LeBron James says leapfrogging Michael Jordan on the NBA’s all-time scoring list “ranks right up there at the top” with the championships he’s won.
“He was everything,” James said of Jordan.
LeBron finished with 31 points Wednesday night, placing him fourth on the all-time list with 32,311 career points, but it wasn’t enough for the Los Angeles Lakers in a 115-99 loss to the visiting Denver Nuggets.
Per The LA Times:
“It was very emotional, very emotional,” James said. “Lot of things that was going on inside me at that point in time. I wanted to look up at the scoreboard to see what was going on up there, but at the same time I didn’t want to show what was going on behind the towel.”
With 31 points on Wednesday night, James has scored 32,311 points in his career. Only three players have scored more points than James — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant — and all of them spent at least part of their careers with the Lakers.
“A lot of stuff that I’ve done in my career, this ranks right up there at the top,” James said. “The championship, just for a kid from Akron, Ohio, that needed inspiration, needed some type of positive influence, MJ was that guy. I watched him from afar. Wanted to be like MJ. Shoot fadeaways like MJ. Wanted to stick my tongue out on a dunk like MJ. Wear my sneakers like MJ. I wanted kids to look up to me at some point like MJ. Just it’s crazy, to be honest. It’s beyond crazy.”
For 12 minutes he reminisced and shared what he felt. To stay calm, he never let go of the tape cutter, never stopped clicking it.
“He was everything,” James said of Jordan. “Name it, he was everything.”
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