Another day in the NBA and another milestone for Lebron James. In the 4th quarter of the Cavs 107-100 victory over the 76ers, Lebron hit a vicious alley-oop dunk with 8:07 left in the game.
To people who are unaware it seemed like just another shot James hit to help put a dagger in the Sixers, but to those of us in the know, we realized that was his 25,001th point. What we are to believe is so remarkable about that feat is that James became the youngest player to ever hit that milestone, doing 209 days faster than Kobe Bryant, who used to hold the record.
James also got to that milestone faster than all but three players in NBA history (Kareem Abdul Jabbar 26 games faster, Michael Jordan 133 games faster, and Wilt Chamberlain who did it in an amazing 224 games faster than James, and just two games faster than Oscar Robertson).
Now don’t get me wrong, having the longevity and talent to reach 25,000 points is an incredible feat, but being named the youngest player to do it is kind of disingenuous. Why you ask? Because other than Kobe (who he beat), and Kevin Garnett, no other player in NBA history that has scored at least 25,000 points went directly from high school to the NBA.
So of course, he would be among the youngest to ever do something like that.
Guys like Kareem, MJ, Wilt, Jerry West, Karl Malone, Shaq, Tim Duncan and Hakeem all didn’t enter the NBA until they were at least 2 years older than Lebron. So the fact that he did it at a younger age than all of them is no shock, nor is it a big deal.
It is much more impressive that he was the 4th fastest in NBA history to reach that level. But again, it goes to show that as good as LBJ is, he is not the greatest thing since sliced bread, which is something that ESPN and all LeBron apologists would have you believe.
So instead of giving him accolades for something that would have been almost impossible for Kareem to accomplish considering he was at UCLA for four years earning a degree, let’s put it on a level playing field.
Doing that, we see his true place in history is 4th, not number one as they would want you to believe. So while it is correct to applaud James for all he has done, let’s also put it in the correct perspective, and wait for the next milestone.