The increasingly prestigious career of LeBron James has been by no means perfect. The self-proclaimed “haters” know all about this, and they'll be quick to spin any positive story about LeBron into a tale about his failures. LeBron has made ten appearances in the NBA Finals. Yeah, but he's lost six of them! He's the only player in NBA history who has won a Finals MVP for three separate franchises. Well that's only because he's always changing teams. He's the NBA's all-time leading scorer. Only because he's played forever! He's the only player in NBA history who has scored 40,000 points. Again, that's only because he's played forever! Plus, the Lakers lost to the Nuggets. 

That last part is true, and coincidentally, it happens to be true of a number of LeBron James' milestone scoring nights. The first night of his career, when LeBron scored his first basket, the Kings beat the Cavaliers. The Cavs lost to the Celtics when LeBron reached 10,000 career points and to the Spurs the night LeBron hit the 30,000 point mark. The night LeBron surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, the Lakers fell to the Thunder. And yes, last night, the Lakers lost to the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets.

“Being the first player to do something, it's pretty cool in this league, cause you just know the history, you know the greats that's come through the league,” LeBron said after the game, per Dan Greenspan of the Associated Press. “And then you see some of the greats that was on the floor tonight. It was just great to compete versus that. But for me, the main thing is always the main thing, and that's to win. I just hate that it had to happen in a defeat, especially versus a team that plays extremely well. And we played some good basketball tonight but wasn't able to close it out. So, bittersweet. But I enjoyed every moment tonight though out on the floor.”

This is one of those occasions where, even if it feels bittersweet for LeBron, the reaction from the outside world should be nothing but celebratory. Forgive the LeBron-related pun, but we truly are fortunate to be witnessing a career as long and successful as LeBron James'. For a second, forget about your position on the “Is LeBron the GOAT?” debate. We're not on Undisputed, I'm not Skip Bayless (thank goodness), we can elevate the conversation here.

If you're a fan of the game of basketball, you should consider yourself lucky that we've all been treated to over two decades of LeBron James. Just like we were lucky to have Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Stephen Curry, and all of the other all-time greats who have managed to transcend the NBA and take the game of basketball to new heights. On top of being the best professional basketball league in the world, the NBA is also an entertainment venture, and whether you love LeBron James or hate him, his longevity and sustained excellence have helped to make the NBA a much more interesting place over the last two decades than it would've been otherwise. Can we at least agree that we're all witnesses of that?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in the NBA forever, had one of the most successful careers in league history, and scored 38,387 points. Kareem's record felt unbreakable until LeBron was in pursuit of it. Then it felt inevitable. And while 40,000 points is, in reality, just a large round number, it's one that I never really conceived of until the very recent past. Then LeBron, as he has so often in his career, made the unthinkable very thinkable.

Even though the scoreboard and the standings show a Lakers loss last night, LeBron James was the true winner on Saturday night. Any time you can turn an arena full of basketball fans into an arena full of witnesses — even if they wouldn't admit it — that means you've won the evening.