While the Los Angeles Lakers were blown out by the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night, that didn’t stop LeBron James from setting yet another NBA record. In perhaps his most impressive feat yet, James became the first player in NBA history to record 10,000 career points, rebounds, and assists.
He did so by securing his 10,000th assist on Sunday night, to go along with 10,150 rebounds and 36,824 total points. This type of career production is unprecedented as it is, but it’s even more impressive that these records are being set by someone in their 19th season at age 37 by a player who is still arguably in the top 3-5 in the league.
Following the loss to the Suns, James spoke about what a record like this means to him. “My teammates congratulated me after the game, my mom texted me, I believe she hit me at halftime, I saw it after the game. I get a loss for words anytime things like this happen to me just knowing where I come from,” James said.
“I automatically just start thinking about my hometown of Akron and my upbringing and where I come from. The dreams that I had of being in this league and playing at the highest level, and to now stand out in a statistical category in this league that I’ve really modeled my game after, being able to score, rebound and assist.
“So to sit alone on that stat is pretty I want to say cool, but then it doesn’t quite make sense to me,” said James of the feat. “But it’s an honor to be a part of this league and no matter what is going on in the season, you try to take the victories that happen throughout the course of a long marathon and tonight is one of them for not only myself, but for my hometown and for my family and friends.”
The Lakers are undoubtedly having a difficult season, perhaps one of their most frustrating as a franchise. However, what James is doing on a nightly basis cannot be ignored, and it’s giving fans something to be excited about each night that the Lakers play.
Title contention is likely out of reach by this point, but it remains important to sit back and admire what James is doing because it’s unlikely we’ll see it again any time soon.
James discusses Lakers’ mentality issues
The Lakers were very rarely within striking distance during a 29-point loss to the Suns, and it spoke to a larger point about the Lakers’ game-to-game mentality this season, as James discussed. “I think when we get down, we’ve lost so many games that we feel like we can’t get out of the hole at times.
“Teams go on a 12-0 run or 9-1 run, tonight we were up 8-2 and then they went on a quick run after that, I don’t even know the run it was, but they just started blitzing us after that and we just, as a collective unit, we haven’t been in the foxhole enough to be able to say ‘OK, we can get out of this.’ It’s something that’s hurt us all throughout the season.”
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