The scoreboard of the old Staples Center, today Crypto.com Arena, was a countdown with the points that the star needed to cross the barrier. Every James basket was cheered among the 18,997 spectators. In the stands, his mother, Gloria, his wife, his children, childhood friends, and fans from Akron, where the legend was born, were excited. Also a good handful of celebrities. A front-row ticket cost up to $50,000, a luxury price for a Hollywood show. This is how it was celebrated when LeBron conquered the record. The game stopped, and Kareem jumped onto the court and handed him a ball (as Wilt Chamberlain did to him 39 years ago) as a tribute, Magic Johnson hugged him and the star burst into tears: "Not even in my dreams would this have been better."

Lebron was already crowned in February 2022 as the scoring basketball player in the existence of the NBA, adding the regular phase and the playoffs. James then beat Kareem's mark of 44,159 points, amassed by the charismatic center with glasses in 1,797 games (24.5 on average). The symbol of the Lakers closed in 1989, at the age of 42, a career in which he played 1,560 games in the league season in 20 courses. In the title playoffs, he enlisted in 237 matches, with 5,762 points in those matches. His successor at the top has copied that longevity to 46,021 points in total (27.4 on average in 1,676 short games). In the regular season, he has participated in 1,410 games, plus another 266 in the playoffs ., with 7,631 points in those clashes that mark the final stretch for the title. That is to say, LeBron has needed 150 games less than Kareem in the regular phase to beat his record. And he has also been more prolific in the qualifiers.

Little or nothing can surprise in LeBron's brilliant career, in the deck of very few players to be considered the best of all time. At 38, King James is celebrating his 20th season in the NBA (11 in Cleveland, four in Miami, and five with the Lakers), and in 10 of them, he has played in the finals for the title. Four rings shine on his hand: 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2020. Six runners-up. They have four MVP awards from the regular season and another four from the final phase. 13 times in the best five in the League. 19 elections for the All-Star. Two Olympic golds... And dozens of statistical records, such as scoring at least once 40 points or more for each of the NBA teams. His top, 61 with Miami to Charlotte in 2014. An example of a very long and incomparable stay in the elite sculpted based on eternal competitiveness and a steel physique in whose development he invests 1.5 million dollars a year and that still propels him to impossible flights.

Karl Malone (36,928 points in the regular season and 41,689 in total) continues to live on the third step of the podium of the top scorers, and the triumvirate is accompanied by a collection of stars from fourth to tenth place, grouping the two rankings: Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki (the only European in the top ten ), Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Durant. Pau Gasol is the first Spaniard among the points devourers, 43rd in the general list with 22,992 (20,894 in the regular phase).

When will James stop? The King is still hungry, but his enormous appetite is no longer satisfied by any number, not even a fifth ring would satisfy him. In the father's mind, there is only one much more sentimental desire, to play in the NBA with his son, LeBron Bronny James. The eldest of three brothers is 18 years old, progresses in the high school team, Sierra Canyon School, and wears the number 0, the number he chose for another laker, Russell Westbrook. Next year he will jump to the university league (he still has to choose a jersey) and could participate in the draft 2024. That is, in time to coincide with dad in his last season of contract in Los Angeles (never have a father and a son shared the track in an NBA game). That LeBron course will be 40 years old.

Precisely in a recent game between the Lakers and the Rockets, a rival player approached James and said: "You played against my father in your first game in the NBA." It was Jabari Smith junior and, indeed, Jabari Smith was on the Sacramento Kings roster that on October 29, 2003, attended the debut of El Elegido, as Sports Illustrated baptized him when he was studying at the institute. In those Cavaliers, LeBron James debuted with a loss (like this time) and 25 points on his record. With his first basket, a midrange shot after three minutes, he began the countdown to immortality, a marathon in which he has faced a father and a son on eight other occasions.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is 75 years old today. He also broke a record, in his case in that 1984 when LeBron was born, to surpass Chamberlain. That, remember, "annoyed" the man with the 100 points. “Wilt had a one-sided rivalry with me since I started doing well in the NBA. I don't feel that way about LeBron." The King is today more king than ever.