For weeks and months this past season, fans and media alike were anticipating a monumental moment — the moment LeBron James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading career scorer.
As January and early February went by, the buzz grew over the inevitable moment, and finally, James needed just 36 points to achieve the record heading into Feb. 7’s contest versus the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Buy Lakers TicketsWith each basket and free throw he made, the cacophony grew toward a crescendo inside of Crypto.com Arena. Finally, with 10.9 seconds left, James hit a turnaround jumper to become the NBA’s all-time scoring king.
He had endured a painful foot ailment over the last few weeks to get to this point, and he had very little left in the tank that night. He scored only two points in the fourth quarter. He finished with 38 points, but, unfortunately, perhaps as a result of James being spent, the Lakers fell to Oklahoma City 133-130.
However, James had left his huge mark on the history books, and the following day, the Lakers pulled off a major trade to start getting him the help he had been begging for.
