LeBron James didn’t need any more accolades to cement his place as one of the all-time NBA greats, but he added one anyway on Tuesday night when he scored his 38,388th career point, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the league’s all-time leading scorer.
James broke the record in Tuesday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. With time winding down in the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers star dropped a fadeaway jumper from the top of the key and sent the Los Angeles crowd into a frenzy as Kareem looked on.
LEBRON JAMES IS THE NBA'S ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER! 🏀👑 pic.twitter.com/1CuvF2Awhe
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) February 8, 2023
While there was still a quarter left to play, the game stopped so that James could be honored and have a chance to share his thoughts with the fans. Share his thoughts he did, briefly forgetting to keep things PG.
"Fuck, man, thank you guys."- LeBron James 🏀👑😂 pic.twitter.com/NP3xLlEL5q
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 8, 2023
Hey, you know what, if you break the all-time league scoring record, you get to use the F-word on national TV. Fair enough.
The celebration also included a nice moment where Jabbar literally handed the ball off to James.
Kareem & LeBron pic.twitter.com/nDaAvjQAbd
— ✶ Ⓜ️𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 ▶️ ✶ (@_MarcusD3_) February 8, 2023
James is one of only seven NBA players to score 30,000 career points and was the youngest in league history to do so. The 38-year-old James is also averaging 30 points per game this season, so it doesn’t appear that he’ll be slowing down anytime soon in padding that record.
For the record, not everyone was a fan of the F-bomb. Then again, would Skip Bayless have been a fan of literally anything LeBron did tonight?
Great acceptance speech by LeBron … but could've done without the concluding f-bomb, even though it summed up his overwhelmed emotion.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) February 8, 2023
