National Basketball Association

LeBron James sparks discussion about scoring exploits with a tweet

Published May. 18, 2021 5:35 p.m. ET

Is it possible that "the King" isn't getting his due?

When it comes to the NBA, the players who put the most points on the board are usually the ones who get the most shine.

This week, LeBron James seemed to take umbrage with the suggestion that he isn't among the first names mentioned when the NBA's all-time greatest scorers are brought up.

The Los Angeles Lakers star logged his 17th consecutive season averaging 25 or more points per game. He hit that number on the dot, with 25.0 PPG at age 36.

In fact, the only season in which James didn't crack the quarter-century mark was his rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003-04.

Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone were also listed in the Tweet LeBron referenced, a quartet of scorers with 12 such feats on each of their résumés.

Quick math puts LeBron five ahead of the challengers, with Durant the only other active player in the mix.

StatMuse, the Twitter handle responsible for calling attention to LeBron's milestone, added more fuel to the fire by noting some additional LeBron accomplishments.

This isn't the first time LeBron has affirmed his ability to score, either. In 2010, he boasted that he could win the league's scoring title every season if he so desired.

"If I really wanted to," James said, "if I really wanted to be the scoring title [champion], I could do it every single year ⁠— every single year ⁠— I could really do it. But it doesn't matter."

He does have one scoring title to his name, from the 2007-08 season in which he scored 30.0 points per game. Aside from that, he has finished in the top five in scoring in all but four of his 18 seasons in the league.

Is the "pass-first guy," as LeBron identifies himself, being overlooked in the discussion about the game's greatest scorers?

Skip Bayless of "Undisputed" doesn't see the reasoning behind LeBron's perceived slight.

As Bayless mentioned, LeBron sits third on the all-time list, with 35,367 career points. He's behind Malone's 36,928 points and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time record of 38,387 points.

In Shannon Sharpe's mind, LeBron is well within his rights to toot his own horn, so to speak.

"When we hear ‘scorers,’ Skip, most of the time, ‘scorers’ are not asked to do anything but put the ball into the basket," Sharpe said. "And so, we don't look at LeBron as doing that at a high level, even though he has more 40-point games than Kevin Durant. He has more 50-point games than Kevin Durant. … I do not have a problem with this."

One of LeBron's former teammates with the Miami Heat, Chris Bosh, offered his thoughts on the debate on ESPN. Bosh, who won back-to-back championships with LeBron in Miami in 2012 and 2013, said his former teammate could use the chatter as motivation.

"I think he's just so unselfish and such a team-first guy," Bosh said. "And I think people should take heed to it because, if there's even some notion that he's underrated as a scorer, that's right where he wants to be because he's going to light you up for 25 points a game in the regular season at age 37 years old."

As Colin Cowherd pointed out on "The Herd," LeBron's unselfishness certainly impacts his scoring numbers, but it could be chalked up to doing so for the greater good.

In Cowherd's mind, a big part of what makes LeBron special is his ability to be successful at whatever his team needs, whenever the team needs it.

"I've always called him the greatest Swiss Army knife in basketball history," Cowherd said. "He does everything well. … LeBron and Wilt Chamberlain are the only two basketball players in my life who could lead the NBA in any category, but they’ve had to make a choice."