NBA: LeBron passes by Wilt – “Never be satisfied”

After Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James also took the next legend in the game against Trail Blazers on Wednesday – the Lakers star passed Wilt Chamberlain with 44 points and is now fifth on the All-Time Scoring list. As a result, the 33-year-old humbled himself.

“If I can do what I love at this level, and then be called in one sentence with the legends of this sport alone, it always brings me back to my hometown of Akron,” James said at ESPN. “I know where I come from and how hard it was to get to that point – it’s just about never being satisfied. I am grateful to God for these abilities and I want to take full advantage of them. My coaches and my teammates over these 16 years have brought me to this point.”

James now stands at 31,425 career points. Against the Blazers, he set his previous record for the season and the Lakers’ best since Kobe Bryant had set 60 points in his farewell game. James wants to hand over the match ball to the I Promise School in Akron, which he co-finances.

About Chamberlain, who also spent the last years of his career with the Lakers, James said: “One of the most dominant figures in the sport, along with Shaq. One of the best players in the Lakers. 100 points. One of the best scorers and rebounder. People had never seen anything like him in his era. He dominated all aspects of life, not just basketball.”

The next player before James in the list is now Michael Jordan, the player James is most often compared to. MJ scores 32,292 points. If James maintains his current average of 26.4 points and stays fit, he will have to overtake Jordan in January. After that, only Bryant, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar remain before him.

His head coach Luke Walton used the opportunity to humorously tell the following anecdote about Chamberlain: “That’s one aspect that makes working for the Lakers so special,” Walton said.

“There’s so much history here, so many legends. I have heard many great stories about Wilt in my time here. Among other things the fact that he simply took the ball during training and placed it in the zone, with the reason: ‘That’s automatically 2 points anyway, so I don’t have to waste energy jumping here when I’m in the zone.’ There are a lot of stories about that here,” grinned Walton.

Of the eight best scorers in NBA history, six are for the Lakers. Only Jordan and Nowitzki, who was overtaken by James at the beginning of the season, never played for Purple and Gold.

Multimedia story about LeBron at the Lakers: A king among blue bloods!

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