LeBron James congratulates himself on achievement that hasn't happened yet - 'proud and honored'
LeBron James posted an Instagram message to his young self, congratulating young LeBron on achieving an incredible milestone that only six others have achieved.
Only, he hasn’t actually done it yet.
However, barring a zombie apocalypse or some other civilization-ending catastrophe, James will become the seventh player in NBA history to score 30,000 points Tuesday night when the Cavaliers take on the Spurs in San Antonio.
James, with 29,993 career points, is just seven shy of the milestone. He will join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Kobe Bryant (33,643), Michael Jordan (32,292), Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) and Dirk Nowitzki (30,837) as a member of this exclusive club.
“Wanna be one of the first to Congratulate you on this accomplishment/achievement tonight that you’ll reach! Only a handful has reach/seen it too and while I know it’s never been a goal of yours from the beginning try(please try) to take a moment for yourself on how you’ve done it!” James wrote to young LeBron.
“The House you’re about to be apart of has only 6 seats in it(as of now) but 1 more will be added and you should be very proud and honored to be invited inside. There’s so many people to thank who has help this even become possible(so thank them all) and when u finally get your moment(alone) to yourself smile, look up to the higher skies and say THANK YOU! So with that said, Congrats again Young King,” the current King wrote.
At 33 years and 23 days, James will be the youngest player to reach 30,000. At 34 years, 104 days, Bryant will drop to the second youngest, followed by Chamberlain at 35 years, 179 days.
However, three other players did it in fewer games than James: Chamberlain (941), Jordan (960) and Abdul-Jabbar (1,101). If James does it Tuesday night, he’ll have done it in 1,107 games.
While there are a lot of miles on James, he is playing as well as ever this year, averaging 26.8 points per game, just shy of his career average of 27.1.
Could he catch Abdul-Jabbar at No. 1 all time? It’s certainly within the realm of possibility, but he would need to play another five seasons or so to have a chance.
With #Cavs LeBron James on the doorstep of 30,000 points, his teammate & buddy Dwyane Wade discusses whether James can catch Kareem, if James should be labeled a scorer & more with @clevelanddotcom https://t.co/4G6DlPAFuX
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) January 22, 2018
His teammate Dwyane Wade thinks so.
“I think he can. I think he can,” Wade told Cleveland.com. “I’ve always said I think he will end [No.] 1 or 2.
“By knowing his drive, I think from there it’s just about his health and as he’s getting older how much he wants to go and try to get that. I think he will. I think he will. Once he looks at it and says, ‘That’s only 8,000 away at some point let me see what I can do,’ I think he will try to go get it.”
James will be the only new member in the club for awhile, considering the only other active players in the top 25 are Carmelo Anthony at 24,960 and Vince Carter at 24,683. Anthony, who came into the NBA with James in 2003 as the third overall pick, has an outside chance to get there, but he’d had to play four more years to do it.
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