Congratulations Lebron James.
Surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all time leading scorer in the NBA - a record which stood for 39 years, truly shows how special King James really is as a player.
The perspective of this is really quite amazing and really speaks to the longevity of his game. He has played in over 19 seasons (so far) and still manages to put up amazing numbers that any starter on a team would be happy to have. He is 5th ALL TIME in points per game and has produced at that level for two decades. He is also 4th ALL TIME in assists - a crazy stat line for a scorer!
Of course his first stint at Cleveland was a great one and he definitely carried/willed his team to the post season many of those years, before heading over to Miami and enjoying the championship glory before adding one in Cleveland and one in LA.
He is nothing short of amazing as a player both on and off the court - when you consider the hype, media attention and scrutiny he has been under since entering the league. To be fair, I was not always a fan of his - especially his "decision", but if that's what NBA fans have to hold against him - then Lebron is definitely worthy of praise. He made his teammates better, plays the game the right way, worked on improving the areas which were his weaknesses and loves and gives back to the game. And yet he is still not done. Special.
What irritates me most of all are the so called pundits, talking heads who just hate on him or don't think he is "great" - especially those who have never played the game at that level. Putting that into context - there have only ever been less than 5,000 NBA players (at the time of writing) - including the busts and those who had very long careers. So we are talking about a very small percentage of the population who have really experienced what it is like to play in the NBA and then an even smaller percentage of players who ever hit numbers like that in a single game, let alone on a consistent basis. Which is why I appreciate listening to ex-players turned analysts who understand the ins and outs of the game, politics etc rather than those who are just out to put their view out there and just try to disrespect players for the sake of eyeballs.
I am sure that Lebron has the support structures around and in him to not lose faith in his own abilities and the mission and goals he has for himself rather than wallow in commentators just talking nonsense. A takeaway is that it is really important to have that trunk of support, utmost belief to lift you up even then you have the doubts or if it builds up in your mind whether stemming from yourself or others.
Keep it up for as long as you can team Lebron and can't wait to see what other records are waiting to be broken!
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