FIRST TAKE | LeBron will celebrate his 40K milestone with a victory over Joker, Nuggets – Stephen A.

FIRST TAKE | LeBron will celebrate his 40K milestone with a victory over Joker, Nuggets – Stephen A.

He’s there LeBron is nine points shy of 40,000 for his career he can reach that Mark tonight against the Nuggets it’s on ABC and coming out of the All-Star break LeBron averaging better than 30 points so history is almost certain to be made tonight it’s great to talk about this

History with our NBA analyst Scott Perry is with us on Sports Center am and this 39-year-old LeBron James no signs of slowing down at least beyond the three-point line when you see this 40,000 point mark very reachable now how do you put that into perspective well Randy first things to

Come to mind for me are the longevity and consistence of performance by LeBron James I take you back to 2003 when he was an 18yearold rookie coming into this league he was Elite at attacking the rim and creating for his teammates but what he lacked was a consistent mid-range

Jump shot and a consistent three-point shot what did he do he he got better each and every year he worked hard to improve those areas of his game he’s averaged over 25 points a game since his rookie season every single season which is phenomenal his 21st season right now

He sits at 25 points a game shooting 41% from three-point range I mean this is just a tremendous accomplishment I didn’t see this when he first started because of all the work he needed to do with his perimeter shot but to be passing some of the game’s greats great players and scores like

Kareem Abdul Jabar wil Chamberlain Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant hats off to LeBron phenomenal accomplishment and he’s got more to come after this 40 he breaks this 40,000 tonight I think he’s going to go 44 45 uh thousand if he continues to play the next two three

Years wow I mean listen he’s he’s averaging 23 23 a game against Denver this season so yeah it’s all about a lock tonight but it’s a Denver team that’s won seven straight against against LeBron and these Lakers so what do the Lakers have to address what’s the

One thing they have to focus on they’re going to snap that streak tonight well anytime you’re going to beat a champion you got to take it to him on the defensive end and it’s going to start with Anthony Davis Anthony Davis is more than capable of matching

Up with Nicole yic I know it’s a very tough tough task but he’s got to set the tone defensively for that Laker ball club uh in the seven previous games the nuggets are averaging 50% from the field and also 40% from three-point range those numbers must come down and then

Offensively they got to be on the attack they got to put nicoa yic in a lot of different actions on the defensive end to try to wear him down some and they’re going to also need a big big offensive performances from either and uh either D’Angelo Russell and or Austin Reeves

Tonight to be victorious against uh the Denver Nuggets yeah well d we’ll get those shots up we’ll see you catch it tonight 8:30 Eastern on ABC that’s Scott Perry with us on Sports Center am the Western Conference I’m just so excited about the NBA Countdown crew they’re two

And a half games separating the teams in the west with the Mavericks currently sitting as the sness seed you got the Warriors Back In Contention they’re the 10 seed after they won 12 with their last 15 there they are Malika Andrew in the NBA Countdown crew and then looks

Pretty tired to me H so now LeBron James he sits this ninepoint shy perk of 40,000 a number it is just staggering when you think about it right because say a player came along and managed to play I don’t know like 70 games a year for two decades two decades they would

Have to average 28.6 points per game to approach that Milestone that’s a clip that only Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain have been able to sustain for their entire career so when we talk about goats when we talk about Legacy maybe we don’t consider that enough sustained Excellence because there has

Never been somebody that has been this good for this long because just take a look at the scoring by stop here that’s over 15,000 points in his career with the Cavs in seven years and then four years in Miami four years back in Cleveland there’s only a 51 Point difference

Between those two stins and now he’s just chipped in 9,000 points just shy of 9,000 points in his six years in Los Angeles that’s remarkable and that all adds up to 3,991 points he continues to extend his lead as the NBA alltime leading scorer with no active player even in shouting

Distance to where he’s at so after last night’s win LeBron James he spoke about what starting the 40K Club means to him does 40,000 mean anything to you um I don’t remember I mean I can’t sit here and say no cuz that I mean of

Course I mean it’s just a no one has ever done it for me to be in in this position at this point in time in my career I think it’s I think it’s pretty cool to be able to accomplish things in this league the greatest players to ever

Play in this league the NBA and this has been a dream of mine and to uh hit Feats and and have Milestones throughout my career um they all mean something to me absolutely I would be lying to you if I said no it doesn’t mean anything because

It absolutely does I feel like usually Brian LeBron James he he doesn’t really talk about Milestones until after they’ve happened or after maybe he retires he’s going to pour a glass of wine and then kind of talk about all of the things he’s accomplished he’s going

To pour plenty before he retires yeah he likes to marinate in this sort of thing he doesn’t often talk about it like that before it happens it clearly means something to him yeah he doesn’t I think Focus that much on scoring numbers I think he’s happy to have the scoring

