LeBron James may be planning a special tribute by breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA career scoring record.
James, who needed 36 points to break the Lakers great’s mark of 38,387 points, played the Adel-Jabbar signature in warmups before Los Angeles hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night at Creto.com Arena. Practicing the sky hook. He hit a jumper from the foul line near the left elbow in the third quarter of the Lakers’ 133-130 loss. James scored 38 points and now has 38,390 career points.
TNT cameras and social media videos caught James moving in the post, across the lane and even deep. James at one point made a sky hook from behind the 3-point arc. James had 20 points and the Lakers trailed 76-66 at the half.
The record-breaking attempt on the skyhook earned the nod from TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal – who played eight seasons with the Lakers.
“I would do that if I were him,” O’Neal said on the pregame show.
The mark has stood since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 NBA seasons and won five NBA championships, retired after the 1988-89 season.
James, 38, also in his 20th season, has averaged 27.2 points per game over his career. If James doesn’t pass on Adil-Jabbar during the second half on Tuesday night, the Lakers host the Bucks on Thursday night. Adul-Jabbar played six seasons in Milwaukee and won the 1971 title with the Bucks – so that would have been fitting, too.
So James gets to solo himself first with a skyhook — but he gets to do a pregame tribute instead.
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