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On Tuesday night, the basketball world turned its attention to Los Angeles to see if LeBron James would be able to score the 36 points he needed to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the list of players who’ve scored the most points over the course of their NBA career.
It seemed like a foregone conclusion that The Kid From Akron would hit the 38,388 mark before the showdown between the Lakers and the Thunder came to an end when he headed into the locker room after putting up 20 points in the first half.
When everything was said and done, he only needed one more quarter to become the new NBA scoring king with the vintage stepback jumper he hit to take sole possession of the top spot in the record book.
HISTORY.
With this bucket, LeBron James moves past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer! pic.twitter.com/N6V5RxPe6r
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 8, 2023
That development likely pleased the thousands of spectators who were willing to pay some truly absurd prices for tickets to witness history. However, there’s one fan who seemingly saw it coming months in advance based on a tweet that went viral after James set a new mark.
It was pretty tough to predict the exact manner in which LeBron would break the scoring record prior to the start of the season, but the fan in question came pretty damn close when they forecasted he’d leap over Kareem while trailing the Thunder by 18 points.
He gon break Kareem record while they down 18 to OKC https://t.co/Sh6e38OV9U
— VP of Wu Tang Financial (@BarbChairScott) October 15, 2022
The Lakers were only down seven when James hit the record-breaking shot, but when you consider that was posted close to four months before the feat, it’s kind of hard not to be somewhat impressed.
It is worth noting that also appeared to be a somewhat educated guess. LeBron was on pace to hit the magic number at some point in the second half of the season, and the Lakers were scheduled to play the Thunder on three occasions between last night and the end of March.
As Silver Screen and Roll points out, James also has a habit of achieving notable personal accomplishments in games where his team’s performance leaves a bit to be desired, so the fan also had a bit of history on their side.