Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James recently reached a never-before-seen milestone in NBA history when he reached 40,000 career points. Less than one year after becoming the NBA’s all time leading scorer by passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he raised the bar by reaching a point total that may become the standard for unreachability in league awards.
Players from all throughout recent history sang 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 in Carmelo Anthony joined in on the praise with his own commentary on the historic nature of 40,000 points.
Anthony spoke about James reaching that threshold and if he believes it can ever be reached again in NBA history, via the 7 PM in Brooklyn podcast:
“First of all, 40K is crazy,” Anthony said. “40K is crazy. We will never see that. No one is touching that 40K. [Passing] Kareem was crazy, but 40,000 is different. So I hope people are not overlooking it… I think we should really cherish these moments. We are so quick to move on to the next topic and the next headline and the next story. But we gotta cherish these moments. 40K is crazy.”
For decades, Abdul-Jabbar’s point record was seen as untouchable. But then James came around and redefined what was possible for an NBA player. 21 years of sustained dominance allowed him to become a record holder in all types of categories, and that creates a new standard of greatness for future generations.
Anthony’s other major point was that, in addition to his record being untouchable, it’s a reminder to cherish what James is doing with his career. The NBA has never seen anyone remotely like James, and it becomes easy to take it for granted when he has made such a routine of dominating for over two decades.
Anthony reminds the NBA public to celebrate his accomplishments as he nears the end of perhaps the greatest career in the history of the sport.
LeBron James discusses potential of others reaching 40,000
This accomplishment begs the question of if any other player will reach 40,000 points, which is hard to tell due to the surplus of offensive talent in the league right now. When asked about it, James truly had no idea but believes anything is possible.
“I have no idea,” James said. “Obviously you have to play the game for quite a while and have some good luck as far as injuries and things of that nature. You have to take care of your body. You have to be present on the floor. And then you have to be productive as well. Obviously, we have a lot of great guys in our league that can score the ball, and if they were to stay healthy and they were to play a long time, then they could eclipse it.”
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