KAJ 38,387

LBJ  38,164

This really is a remarkable accomplishment. What LBJ is doing at this phase in his career is unprecedented and defies any conventional trajectory.

8 minutes ago, bugatti said:

This really is a remarkable accomplishment. What LBJ is doing at this phase in his career is unprecedented and defies any conventional trajectory.

He’s doing stuff at 38 that few can do at 28. 

7 minutes ago, mcpapa said:

He’s doing stuff at 38 that few can do at 28. 

There are some people in life that are just physical freaks. And plus he has the capability of treating his body like a temple. Passing Kareem is more about attrition and longevity than anything else... and that is not meant as a shot against LBJ. It's remarkable.

Had he only had enough help through his career, LBJ would be the unquestioned GOAT. That is meant as a shot at LBJ. ?

Who cares. 

19 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Who cares. 

I mean.... this IS a significant achievement.  There can be a lot of explanations as to the why, and its importance may be overblown, but this is something a lot of people are going to care about and it is a big piece of LeBron's legacy.  Durant is the only other active player in the top 50 of career scoring with more PPG (27.3 to 27.2), and no one else is within even 2 PPG of Lebron and Durant.  There's a good chance this sticks for a long, long time - maybe always (though that'd be doubtful).

How many games did Kareem play in his career?

15 minutes ago, sportsfan41 said:

How many games did Kareem play in his career?

1,560 career regular season games. LeBron is at 1,403. Of course, LeBron has benefitted from the three point line. LeBron has averaged 2.6 PPG more. 

32 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

1,560 career regular season games. LeBron is at 1,403. Of course, LeBron has benefitted from the three point line. LeBron has averaged 2.6 PPG more. 

He has greatly benefited. If you count LeBron's three point makes as two point makes, he would still be about 2,500 short of the record and another season plus from threatening it. The ironic part about LeBron passing this record as a wing player is he is historically a below average shooter. I can't decide if that makes this all more or less impressive. Even this year, statistically for qualifying shooters he is dead last in three point percentage. He's also always been a below average FT shooter.

2 hours ago, DragonFire said:

1,560 career regular season games. LeBron is at 1,403. Of course, LeBron has benefitted from the three point line. LeBron has averaged 2.6 PPG more. 

 

1 hour ago, bugatti said:

He has greatly benefited. If you count LeBron's three point makes as two point makes, he would still be about 2,500 short of the record and another season plus from threatening it. The ironic part about LeBron passing this record as a wing player is he is historically a below average shooter. I can't decide if that makes this all more or less impressive. Even this year, statistically for qualifying shooters he is dead last in three point percentage. He's also always been a below average FT shooter.

LeBron has made 2,212 3pt FG. Kareem made 1. 

1 hour ago, TheDeuce said:

 

LeBron has made 2,212 3pt FG. Kareem made 1. 

If you converted every three that Lebron made into two pointers, he'd still average more than 1 PPG than Kareem has, and he'd still be third on the all-time scoring list, 2,435 points back (not reducing the one point additional Kareem got from three).  At the adjusted PPG rate for LeBron of 25.62 PPG, that means he'd pass Kareem in 95 games if scoring at that average.  In fact, that's actually lowballing what he's done last 1.5 seasons, because even if you converted his threes to twos, he'd be averaging 27.57 PPG, meaning he'd pass Kareem in 88 games at that average.  We're talking as long as he didn't suffer a debilitating injury, LeBron probably would've passed Kareem in another 1.5-2 seasons, tops.

Threes might be why LeBron is going to pass him now, but longevity would be the only reason Kareem is really ahead of him at this point. 

1 minute ago, DragonFire said:

If you converted every three that Lebron made into two pointers, he'd still average more than 1 PPG than Kareem has, and he'd still be third on the all-time scoring list, 2,435 points back (not reducing the one point additional Kareem got from three).  At the adjusted PPG rate for LeBron of 25.62 PPG, that means he'd pass Kareem in 95 games if scoring at that average.  In fact, that's actually lowballing what he's done last 1.5 seasons, because even if you converted his threes to twos, he'd be averaging 27.57 PPG, meaning he'd pass Kareem in 88 games at that average.  We're talking as long as he didn't suffer a debilitating injury, LeBron probably would've passed Kareem in another 1.5-2 seasons, tops.

Threes might be why LeBron is going to pass him now, but longevity would be the only reason Kareem is really ahead of him at this point. 

And longevity is the reason LeBron will pass him. That's what the stat ultimately shows: a high scoring average (obviously) + longevity. It is HIGHLY impressive. The crazy thing is Kareem was about 10 ppg in year 20. LeBron is trending towards averaging over 30. Granted, their ages do not compare as Kareem was forced to go to college. Who knows how long LBJ will hang around, but he can blow the record out of the water at the rate he is going... obviously health dependent, which the Chosen One has shown more nagging injuries of late.

5 minutes ago, bugatti said:

And longevity is the reason LeBron will pass him. That's what the stat ultimately shows: a high scoring average (obviously) + longevity. It is HIGHLY impressive. The crazy thing is Kareem was about 10 ppg in year 20. LeBron is trending towards averaging over 30. Granted, their ages do not compare as Kareem was forced to go to college. Who knows how long LBJ will hang around, but he can blow the record out of the water at the rate he is going... obviously health dependent, which the Chosen One has shown more nagging injuries of late.

Well certainly it requires longevity for anyone to achieve a record of this nature.  I'm just saying, while the threes are definitely the defining reason of why he is reaching it now, I want to make sure that doesn't get conflated with the notion that he wouldn't do it otherwise.  Kareem played a good deal more games than LeBron has, and if LeBron reaches the same amount of games, he'll be way past Kareem's total, and would have been without the three point line.

Now, the real truth of it all is that if Jordan hadn't given up multiple prime years, this wouldn't even be a discussion.

I agree with the others here that a big part of it is the longevity of the record and getting to come to the pros right outta high school but what I really find impressive about LeBron is not only is he going to be the all-time leading scorer but he is probably going to be top 5 in assists and possibly rebounding as well. 

1 hour ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

I agree with the others here that a big part of it is the longevity of the record and getting to come to the pros right outta high school but what I really find impressive about LeBron is not only is he going to be the all-time leading scorer but he is probably going to be top 5 in assists and possibly rebounding as well. 

The assists and rebounding are the more impressive stats here, but the points get the glamour.