The 2019-20 NBA season hasn’t started yet, but LeBron James has already created a buzz. It seems that people can never get enough of James—and we should never either.
Just last season in a game versus Denver Nuggets, he surpassed Michael Jordan’s record in the all-time scoring list. However, he still needs 6,077 more points to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record of 38,387 points.
Hats off to one of the GOATs that the fans have seen throughout the years because this year James will surely break tons of records on his 17th season in the league.
He is expected to play for as long as he possibly can, although the average retirement age of NBA players is 34 or 35 years old. The age of 40 is the final benchmark.
Here’s a roundup based on conservative guesstimates.
1) James as the 4th all-time highest points
James is in the third spot in the list of career scoring leaders. Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, and Abdul-Jabbar are still ahead of him.
To grab Bryant’s spot, he needs to score 1,100 points this season. A team would play up to 82 games, and James averages 13 points per game. If he played at all games and score 13 points for each, he would have 1,066 points.
More or less, he would break this record. However, he would have to play six to eight seasons more to grab the second and first spots, respectively.
He must stay physically fit as well if he wants to do so. This one’s a stumbling block considering the four-time MVP’s age and evident physical decline that sceptics say started last season.
2) James as the 5th all-time highest field goals
James has to surpass Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Malone, and Abdul-Jabbar. He recently surpassed Bryant.
He has 11,838. So if he scored the 1,066 points in the 2019-20 NBA season, he would end up as the third-highest field goal scorer in history. Jordan has 12,192 while Chamberlain, 12,681.
He would beat Malone’s record, which is currently at 13,528, in the next season, 2020-21. After that, he still needs two more seasons to be #1.
3) James as the 8th all-time highest three points
While James is not a three-pointer, he managed to land at 8th place behind Bryant, Joe Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, Reggie Miller, and Ray Allen.
James per game average is three three-point shots, and his three-point shooting percentage is not that great, at 34.3%. It means he was making 738 points from his three-points per season or 246 baskets in total.
With this, he must make 33 three-point baskets to eclipse Bryant, 83 for Johson, 85 for Nowitzki, 138 for Pierce, and 167 for Carter to land the third position. This may happen this season if he would deliver on his current averages or even more.
In the next season, he might be the #1 all-time highest three-point shooter if he would make 277 and 415 baskets to outdo Miller and Allen, respectively.
