Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James offered a humble response when learning he’d surpassed another Michael Jordan record, showing respect to his idol rather than celebrating the achievement.
James helped the Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, scoring 30 points in a 119-102 win at Crypto.com Arena. With 5:58 left to play James scored his 30th point, reaching that total in a regular-season game for the 563rd time in his career.
That moved him clear of Jordan who set the record in 2003, as James continues to bolster his position in the NBA record books. James admitted after the game that it wasn’t a record he was chasing, but feels blessed to be in the same conversation as Jordan no matter what the context is.
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“I don’t know because it’s never been a goal of mine, but very humbling,” James said when asked what the record meant. “Anytime I’m mentioned with any of the greats and arguably one of the greatest to ever play the game, [it’s] super cool.
“Someone I idolized in my childhood. I wear 23 because of him. To know that I can sit here and be in the room or in the conversation or whatever it is, and you mention MJ (Michael Jordan), it’s super-duper dope for me. Being a kid from where I’m from.”
The record-breaking shot was an 18-foot jumper which is something Jordan became famous for, and one he became expert at. James has also spent a lot of time mastering that shot, although his technique is slightly different than Jordan’s.
“He was more of a left-shoulder fadeaway guy. I kind of go the opposite way,” James added. “But just two masters of their craft just putting in work to the point where it’s kind of become unguardable. It’s just work. Work and dedication.
“Obviously watching MJ move the ball in the air, fading away but still being on balance. Sometimes, when you’re growing up, a lot of little league coaches and stuff, they hate that shot because you’re fading away from the basket, and you don’t have a lot of balance.
“But I watched MJ a lot and saw how on balance he was even though he was fading away from the basket. So I just wanted to try to match that as my career has grown over the years.”
James needed seven more seasons than Jordan did to set the record, showing just how dominant the NBA legend was in the past. However, the fact that James is still playing at a championship level aged 40 is unprecedented.
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