LeBron James made it clear he is not close to a Los Angeles Lakers legend. The Lakers star recently spoke to reporters following the team’s first preseason game on Monday night and was asked about passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the top spot on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. James gave a short but strong answer when asked about the record and if he has a relationship with Abdul-Jabbar.
“No thoughts, and no relationship,” James said, per CBS Sports. James may not have said much on Monday night, but that wasn’t the case during media day when he was asked about making NBA history. “To sit here and to know that I’m on the verge of breaking probably the most sought-after record in the NBA, things that people said would probably never be done, I think it’s just super humbling for myself. I think it’s super cool. Obviously, Kareem has had his differences with some of my views and some of the things that I do, but listen at the end of the day, to be able to be in the same breath as a guy that wore this same uniform,” James said.
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“A guy that was a staple of this franchise, along with Magic [Johnson], Big Game [James Worthy] over there for so many years, especially in the ’80s, and a guy that does a lot off the floor as well, I think is just super-duper dope, for myself to even be in that conversation.”
Abdul-Jabbar has been critical of James in the past. Last year, the Basketball Hall of Famer called James out for a meme he posted about COVID-19. The meme shows three Spider-Men pointing at each other as one was able “flu,” one was labeled “cold” and the last one was labeled “covid.”
“The meme’s implication is that LeBron doesn’t understand the difference among these three illnesses, even after all the information that’s been presented in the press. Well, since he asked, let me help him out by explaining the difference—and how knowing that difference might save lives, especially in the Black community,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote in his SubStack column. James just needs 1,326 points to break Abdul-Jabbar’s record, and it’s likely that could happen midway through the season.
