Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James recently reached a milestone never before seen in NBA history by reaching 40,000 career points. Less than a year after becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer by passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he raised the bar by achieving a point total that could become the standard for unattainability in league rewards.
Players throughout recent history have sung their praises for James, from current teammates like D’Angelo Russell to legends like Magic Johnson. And former teammate and one of James’ best friends, Carmelo Anthony, joined in the praise with his own comment on how historic the 40,000 points were.
Anthony spoke about James reaching that threshold and if he thinks he can ever be reached again in NBA history, via the 7 p.m. podcast in Brooklyn:
“First of all, 40km is crazy,” Anthony said. “40,000 is crazy. We will never see this. Nobody gets that $40,000. [Passing] Kareem was crazy, but 40,000 is different. So I hope people don’t ignore it…I think we should really cherish these moments. We are so quick to move on to the next topic, the next headline, and the next story. But we must cherish these moments. 40K is crazy.
For decades, Abdul-Jabbar’s points record was considered untouchable. But then James came along and redefined what was possible for an NBA player. 21 years of sustained dominance have allowed him to become a record holder in all types of categories, creating a new standard of greatness for future generations.
Anthony’s other major point was that in addition to his untouchable track record, it reminds us to cherish what James is doing with his career. The NBA has never seen anyone like James, and it becomes easy to take him for granted when he has established such a routine of dominance for over two decades.
Anthony reminds the NBA public to celebrate his accomplishments as he nears the end of what is perhaps the greatest career in sports history.
LeBron James discusses others’ potential to reach 40,000
This feat raises the question of whether another player will reach 40,000 points, which is difficult to say due to the surplus of offensive talent in the league at the moment. When asked about this, James really had no idea but believes that anything is possible.
“I have no idea,” James said. “Obviously you have to play the game for a good amount of time and get lucky when it comes to injuries and things of that nature. You must take care of your body. You have to be present on the ground. And then you also have to be productive. Obviously, we have a lot of good guys in our league who can score the ball, and if they stayed healthy and played long, then they could eclipse him.
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