LeBron James passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time scoring leader is already one of the most talked about topics in NBA circles, and we’re still a few years away from it actually happening.
It’s an undeniably fun topic, and now Abdul-Jabbar himself has weighed in.
“I’m excited to see it happen,” he said in an interview with Marc Stein. “I don’t see records as personal accomplishments, but more as human achievements. If one person can do something that’s never been done, that means we all have a shot at doing it.
“It’s a source of hope and inspiration. Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile back in 1954. Since then, not only have 1,400 runners beaten that time, but the new record is 17 seconds less. We all win when a record is broken and if LeBron breaks mine, I will be right there to cheer him on.”
As it stands, Abdul-Jabbar has 38,387 career points, while James is 3,020 points behind with 35,367.
That means if LeBron were to score 25 points per game and play 60 games per season on average, he would surpass Kareem in the first game of the 2023-24 season.
But if we adopt more conservative averages of 20 points per game and 50 games played per season based on the assumption James finally starts showing his age a little, he would surpass Abdul-Jabbar at the beginning of the 2024-25 season, aged 39.
Either way, there’s little doubt LeBron will get there, and he’ll have Kareem’s full support.