NOTBA record holder LeBron James he was told he didn’t deserve a statue of the Los Angeles Lakers although he entered uncharted territory as a basketball player.
“The King” became the first player in NBA history of exceeding 40,000 points in his career with his harvest during the 124-114 defeat against the Denver Nuggets SATURDAY.
LeBron James silenced Stephen A Smith by confronting him before scoring 40,000
James needed just nine points to reach that milestone and he did so with consummate ease in the second quarter, finishing the game with 26 points, nine assists and four rebounds.
With this feat, James is the only player in NBA history to reach 40,000 points, 10,000 assists and 11,000 rebounds, meaning he practically averaged a triple-double throughout his career.
That’s before including his record as a four-time NBA champion and being named MVP as many times. While Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson are often considered basketball’s greatest of all time, James now needs to be included in that conversation.
Many fans and experts, including ESPN commentator Kendrick Perkinsbelieve the 39-year-old deserves to have a statue outside the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
“I mean, get ready to start looking for the LeBron statue outside the Crypto.com arena. That’s it, okay?” Perk said recently.
However, the former Washington Wizards player and three-time NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas don’t think he did enough with the Lakers to merit a statue being built in his honor.
“If his career ended now, definitely not,” Arenas said in an interview on the ‘Nightcap’ podcast with Shannon Sharpe.
In the form of his life
It’s fair to say that at 39 years old, LeBron can’t be expected to produce the same level of performance he did a decade ago. But age-wise, no one has been more influential in NBA history.
Averaging 25.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game, while shooting 40.8% from three-point range, James remains an important player.
He also completed the biggest comeback of his 21-season NBA career in a 116-112 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers recently, where he scored more points in the fourth quarter (19) than the entire opposing team (16).
However, the Lakers have had a bad season and currently sit in 10th place in the Western Conference, and with their last title coming in 2020, LeBron may need to rally his teammates if he wants that statue anytime soon.
