LeBron James stands alone as the NBA scoring leader.
The Los Angles Lakers star broke the record in a Tuesday loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Crypo.com Arena. The NBA world praised the 38-year-old for his career accomplishment, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was in attendance to watch James break his record.
The NBA Hall of Famer spoke briefly on the TNT broadcast, but he took to his Substack on Wednesday to give more detail on his feelings from Tuesday night.
Abdul-Jabbar believes James shares the same philosophy of a team-first mentality and how the scoring record always was secondary to winning championships.
“It’s as if I won a billion dollars in a lottery and 39 years later someone won two billion dollars,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “How would I feel? Grateful that I won and happy that the next person also won. His winning in no way affects my winning.”
The Lakers legend added: “Whenever a sports record is broken — including mine — it’s a time for celebration. It means someone has pushed the boundaries of what we thought was possible to a whole new level. And when one person climbs higher than the last person, we all feel like we are capable of being more.”
People like Earvin “Magic” Johnson believed his former Lakers teammate would be crushed to see James break his scoring mark, especially in a Los Angeles uniform. But Abdul-Jabbar has focused his post-playing career into social activism. He has spoken out on Kyrie Irving when he shared an anti-Semitic film on social media.
“Sorry, Earvin. I love you, brother, but this time you got it wrong,” the 75-year-old wrote. “I’m not the grumpy grandpa on the porch yelling at kids to stay off my lawn. I fret much more over picking the right word in this sentence than in my record being broken.”
Abdul-Jabbar added: “Here’s the main reason I don’t care that much about my record being broken: I’m no longer focused on my basketball legacy as much as I am on my social legacy. I’m not trying to build a billion-dollar empire, I write articles in defense of democracy and advocating on behalf of the marginalized. (Maybe the billions will roll in eventually if I write a really, really great article.)”
The NBA legend and activist wrote more on his relationship, or lack thereof, with James, and Abdul-Jabbar praised the Lakers star for his growth as a person and how he makes him love the game of basketball.
