The Los Angeles Lakers have had no shortage of talent in their ranks.
Legends like George Mikan, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant are just some of the names that come to mind when talking about the 17-time NBA champions.
That’s why — as great as a player as he is — some still don’t consider LeBron James to be Lakers royalty, as the most stacked of his résumé came with two different franchises.
Whatever the case, James is just a handful of points away from entering the history books as a member of the purple and gold, as he just topped the 38,000-point plateau and is trailing Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points.
Needless to say, that remarkable feat wasn’t going to go unnoticed, with former Lakers great Pau Gasol taking to Twitter to give James a shoutout and reminding everybody why they’ve always been a top-notch organization.
Congrats to @KingJames!! Second player in NBA history to hit 38k points!!!!
Who was the first one to reach this number? Of course, another @Lakers player: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. #LakersFamily #LakersNation #proud 💜💛
— Pau Gasol (@paugasol) January 16, 2023
Ironically, James’ signing with the Lakers drew plenty of mixed reactions within the fanbase, with some diehard fans even messing with some murals to make The King know that they were always Team Kobe.
Fast-forward to today, and they might feel quite different about the 38-year-old, who’s been their lone bright spot over the past couple of years, and even helped them raise the 17th banner with a championship run in the bubble.
James still has some work to do to crack the Lakers’ top-10 players list, but there’s no denying that he’s right on track.
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