LeBron James backs Kevin Durant to pass his scoring record

Los Angeles Lakers talisman LeBron James stands on the cusp of another huge record. James is only 35 points away from breaching the 38,000-point mark and join the great Kareem Abdur-Jabbar as the only second player in the history of the NBA to score more than 38000 points. James currently has 37965 points in 1397 games.

Jabbar had scored 38387 points in his glorious career of 1560 matches and James is soon expected to leapfrog the former veteran. Meanwhile, James feels Kevin Durant can surpass his scoring rate.

Durant is currently in 14th place on the list of all-time scorers with 26684 points in 978 matches. The Brooklyn Nets star is currently 34 years old and thus has got age on his side.

“I mean, KD is the first thing that comes to mind for sure,” James said in an interview with ESPN.

“His name is not easy money and slim reaper for no reason. He does it so effortlessly. His ability to shoot the three ball, shoot the mid-range, get to the paint, but also shoot 85-90 from the free throw line. Those are key ingredients and the most important is about being available on the floor,” James continued.

James also backed Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo to be the contenders but feels luck also plays a part.

“We have a lot of great scorers in our league, with KD being one of them, Kyrie, Luka, Embiid, Giannis, they put numbers on the board, but you have to have a little luck as well,” James said.

“We all know that health is the most important in life, not only in sports, but in life in general.”

James had to sit out of the previous Lakers’ match against Denver Nuggets. The Lakers will host Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.