Dwayne Wade shares unique perspective on LeBron James breaking NBA records: “We're living in the LeBron James era of life”
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade will forever be linked to one another given their historic, albeit controversial, run with the Miami Heat. After James spent seven seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, carrying the team time and time again, he announced his move to Miami. The nationally televised announcement made headlines and nearly broke the internet.
Despite the outrage regarding James joining Wade and Chris Bosh, the Akron, Ohio, native continued to dominate the league in Miami. In four years, the Miami Heat's Big Three won two NBA championships before James returned to Cleveland. There, he made good on his promise to bring a championship to Cleveland, something he did in his second season back, in 2016.
After four years with the Cavaliers, James then announced his blockbuster signing with the LA Lakers for the 2018-19 season. Since then, James has been through the highest of highs and lowest of lows. From injuries holding him back to the team winning the infamous bubble championship in 2020, James now finds himself on the cusp of NBA history once more.
James just recently took one step further up the all-time assist leaderboard, now at No. 6, with 10,174. And with 37,592 points, he's inching closer and closer to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time regular season scoring record of 38,387. Wade spoke about the situation in an interview with Sports Illustrated:
"I think sometimes we're living in the LeBron James era of life, and we haven’t had the chance to step back and look at it just yet. And as we step back and look at it, it's going to get even better than it is right now with what he’s done."
Below you can view some of the two's highlights together.
Why Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record means more to LeBron James than the assists record
This season, LeBron James managed to pass Magic Johnson on the all-time assists leaders ladder (Magic had 10,141). With Mark Jackson ahead of him in fifth (10,334) and Steve Nash in fourth (10,335), it seems James is poised to enter the top five all-time assists leaders as well.
With how transparent James has been over the years in regards to his love for being a pass-first player, it's surprising to hear he wants the scoring record. According to Dwyane Wade, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record is the accolade James is really after.
"I’m not speaking for him when I say this, but I will speak as someone who spent a lot of time with him," Wade said. "He’s not a selfish individual on a basketball floor. But I feel that if there is one record that LeBron wants to walk away with more than the assist record, it would be the scoring record. And it’s because of what people say he cannot do"
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With James likely on a collision course with Abdul-Jabbar's record, Wade explained that he plans to be one of the first people to congratulate his friend. Currently, James is just 795 points behind Abdul-Jabbar, leading many to predict that he will break the record by the end of this season.
If James maintains his scoring average of 26.5 points per game, he will need 30 more games to catch Abdul-Jabbar.
Below, you can view a video from the NBA's YouTube feed of LeBron James' journey from 10th to second on the all-time scoring list.
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