LeBron James continues to level up, making it increasingly difficult to exclude him from the G.O.A.T. conversations.
Earlier in the season, the Los Angeles Laker passed Wilt Chamberlain on the NBA’s all-time scoring list and now he has earned yet another record-breaking milestone. The three-time NBA champion broke the scoring record previously held by Michael Jordan.
James scored the record-breaking point in a layup during the second quarter, which put him in fourth place on the coveted list. As reported, the 34-year-old has scored 32,293 points since the beginning of his professional career, bumping Jordan by one point.
Currently, the three NBA players that occupy the top three on the all-time list are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928) and Kobe Bryant (33,643). James’ feat took place despite the Lakers losing to the Denver Nuggets (99-115).
Taking to Instagram, the Ohio native celebrated the victory by way of paying homage to MJ.
“THANK YOU M.J!! Still tripping about last night,” he wrote. “Couldn’t have in a trillion years thought that would be possible especially knowing where I come from and what I watch him do every single night! Doesn’t make sense to me to be honest. Man it’s CRAZY!! I know you guys think I’m tripping but if you knew me and my friends growing up you’d understand. Beyond blessed and appreciative of all the congrats from family, friends, colleagues, strangers, haters, etc etc!! For the ones who been on the journey from Day 1 and I mean Day 1 I thank you even more!! Love.”
Additionally, the Lakers head coach Luke Walton shared a statement with the Huffington Post celebrating his player’s massive achievement.
“There are certain milestones that it’s nice to take a moment and embrace and honor. Michael is a guy that guys like LeBron, myself included, grew up watching,” Walton said. “That is THE guy, Michael Jordan. So to pass him in anything, especially scoring, would be something that we aren’t going to see very often.”
Take a look at LeBron James reacting to passing Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list below.