Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has accomplished just about anything one player can in the NBA.
Through 19 years in the league, James has accumulated four NBA titles, four NBA Finals MVPs, four regular-season MVPs, 17 All-Star appearances and 13 All-NBA first-team selections among his accolades.
READ: Lakers’ LeBron James reacts to making NBA 75th Anniversary Team
And he is on pace to collect more achievements.
James is third in NBA history in total points scored with more than 35,000. He trails Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has 38,387 and Karl Malone, who has 36, 928.
If James surpasses both NBA legends, Shaquille O’Neal, an NBA and Lakers legend himself, said James would be the GOAT of the league, via Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times:
“He’s got four rings and he becomes the highest scorer in the NBA history. He’s the best ever,” O’Neal said. “Ain’t nothing you can say.
O’Neal said James can hit that goal in about two seasons:
“I know what he’s doing,” O’Neal said while eating some roast beef. “Championships are great, but he’s trying to pass Kareem up. That’s what he is doing. I know exactly what he’s doing. ‘Cause now if you pass Kareem up, it ain’t no talk about who the best player ever is. Think about that? I saw he needed to average (25) points or something like that the next few years, which he will do. He can do that in two more years.”
Here’s a closer look at the games needed for James to become No. 1, via Fox Sports:
If he stays healthy and continues to score an average of 27 points per game, he could surpass Malone in about 71 games and Abdul-Jabbar in 124. That means a healthy LeBron could hold the all-time scoring record within the next two seasons.
Through two games this season, James is already averaging 29.5 points. He’ll have to stay healthy to have a shot, though, because two of his last three seasons have been derailed with injuries.
James already boasts a resume arguably worth being deemed the NBA’s GOAT, but becoming the leading scorer in history would pad it even further.
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