LOS ANGELES — LeBron James is now the leading scorer in NBA history.
He passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with a turnaround jumper in the third quarter Tuesday night, and with that the fans filling Crypto.com Arena exploded, having witnessed history. The reaction was similar among his peers and fans on social media, but the praise for LeBron has been pouring in all season. Here are some highlights of the reaction to LeBron setting this historic record, both from Tuesday night and the buildup to that moment throughout the season.
A new bar is set. Congrats, @KingJames 👑 pic.twitter.com/dfkAxekhXz
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) February 8, 2023
“But I think when you talk about LeBron, LeBron is in his own category. Just with the way he came into the league, and he never disappointed his fans, his teammates, and his owners, by winning championships by being able to help players get paid, you know, and then, you know, at the end of the day, he he’s about winning, he’s a competitor, and he’s never talked about records. You know, he’s just the only thing that he has really talked about is trying to win championships.” —Dallas Mavericks coach and Hall of Fame player Jason Kidd
Congrats @KingJames …legendary stuff right there 🫡 #38388
— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) February 8, 2023
“LeBron has done it so differently to me because LeBron is not a natural scorer. LeBron is a playmaker. He got criticized early in his career for making the right decisions. And the fact that he’s now about to break the scoring record, it really points out his greatness.” —Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers
“It used to anger me when he first came in, and if he made a pass, somebody said he should have shot it. And if he shot the ball, he should have passed it. It really would anger me because they would just deal with the negative. And it was sort of a fake, negative in a way, the guy was doing everything great handling himself great, young kid with all that attention, doing what he’s doing. I just thought he was wonderful.” —San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich
[On how LeBron reached this record without a score-first mentality] “I think empowering teammates the way he has done throughout the course of his career, he’s made his teammates threats, with where you have to account for them. And when you have to account for others... it allows you to operate more effectively with less traffic and you’re able to do what you need to do for the team in terms of scoring.” —Lakers coach Darvin Ham
38388 and counting… congratulations @KingJames!!
— Chris Paul (@CP3) February 8, 2023
True Greatness. Incredibly grateful to have witnessed and been a part of your journey. History made.
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) February 8, 2023
38,388 🐐
Kongrats King!! Glad to say I’ve shaken your hand brudda. God bless you and the fam and the homies.
— Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) February 8, 2023
“Congratulations to LeBron on breaking one of the most hallowed records in all of sports by becoming the NBA’s all-time scoring leader. It’s a towering achievement that speaks to his sustained excellence over 20 seasons in the league. And quite amazingly, LeBron continues to play at an elite level and his basketball history is still being written.” —NBA Commissioner Adam Silver
Congrats!!! @KingJames legendary stuff!! 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) February 8, 2023
.@KingJames…that’s all that needs to be said 🙏🏾
— Usher Raymond IV (@Usher) February 8, 2023
Incredible @KingJames!
— DeMar DeRozan (@DeMar_DeRozan) February 8, 2023
From the 1st basket in Sac-Town to 30,000 points, we’ve seen so much of the journey to this epic milestone first-hand in Wine & Gold. @KingJames | #ScoringKing pic.twitter.com/OdYQsDUujx
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) February 8, 2023
"[The NBA] gave the keys to the whole entire business to an 18-year-old kid and now he’s 38 years old and he’s still dominating. I don’t think we should be surprised. I think we should congratulate him and celebrate him as much as possible.” —Kyrie Irving
On a step back too! 🐐!!!! @KingJames
— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) February 8, 2023
History. Congrats to @KingJames ! 🙏🏽
— Jalen Brunson (@jalenbrunson1) February 8, 2023
Congratulations to @KingJames for becoming NBA all-time scoring leader!!!
— Bogdan Bogdanovic (@LeaderOfHorde) February 8, 2023
True champion!!! Unbelievable competitor!!! Respect!!!
🙌👏👑
— Evan Fournier (@EvanFourmizz) February 8, 2023
