LeBron James eclipses 35K-point plateau in yet another accomplishment

LeBron James has obviously proven to be a guy that fills it up in a plethora of ways, and to me, while he’s arguably the NBA’s GOAT, the key argument there is his versatility, athleticism and strength/speed/quickness combination.

The dude’s IQ is potentially the best in the history of the league, albeit that’s an argument for another day, along with the previous one that we don’t need to get into right now.

Nonetheless, even though it’s not necessarily his best skill, as his overall feel I’d argue is, James has long been one of the NBA’s best scorers.

And while the J for him was largely streaky in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it became more of a mainstay in his time with the Miami Heat, and he’s progressively gotten more consistent game-to-game/over the years with that as a threat to opponents backing off him.

But make no mistake, he’s always been a freight train going to the rim as a driver, both in settled offense and transition/secondary transition, which has made him ever more capable as a playmaker. His post-up game has progressed throughout the years, too, and he’s become quite the post-up fadeaway threat.

Anyhow, while again he’s not been just primarily known as a bucket-getter, he’s continually been as consistent as it gets in that regard throughout his career, and still is with the Los Angeles Lakers now.

Moreover, factoring in his consistency and durability, to go with finishing and strides with his touch throughout the years, LeBron James recently became the third player in NBA history to eclipse the 35,000-point plateau on Thursday in a Lakers loss to the Brooklyn Nets.

Of course, Karl Malone is second, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the top.

This is yet another accomplishment for LeBron, who will likely pass Kareem in the near future.

This is just yet another big-time accomplishment for James, and adds another notch on his GOAT-like belt, if you will. James still looks to have little to no signs of slowing down, to me, honestly, even in Year 18, and currently, has had 25.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 7.9 assists and 1.0 steals per contest for the Lakers in 2020-21.

And even while an Anthony Davis right calf strain and reported tendonisis aggravation in his right Achilles could be worrisome for LA’s season, admittedly, if Davis can eventually regain get himself right as the season progresses, which could be reasonable, LeBron and LA could very well repeat. In that sense, I completely get where KJG’s Corey Casey is coming from, in thinking LeBron looks primed to win his fifth title this season.

Especially with how his three-point shooting has been (currently 37.2 percent on a career-high 6.6 attempts per game) and how he’s been a masterful playmaker for others, such as AD, when active, Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma and others, I could foresee LBJ winning his fifth MVP, too.

Anyway, in the scope of the all-time scoring sense, it seems pretty realistic that LeBron James will eventually pass Kareem as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. This pace suggested by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, while he does need to stay healthy and be playing game-to-game/not miss time due to potentially soreness/rest, doesn’t appear to be completely off-base.

We’ll ultimately have to see if/when James were to do so, but I’d think he very well will at some point.

Circling back, though, LBJ becoming the third player in NBA history to eclipse the 35,000-point plateau is just yet another accomplishment for him in what’s been an obviously all-time great career. He was recently named an All-Star starter yet again, to go with, based on the mostly-new format, an All-Star captain, for what it’s worth.

That will be All-Star appearance #17 for James, whose been a four-time NBA Finals MVP, a six-time All-Defensive Team member, and the league’s 2007-08 scoring champ.

So props to LeBron for this latest accomplishment, which is something else when you consider he’s had his imprint all over games throughout the years in other non-scoring ways, as us Cleveland Cavaliers fans are so well aware of.