King James Gospel
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Witnessing Greatness: LeBron Moves Ahead of Drexler, Jordan, and More

By Omar Josef Guerrero

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The King moved ahead of Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler in a single category in one game as LeBron James surged past them in the career rebounds list. He is currently tied with Harry Gallatin on the career rebounding list while moving up the ladder of all-time greatness.

Meanwhile, LeBron also passed Reggie Theus in career assists numbers, tying John Lucas, while also separating himself from Terry Porter in the career steals department.

Yes it was that kind of week for James as he moved up the list of various career statistical accomplishments and gradually making a stronger case for his all-time great status.

Here’s a summary of Lebron’s career week that was and the names of those whom he passed. Along the way, James elevated his game to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a five-game winning streak after the win against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Dec 20, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) holds on to the basket after a dunk during the second quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

  • Assists – Reggie Theus (6,453) and John Lucas (6,454) once occupied the 25th and 24th places in the career assists department. With three assists in the game versus the Sixers (12/20), LeBron (6,454) passed Theus and tied Lucas for 24th all-time. His next assist will land him the solo spot while also looking to take the 23rd spot from Stephon Marbury (6,471) in his next three to four games.
  • Rebounds –Michael Jordan (6,672) and Clyde Drexler (6677) were at the 121st and 120th place, respectively and James (6,684) moved past both in the 104-100 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder (12/17). Interestingly, David Lee (6,677) sort of muddles up this picture as he, too, moved past Jordan and tied Drexler and can either overtake James every now and then during the season depending on his playing time and rebounding performances. After the game against the Sixers, James is now tied with Harry Gallatin for the 118th place overall.
  • Steals – In the game against the Orlando Magic (12/11), James tied Terry Porter for 30th place on the career steals list then took sole possession of the ranking in the next game versus the Boston Celtics (12/15) when he had two steals. LeBron currently has 1,590 steals total but still more than a few steals away from Mark Jackson (1,608) who owns the 29th place overall.
  • Turnovers – Speaking of Jackson, James tied him with 3,155 total turnovers after this last game against Philly. They are tied for 20th place in the infamous category. But, as I mentioned previously, LeBron is “in great company with many all-time greats such as John Stockton, Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant among many others in the top 20 list.”

There you have it!

The week that was offered us with plenty of legendary players for LeBron to tie or surpass in a number of categories for all-time career numbers. More importantly for James, it’s the five-game winning streak last week that matters most to him.

More from King James Gospel

As fans of the King, we don’t mind tracking his career milestones for him. There’s a whole bunch of all-time greats on the list that LeBron will be passing in the coming weeks and I’ll make sure to keep you updated every week.

With that “revenge game” on Christmas day against the defending champion Golden State Warriors up ahead, there’s no telling what records he might break to get back at the team that beat them in the NBA Finals.

Stay tuned for more WITNESSing Greatness posts as I chronicle LeBron James’ career accomplishments in the 2015-16 season.