Title but I don’t think he focuses on that I think his legacy is going to be based on the longevity that no one’s ever been this great for this long there’s so many things that are in there that illustrate this that kind of make you sit back in your chair like for

Example he was top five in the MVP voting for 13 straight years okay he’s made all MVP all NBA 19 times he spent all NBA in more than a quarter of the seasons in the history of the league did you hear what I just said say that one

More time he’s made all NBA in more than a quarter of the seasons in the history of the league and then this is the one he has played with a third of all the players in the history of the league have played against LeBron that is longevity and he’s probably going to

Make his 20th all NBA team this year by the way the guys who were in second Kobe Duncan Kareem they made 15 he’s way past them so like if you’re going to get to a situation where you’re evaluating LeBron’s career and you’re like well Jordan’s six and0 he’s got six LeBron’s

Probably not getting six he’s never going to be 6-0 in the finals he’s not going to compare in certain other areas but when you look at that that timeline that’s LeBron’s Legacy and this is just another point where you stick on there and go look 40,000 well let’s talk about

This 40,000 Malik you said he starting the 40,000 club right he’s also ending it because this record would never be broken not my lifetime and when I’m dead and gone come wake me up out of my grave if somebody do break it because when you talk about 40,000 points to a guy that

Has not been labeled throughout his career as a scorer right like you go across the board you look at Kevin Durant you say he’s a scorer you look at Kobe Bryant right we watch Kobe he’s a score Devin Booker he’s a score no no one has ever labeled LeBron James as a

Score we label LeBron James as a complete basketball player so the fact of the matter that he’s about to hit 40,000 points and starting and ending this 40,000 Club is a beautiful thing to see I’m glad I’m here to witness it not only that he used to kind of resist

Being labeled a scorer or talking about his scor because he did not want that turn but he’s kind of come around on that as he was on the verge of breaking the record last year I interviewed him in Brooklyn and we talked about being label the score and then we watched

Clips of some of his iconic baskets and he told me how hard he worked on this shot and that shot he kind of grew to be proud of it but look MJ Kareem LeBron like whatever you want to slice it this was true three years ago four years ago

It’s true now by the end of LeBron’s career statistically he’s going to be Miles Ahead in counting stats in everything over everybody and if you prefer one of the other guys particularly Michael it’s just going to be 6 and0 that’s all it’s going to be and if that’s if that’s what you value

The most that’s fine that’s fair 6 and0 six finals MVPs I believe LeBron is what four- six in the finals uh getting there all those times means something too but like the numbers they’re not even going to look real I mean they just don’t they don’t look like real things and 40,000

Congrats that’s unbelievable yeah it’s that sustained Excellence that I that I mentioned that I’m not sure is brought up enough of course we talk about rings of course we talk about MVPs of course we talk about finals MVPs but when you look at doing it this well for the

Amount of time he has LeBron James he he stands alone now you preaching and that’s that’s part of the goat the goat debate that I always harp on the longevity the consistency and it didn’t just start when he entered the NBA it started when he was 16 labor the chosen

One on the cover of Sports illustrator tattoo on him that’s when the journey started and the fact of the matter is that I’m sitting here retired we came in together McDonald’s All-American Game together I started my new career and he still like it still seemed like he could go another five or six

Years about about seeing a a record be broken I don’t think that we ever thought we’d see a player scor this many point I didn’t think so in my lifetime and in your lifetime we are all Witnesses right but then Along Came LeBron right now we’re all Witnesses you

Are guilty but if I told you that campaign itself is 20 years old that campaign is the can drink yeah LeBron’s old LeBron’s watching this be like stop telling people how old I am I played with everybody in the history of the league a third of all players all time

The stats that Brian was putting out were wild but Zach is there another record that you think maybe you would be just shocked to see if it ever got broken not not shocked anymore considering what MB is doing but when you guys asked me this I was like I want

To go deep cut I don’t want to go a Wilt record and one of the coolest ones and it’s a player that I don’t think we talk about enough as an alltime alltime Pantheon level player aim for You foree speee blood an enemy has been defeated an enemy has been defeated your team has destroyed a tower SC down an enemy has been defeated an ally deated enemy an ally has been defeated look for you have defeated an enemy foree you foree game our Middle Lane Tower is under attack fore

First Blood over here you have defeated an enemy foreign fore go sh money our Middle Lane Tower is under attack deated an enemy has deated Theon defense line has disappeared send in the ballista your team destroyed a tower your teamy Tower fore an ally has deated our middle M Tower is

Your team has destroyed a tower an ally has defeated an enemy deated your team destroyed Tower your team destroy Power an ally has defeated

FIRST TAKE | LeBron James will celebrate his 40K milestone with a victory over Joker, Nuggets – Stephen A.