When LeBron James Declared Himself NBA Goat After Breaking Scoring Record

• The NBA GOAT debate pitting icons Michael Jordan against LeBron James has raged for years
• The debate peaked when James shattered Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's long-standing scoring record in 2023
• The Los Angeles Lakers veteran appeared to declare himself the NBA GOAT after becoming the leading scorer

The NBA GOAT debate between Michael Jordan and LeBron James continues to dominate barbershop discussions.

After the Los Angeles Lakers veteran broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career scoring record, he declared himself the GOAT of the NBA.

Still, some fans dispute that for various reasons, mainly statistical, but the debate is always subjective.

According to ESPN, James broke Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record, which had stood since 1984, in February 2023, and some felt it tipped the balance in the debate.

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Jordan has been retired for two decades, and his name still pops up in everyday basketball discussions.

He owned the 1990s with the Chicago Bulls, with six NBA titles, which came via two three-peats. Jordan's Bulls team remains one of the greatest NBA teams ever.

LeBron James calls himself the GOAT

Shortly after breaking Abdul-Jabbar's record, Lakers icon Shaquille O'Neal asked James if that cemented his status as the GOAT.

"I'm going to let everybody else decide who that is, or just talk about it," James said via CBS Sports. "But it's great barbershop talk."

He was later asked at a press conference and gave an interesting answer.

"If I was the GM of a franchise that was starting up, and I had the number one pick, I would take me. But that's just me, because I believe in myself. I know what I bring to the table. A guy that's been able to transform his game over the course of 20 years to be able to play any position in this league, and excel at any position."

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Before breaking the record, he told the Orange County Register he is the best.

“What I bring to the table as a basketball player … I feel like I’m the best basketball player that ever played the game,” he said.

James has now scored 40,474 points in the NBA, and is the only one to hit the 40,000 mark in history. The Athletic ranked Jordan over James in their top 75 players in NBA history.

James saves USA against South Sudan

Briefly News earlier reported that the USA narrowly defeated South Sudan in an exhibition game in London before the Olympics.

Carlik Jones had a triple-double for South Sudan but missed what would've been a historic game-winner after LeBron James' layup gave the USA a one-point lead with eight seconds.

Much of the pre-game talk was about how the USA were going to crush the South Sudanese because of the significant talent disparity. NBA champion, Paul Pierce even said the African team had no player over 6-foot-3.

Source: TUKO.co.ke