"I don't think there's a guy in the league who has a chance" - Bill Simmons believes no current NBA player can break LeBron James' eventual scoring record
The Ringer's Bill Simmons believes there is no active player in the NBA who can catch LeBron James' eventual scoring record.
King James just surpassed Karl Malone for second on the all-time scoring leaderboard. He is on pace to dethrone Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's all-time scoring leader and is roughly half a regular-season away from eclipsing the coveted record. James is still averaging prime numbers and it doesn't look like he is going to slow down anytime soon.
Bill Simmons discussed James passing Malone on his podcast, "The Bill Simmons Podcast," and entertained the idea of a current NBA player who can surpass James' eventual record.
"I think LeBron is going to be really tough to catch..I don't think there's a guy in the league who has a chance at whatever total LeBron's gonna end up with."
Two NBA legends.
LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stand at the top of the all-time scoring list 🙌 https://t.co/RGmpjzVCd6
Even at age 37, James is averaging 30 points per game, his highest tally in a season since 2007-08 when he was 23 years old. It doesn't look like he is anywhere near the end of his career.
The highest scoring average for a player in his age 37 season was previously 23.2 by Karl Malone. Kobe and Kareem were at 22 and 17, respectively while Tim Duncan was averaging 15 a game and Shaq was at just 12 a night. LeBron James is at 30 a game while shooting 52% from the field, his highest FG% in a Laker uniform.
One has to wonder when LeBron James will hang his sneakers and the number he will eventually leave the record at might be untouchable for several generations. Abdul-Jabbar's record was set in April 1989, 33 years ago, so we might have to wait another three decades or so to see a player who can possibly touch James' final record.
Ben had NBA reporter Ben Thompson as a guest and the two debated whether Giannis Antetokounmpo could possibly do it.
Is there a current NBA star not named LeBron who could hold the all time scoring record some day? https://t.co/ZeQOwfsZD1
Antetokounmpo is averaging nearly 30 points per game over the past three seasons and is in direct competition with LeBron James for this year's scoring title. However, the idea that he could eventually catch James' record might be far-fetched. As Simmons pointed out on the podcast,
"Interesting about Giannis with the points, so he's at 14,000 (points) at age 27. LeBron, after his age 27-season, was already at 19,000 points."
Also, Giannis Antetokounmpo averaged just 6.8 points per game in his rookie season and 12.7 a night in his sophomore year. To break an all-time record of this magnitude, one will have to average over 25 points a game consistently every season of his career for a very long time. James has never averaged less than 20 points per game and is a career 27-points-per-game scorer.
Additionally, James has played several seasons averaging heavy minutes, often playing over 37 minutes a game including four seasons where he played over 40 minutes a night. He has a career 38.2 minutes per game record, whereas Antetokunmpo averages 32 minutes per game in his career.
It doesn't look like there are any active NBA players, including Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, who could eventually surpass LeBron James.
When will LeBron James break the all-time scoring record?
LeBron James currently sits at 36,985 points, 1,402 points shy of Kareem's all-time scoring record (38,387). If we consider James' career scoring average of 27.1 points per game, he will need 52 games to eclipse that number.
The 52 game prediction doesn't count playoffs and preseason games as the record is solely a regular-season one. 52 games from today (March 24th) will be a game in mid-January 2023. If we consider the 2022-23 season commences in mid to late October like most seasons and James doesn't suffer any major injuries, we will likely witness history in late January or early February 2023.
Draymond Green said if the Warriors have a game the same day LeBron becomes the All-Time leading scorer
He’s skipping the Warriors game to attend LeBron’s game ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ #LakeShow https://t.co/v5YkdBHNMM
LeBron James' long-time friend Draymond Green publicly declared on his podcast that he would miss the Warriors game if it coincided with the day James is going to break the record. He addressed head coach Steve Kerr in his soliloquy and said that he is more interested in witnessing history.
"Steve Kerr, I’m throwing this out there right now. If LeBron James is passing the all-time scoring record and we have a game, I’m going to LeBron’s game and witness history. So, that’s what we’re doing coach Kerr."
As mentioned earlier, this will be a moment that we might not see for another few decades and when it finally arrives, very few can proudly say they were in the building when it happened. Green certainly wants to be one of them.