“I can truthfully say that I'm jealous of that feat" - Shaquille O'Neal reveals he is jealous of LeBron James, wanted to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record
Shaquille O'Neal was very honest about his feelings about LeBron James ultimately passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA's all-time scoring record. O'Neal is jealous of James because he wanted to break Abdul-Jabbar's record during his career.
O'Neal was a guest on the most recent episode of the "Impaulsive" podcast with Logan Paul, Mike Majlak and George Janko. The Hall of Fame center discussed a variety of topics and answered interesting questions. One of those topics was James ultimately becoming the NBA's all-time leading scorer this upcoming season.
"People look at stats, right?" O'Neal said. "His stats are definitely going to be up there. To have passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I can truthfully say that I'm jealous of that feat."
What LeBron James needs to average according to games played in order to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA's All-time scoring list:
20.0 PPG across 67 games played
25.0 PPG across 53 games played
30.0 PPG across 45 games played
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Shaquille O'Neal finished his career with 28,596 points, which currently sits eighth in league history. O'Neal averaged more than 20 points per game in the first 14 seasons of his career. His scoring dipped after winning his fourth championship as injuries hampered him during the twilight of his career.
Meanwhile, LeBron James needs just 1,325 points to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record. James will need to average 20 points in 67 games to achieve the feat. He's been prone to injuries over the past several seasons, but remains a force when healthy.
James is entering the 20th season of his career. He will not just look to become the all-time leading scorer, but also help the LA Lakers become contenders.
James also has the chance to become the only player to score 40,000 points. He's expected to play at least until the 2024-25 season when his son Bronny James enters the league. There's also the possibility for James to further extend his career and play with Bryce James in 2026.
Shaquille O'Neal wanted to pass Wilt Chamberlain on the all-time scoring list
Shaquille O'Neal and Wilt Chamberlain are considered two of the most dominant players ever. O'Neal said on the podcast that he wanted to pass Chamberlain on the all-time scoring list to call himself the most dominant big man ever.
However, O'Neal came up short in his quest to pass "The Big Dipper," which opened up the debate about being dominant. Despite failing to achieve his goal, Shaq likes that his name is mentioned alongside Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
"I was like 1,500 points behind Wilt Chamberlain," O'Neal said. "I wanted to pass up Wilt Chamberlain. Because I was going to arrogantly say, 'I'm the most dominant ever and I don't wanna hear anybody else's name.' Now, when you talk about most dominant, you bring Wilt, Bill and Shaq, it's cool."