The Los Angeles Lakers may have lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but the night will be remembered as the game LeBron James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
Throughout the game, the crowd swelled every time James touched the ball and scored. A countdown to the record was displayed on the television broadcast and at Crypto.com Arena so the basketball world could count down as James marched toward history.
After the game, James reflected on the moment and admitted it was hard for him to believe it was real in an interview with Lakers legend James Worthy on Spectrum SportsNet:
“Man, we always said we was L.A. too when we was growing up but we were lower Akron and now we’re here in Los Angeles. But I’m just a kid from Akron, Ohio, small city. To be able to make it out of the situation I made out of, coming from a single-parent household, only child, the adversities and the things me and my mother went through when we were younger…it still doesn’t feel real for me to be at this position, be at this point in my life but I give it all back to ’em. They right over there center court, my family. I got my boys here from high school. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
James was emotional after breaking the record and made sure to thank his family for helping him achieve such a feat:
“I’ve sacrificed a lot and the most thing that I’ve sacrificed that is very tough is sacrificing time with my family. Time away from my kids, time away from my wife, my mom, etc. etc. And the best thing they gave me was the ability to do that and to tell me, ‘Don’t worry about us. Go get your goals, go work on your journey, go the things that you wanna do in life. We’re here for you.’ It takes a lot, man. It takes a lot of dedication, a lot of things that you wanna do that you can’t do because you wanna be as great as you can be. You wanna be the greatest to ever play the game or be ranked up there with some of the greatest to ever play. You lose out on a lot of fun, but I’m a disciplined guy and I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.”
The King has every right to celebrate such a momentous accomplishment as he’s poured in over 20 years of hard work and dedication to his craft. His family has been there along every step of the way, and it must be exciting for he and them as he continues to make more history in his illustrious career.
LeBron James believes Lakers can win championship as currently constructed
While becoming the all-time scoring leader is amazing, James remains singularly focused on winning more NBA titles. With the NBA trade deadline less than two days away, the Lakers need to make moves to improve the roster though James believes they’re capable of winning it all as currently constructed should they remain healthy.
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