The NBA scoring record will never be beat (again)

It’s finally been done. LeBron James broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38-year-old scoring record last week, becoming the all-time leading scorer in NBA history.

In all honesty, I didn’t think anyone would ever break the record. As a little kid, I would read all types of sports books and see Abdul-Jabbar’s record pop up time and time again. After reading, I remember asking my dad if he thought the record would ever be broken or if it was even possible. He told me that the record might be unbreakable, and many of the books I read agreed with him.

Granted, that was about 15 years ago when James had a measly 10,689 career points. But since then, James has achieved what in my eyes was improbable. He currently sits at 38,390 points. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he becomes the only player to get to the 40,000 mark.

It took the greatest player of our generation to break the record after playing for 20 years and more than 1,400 games. It truly is remarkable what James has been able to do for as long as he has. You could make the argument, although it wouldn’t be easy, that there are better “scorers” than James currently. But to beat the all-time scoring record, you have to be more than just an all-time great scorer — you need to have the longevity to do it.

The sheer consistency and durability that James has held well into his 30s is impressive, to say the least. James has averaged more than 25 points per game in every single one of his 20 seasons, except for his rookie year when he averaged just under 21. In his first 15 seasons, there was only one year where he missed more than eight games in a season. To beat the record, you need to have the perfect combination of staying healthy and pure dominance.

With NBA superstars playing fewer and fewer games every season, the record will be even harder for any given player to break. We live in an age of basketball where load management is king. Star players rest themselves in the regular season to stay fresh for the postseason. And with talks of shortening the NBA season, players will have fewer games to stay on pace for the record.

To really put into perspective how difficult it is for a current player to break the record, let’s take a look at Luka Doncic. Doncic is currently in the middle of his fifth NBA season and is believed by many to be the future of the NBA. He currently has 10,683 career points and a career average of 27.4 points per game, higher than James’.

If Doncic were to maintain that points-per-game average throughout his entire career and play in 1,000 more games, he would still need to score 2,432 more points to reach what James has right now. To reach those 1,000 games, he would need to play in 14 more seasons and play at least 70 games each year.

In his five NBA seasons, Doncic has played more than 70 games just once, and, to break the record, he would need to do this 14 more times until he is 38 years old. When you break it down like this, it’s clear how difficult the task really is. James is a unique player, and no one will be able to replicate this feat he somehow has managed to accomplish.

There was a reason I thought this record was unbreakable for so long, and why it took something extraordinary for it to be broken after nearly four decades. With James saying he wants to play with his eldest son, he will only continue to extend this record. In 40 years, I’ll be telling my son the same thing my dad told me: There’s absolutely no chance someone will break the NBA all-time scoring record.

Stefano Fendrich is a sophomore writing about his opinions on some of sport’s biggest debates in his column, “The Great Debate.” He is also a sports editor at the Daily Trojan.