National Basketball Association

How significant is LeBron James breaking NBA scoring record?

Updated Sep. 28, 2022 8:24 p.m. ET

LeBron James is likely to make even more history in his 20th season.

The Los Angeles Lakers superstar is just 1,325 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA's all-time scoring record, a total James has reached in all but one season.

As his 20th campaign is set to begin, James remarked at Lakers media day how he's "in awe" of the fact that he's so close to breaking a record that's stood for nearly four decades.

"To sit here and to know that I’m on the verge of breaking probably the most sought-after record in the NBA, something that people said would probably never be done, it’s just super humbling for myself," James said. "I think it’s super cool."

Shannon Sharpe holds a similar view to James regarding the upcoming milestone.

"I didn't think it was going to be broken," Sharpe said on Tuesday's "Undisputed." "I'm old enough to remember when Kareem set the record. The record is over 40 years old. Nobody thought this would record would be broken. It's the home run record in baseball. I'm sure nobody thought Hank Aaron's record was going to be touched — they didn't think Babe [Ruth's] record was going to be broken. When Hank did it, they didn't want him to break it."

LeBron James 'in awe' of potentially becoming NBA's all-time leading scorer

Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless debate the significance on LeBron James possibly becoming the NBA's all-time scoring leader.

Sharpe also found another thing fascinating about the fact James is on the cusp of being the NBA's all-time scoring leader.

"What's so amazing about this record is there's one guy in the top 20 in scoring and top 20 assists," Sharpe said. "That's Oscar Robertson. LeBron's about to be the all-time leading scorer and about to be top five in assists all time. This man is not a score-first point guard and he's doing this! Just imagine if he said, ‘The hell with facilitating,’ or, ‘The hell with getting everyone else involved, I'm just going to do what somebody else did.' The man would have 40,000 [points] right now.

"The man has just given you for 18 consecutive seasons 25 points or better per game. Let that sink in. Not 10. Not 17. The man just gave you 30 in Year 19. It's an unbelievable accomplishment. … LeBron James has exceeded every expectation someone might have had for him."

Skip Bayless had a different view and said he wished that James would focus more on winning another championship as opposed to going for an individual record. However, since the Lakers missed the playoffs last season and made no major changes during the offseason, Bayless conceded that James breaking Abdul-Jabbar's record will be a bright spot for him and the team.

"The reason Jeanie [Buss] said, 'Let's commit to LeBron for three years' is because ‘Showtime’ is now ‘Sideshow time,’" Bayless said. "'We know we can't win with this group that we're stuck with, especially Russell Westbrook. So, let's reinvest in LeBron, because he's still the face of the league and certainly the face of our franchise, and we need him in purple and gold because that will take way the focus that is the stench of our basketball team that we've let go south under our noses.'

"This will help take some of the stench off because all of a sudden, all anyone's going to be talking about in the weeks leading up to this blessed event, and maybe a couple weeks after is, ‘LeBron passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the greatest scorer ever.’

"It's nothing but a longevity record."