In an interview with Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times, NBA legend and ESPN analyst Shaquille O’Neal said something that will raise the eyebrows of many NBA fans including the Michael Jordan fans.
O’Neal claimed that LeBron James will be the greatest of all time if he could break Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s scoring record before he retires.
“I know what he’s doing,” O’Neal said. “Championships are great, but he’s trying to pass Kareem up. That’s what he is doing. I know exactly what he’s doing. ‘Cause now if you pass Kareem up, it ain’t no talk about who the best player ever is.
“Think about that? I saw he needed to average (25) points or something like that the next few years, which he will do. He can do that in two more years.”
“He’s got four rings and he becomes the highest scorer in the NBA history,” O’Neal said. “He’s the best ever. Ain’t nothing you can say.”
James is currently sitting at the top three of the NBA’s all-time scoring leaders with 35,401 points. He needs 1,527 points to pass Karl Malone at no. 2 and 2986 points to surpass Abdul-Jabbar at no. 1.
If James could average at least 20 points in the regular season for the next two years, he’ll definitely surpass Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time scoring leader.
James has four NBA MVPs, four NBA championships and four NBA Final MVPs on his resume and breaking the scoring record will definitely add more color on his already decorated NBA career.