Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James surpassed a huge milestone for Team USA on Wednesday against South Sudan. While he only scored 12 points in the group stage victory, it was enough to get him to 300 career points for Team USA. That makes him the third player in United States Olympic history to reach that point total, joining Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony.
In James’ fourth Olympics, it was expected that he was going to achieve this milestone and cement himself as one of the great players in United States history at this event. But James has always been about team accomplishments over his own, and that hasn’t changed in the Olympics compared to the NBA.
While he called it an honor to have his name next to other all-time greats, none of it matters for James without the gold medal at the end of the tournament, according to Aris Barkas of Euro Hoops:
“Oh, not much,” James said when asked what that milestone meant to him. “I mean, at the end of the day, I just want to, you know, win. I mean, I’m here to win and win the gold, and that’s my only mindset. It’s not even about scoring, it’s not about any of the stats, all the stats that pretty much don’t show up, you know, closing out, you know, getting, you know, hockey assists if possible, just stopping guys from crashing the glass. So it’s definitely an honor any time you hear your name in it, in any type of record books, but at the end of the day I’m here for a bigger picture, for sure.”
The United States is heavily favored to win the gold medal in Paris, and have already clinched their place in the quarterfinals after defeating South Sudan in the group stage. Not including Puerto Rico’s matchup on Saturday, James is three wins away from collecting his third gold — and fourth overall — medal at the Olympics.
If he does so, he might then celebrate the personal accomplishment of reaching 300 points. But until then, he remains focused on the team over himself.
LeBron James chooses track and field as other Olympic sport
LeBron James is regarded by many to be one of, if not the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. But the Lakers superstar is also one of the greatest athletes period this world has ever seen.
The Olympic Games bring together the world’s best from around the world, allowing many to witness true greatness in many different disciplines. And it often begs the question of which of these athletes could also be great at other sports.
For LeBron, that choice was an easy one. In an interview with NBC, he listed track & field, in particular the 4×100 relay, as the other Olympic sport he would want to participate in other than basketball.
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