LeBron James Plays Coy About His GOAT Status After Breaking NBA All-Time Scoring Record
It was just a mid-season February game, but for LeBron James (and perhaps, basketball in general), it was the night the LA Laker smashed the NBA's all-time points record. After a third quarter jumper sank the net, James officially racked up a total of 38,390 points in his 20-season NBA career. Passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time record — which was previously deemed unbeatable by many — James also beat the records of greats like Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, and Wilt Chamberlain. Furthermore, Sports Illustrated reported that James has more playoff points than any player in NBA history and is more than 11,000 regular season points ahead of any active NBA player. All that isn't even taking into account the fact that he's also the league's first active player to become a billionaire.
James' momentous achievement reignited the G.O.A.T. debate with fury. A Playmaker Twitter poll asked fans to choose between Jordan and James as the greatest of all time, retweeting for MJ and "liking" to vote for James. While each player had his share of advocates in the replies, some pointed out the fundamental issues of comparing the 38-year-old to his predecessors. "Anyone born after 2000 will say Lebron and everyone before that will say Jordan," one tweeted, adding that "pretty stats" can't fully account for a player's skill set.
Speaking about his latest accomplishment, King James kept it classy but confident when asked if he deemed himself the G.O.A.T.
LeBron James has always had a G.O.A.T. frame of mind
LeBron James skillfully dodged giving a direct opinion on his G.O.A.T. status after that record-smashing game. In a "Good Morning America" segment on February 8, Michael Strahan asked the Los Angeles Laker if his NBA all-time record "solidifies you as the greatest to ever to play the game of basketball." James responded, "I don't know if the record does. One thing I can tell you, Mike, is I've always prided myself on saying 'I want to be the greatest to ever play this game.'" Admitting that his new all-time points achievement was "mind-blowing," James elaborated that he has always played the game with the drive "to be the greatest of all time."
Similarly, during a post-game talk with Shaquille O'Neal, James laughed off the former's question as to whether or not he was now the G.O.A.T. of the NBA. "I'mma let everyone else decide that ... It's great barbershop talk," James said while chuckling. O'Neal was quick to press on jokingly, "I wanna hear you say it." James did concede to the retired NBA legend, "I'mma take myself against anybody that's played this game." The Ohio native explained that as long as he knows "what I bring to the table every single night," everyone is allowed to "have their favorite."