WITNESSing Greatness: LeBron Joins Big O; Passes KG, Pierce and More

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers has been busy of late, not only in dismantling opponents but also in surpassing the NBA’s legends along the way. From joining Oscar Robertson in an elite club, to moving past active NBA all-timers in Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, James showed why he deserves to be mentioned among the greatest.

In the game against the Detroit Pistons (1/30), James achieved a quadruple milestone. He became only the 17th player to score at least 26,000 points. In doing so, he was also the youngest ever to achieve the feat. He moved ahead of Derek Harper for 20th place in the all-time career assists department and in so doing joined the Big O as the only players in history in the top 20 career points and assists.

Here’s a summary of James’ career accomplishments the past two weeks:

• Scoring – Aside from scoring his 26,000th point against the Pistons recently, James continued to move past current active all-time career scoring leaders in Garnett and Pierce. With the two Celtics legends playing limited minutes, LeBron jumped ahead of them the past few games. Against the Charlotte Hornets on February 3, he took the 16th spot in the all-time scoring column. Then, in the latest game against the Los Angeles Lakers (1/10), LeBron took Pierce’s place to gain possession of 15th all-time when he scored 29 points. James currently has 26,188 points for his career to Pierce’s 26,172.

• Assists – As previously mentioned, James passed Harper (6,577) to rank 20th place all-time in assists. He now has 6,634 dimes for his career.
• Steals – In the steals column, LeBron moved ahead of three players in two weeks. Playing spectacular defense in the previous games, James passed great ball hawks in Rod Strickland (1,616), Eddie Jones (1,620) and Hersey Hawkins (1,622). The aforementioned Lakers game broke the tie between Hawkins and James as he took the 26th position in all-time career steals. Next up is Gus Williams with 1,638 steals.
• Three-Pt Field Goals Made – After missing all his three-point attempts for six straight games, James finally connected on two of them in the game against the New Orleans Pelicans (2/6). He passed Allan Houston (1,305) for 33rd place in career three-point field goals made and added four more against the Sacramento Kings (2/8) and the Lakers for a total of 1,310.

James now has 6,010 free throws overall, just 21 to go before he slides past Atlanta Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins (6,031).

In the categories below, James is projected to pass more NBA all-time greats in the coming games.

• Field Goals Made – LeBron will be passing Hall-of-Famer Moses Malone (9,435) in career field goals made. James has 9,434 and he needs just two made shots from the field in his next game after the All-Star break to take 18th place.
• Free-Throws Made – James now has 6,010 free throws overall, just 21 to go before he slides past Atlanta Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins (6,031). With an average of five made free-throws a game, he’ll likely pass Wilkins in five games.

See how busy the King has been the past few games? As the season heads toward All-Star weekend and beyond, expect James to be more focused in leading the Cavs to an even better record while simultaneously moving up the ladder of all-time greatness.

Keep it right here on KingJamesGospel.com’s WITNESSing Greatness as we chronicle the career accomplishments of the one and only LeBron James.