Los Angeles Lakers Forward LeBron James made history on Thursday night at the Staples Center. During Thursday's matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, James scored his 35,000th point. By doing so, he became the third player in NBA history to reach this milestone. Making it more impressive, he did it in 28 fewer games than the league's all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He is also three years younger than when Abdul-Jabbar reached the 35,000 point mark.
James is now closing in on one of the league's most coveted records, the all-time scoring title. James is 3,387 points behind the all-time leader, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. If James is able to average 25 points moving forward, he should break the record in the 2022-2023 regular season.
Unfortunately, James reached this milestone in a losing effort. Without Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroeder, the Lakers fell to the Brooklyn Nets in a 109-98 loss. The Lakers are currently moving toward the 2021 NBA All-Star Game without Davis and looking to maintain their spot among the top three in the western conference. Without their all-pro center, the Lakers will play on national television five times over the next two weeks. Adding to concern, four of these five high-profile matchups will be against playoff teams within their conference. In order to keep things afloat, the reigning NBA Finals MVP is calling on his teammates to collectively pick up their production in place of Davis.
“We’re not expecting one person to try to pick up AD’s productivity,” James said.
“Nobody is going to be able to do that, he just brings too much to the table. We all can do more. We all can collectively do more and that’s our job.”
James and the Lakers will have the opportunity to rebound from their blowout loss against the Nets on February 20 in Miami against the Heat.
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