 points in a season and still finished his career with “only” 31,419 points. It seemed for all money as though 40,000 points would be impossible.
But Chris Paul was in a better position than most to predict James’ future. The two legends of the game are longtime friends and also played together at two Olympics, so Paul has not only witnessed James’ greatness during games but also the level of work he puts in behind the scenes.
Now we just need to ask Paul for an updated prediction for the rest of LeBron’s career. It would be no surprise if he got that right too.