NBA Legend Jerry West Saw LeBron James’ Scoring Record Coming Before Anyone Else
When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, no one thought the record would be broken.
Then this kid from Akron, Ohio came along.
This season, Los Angeles Lakers’ star LeBron James stunned the basketball world by breaking the record. But it won’t stop there. With a total of 38,652 points on his resume, he’s still going after reportedly contemplating retirement.
On a recent episode of Paul George’s podcast Podcast P with Paul George, Lakers legend Jerry West was asked if he was surprised James broke the record. Unlike a lot of NBA pundits, he wasn’t at all.
“We are getting players that are uniquely sized who have unique skills,” West said. “I think he’s gotten better as a shooter, he competes his fanny off, he dominates a game, particularly when there’s an open court game. He’s gonna dominate. He knows what he’s doing. I’m a big fan.”
James, who spent four years with the Miami Heat and won back-to-back championships, wasn’t always this gifted scorer. In his early days with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he struggled with his jump shot and always preferred to pass the ball instead of shooting.
But when he joined the Heat, it all changed. In 2011, a video went viral of James in the gym with former player Hakeem Olajuwon, practicing his shooting and fadeaway shot.
Obviously, it paid off.
Like most people, West doesn’t see the scoring record being broken.
“The biggest thing with me, can somebody stay healthy that long?”, he said. “Play-In, the playoffs and I think they’re gonna have another in the middle of the season something. Are those gonna count toward those? I don’t think those will.”
As a matter of fact, he believes the league would have to add an additional line on the court for higher points.
“Will we have a four-point shot? Will we have a five-point shot? Who knows where this game is going,” West said. “I would hope we have sort of reached the saturation point with these kind of gimmick things. They’re not gonna be gimmicks, they’re gonna stay that way because they’ve been popular.”
Yes, all records are meant to be broken but this one is huge. Considering he’s still going, James’ could be the all-time leading scorer for a long time.
Cory Nelson is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson. You can also check out his personal blog HERE.
