LeBron James broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38-year-long record on Tuesday night when he became the NBA’s all-time scoring leader. Abdul-Jabbar was in attendance for the game and even passed the “baton” by handing James the basketball in the on-court celebration.
On Wednesday, the 75-year-old posted his thoughts about James breaking his record on his personal Sub Stack, sharing his excitement and appreciation for James breaking his almost four-decade-long record. He also spent a few paragraphs talking about how he and James don’t have a close relationship, something the current Lakers star has harped on in the past. The Lakers legend admitted he “blames” himself for the lack of a relationship.
“LeBron said we don’t have a relationship. He’s right—and for that I blame myself,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “Not for anything I did, but perhaps for not making more of an effort to reach out to him. By nature I have never been a chummy, reaching-out kind of guy (as the media was always quick to point out). ... For the past 15 years my focus has been less on forming new relationships than on nurturing my old friendships with people like Magic, Michael Cooper, Jerry West, and so on.”
