As LeBron James enters his 19th season in the league, the debate rages on on whether or not he can actually claim the GOAT status once he finally hangs it up. Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal certainly seems to think so, and he's even exposed LeBron's secret plan on how he intends to end the GOAT debate forever.
According to Shaq, the most important thing on the Lakers stars' mind right now is becoming the top scorer of all-time:
“I know what he’s doing,” O’Neal said, via Broderick Turner of Los Angeles Times. “Championships are great, but he’s trying to pass Kareem up. That’s what he is doing. I know exactly what he’s doing. ‘Cause now if you pass Kareem up, it ain’t no talk about who the best player ever is. Think about that? I saw he needed to average [25] points or something like that the next few years, which he will do. He can do that in two more years.”
Fair point from Shaq here. Interestingly, LeBron will need to overtake another Lakers icon in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to get to the top of the mountain. After Tuesday's 34-point performance against the Golden State Warriors, James now stands at 35,401 career points. He's still quite a ways away from Kareem, who amassed 38,378 points throughout his career. The Lakers superstar is currently third on the list sitting behind Utah Jazz legend Karl Malone (36,928).
If you look at the math, this is a totally achievable feat for LeBron. If he gets to the very top, does this officially make him the ultimate GOAT over Michael Jordan?
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