LeBron James has been making the record books with seemingly every game this year. His multi-faceted game allows for him to reach milestones in every department, and that is part of what makes him such a special player.
On Monday night, James passed Norm Nixon for number 25 on the NBA’s all time assists list. He had 6,382 assists coming into tonight and needed five to pass Nixon’s 6,386 assists and climb into the 25th spot. He passed Nixon in the first half of tonight’s game on an assist, and finished with 13 assists.
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Not only did he pass Nixon on the assists list, but James’ taking over the number 25 spot also means that he joined Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to rank in the top 25 in both all time points and all time assists.
“I think what we get caught up in, in our league too much, is trying to compare greats to greats, instead of just accepting and acknowledging and saying, ‘Wow, these are just great players,'” James said after the win. “I think in the NFL, when you talk about great quarterbacks, they don’t really compare great quarterbacks. They say, ‘Oh, Joe Montana is great.’ You know, ‘Tom Brady is great. Aaron Rodgers is great. Steve Young is great.’ [Terry] Bradshaw, all those great quarterbacks, they never compare them as much.
“But when it comes to our sport, we’re so eager to say, ‘Who is better: Oscar or [Michael] Jordan?’ or ‘Jordan or LeBron or Kobe [Bryant] or these guys?’ instead of just accepting greatness. And if you understand the history of the sport, then there is no way you could ever forget Oscar Robertson. This guy, he averaged a triple-double for like, forever.”
James had 24,913 points and ranked number 26 on the all time scoring list entering the season, and passed both Artis Gilmore and Jerry West to climb into number 24 on the all time scoring list. Last night, James’ officially entered the top 25 in assists against the Orlando Magic, led by head coach Scott Skiles, who has the NBA record for most assists in a single game with 30. He also talked about James joining Robertson.
“Every time there is a great young player, everybody always talks about Michael [Jordan] and stuff like that, but to me, he’s always been more of like a Magic or an Oscar-type player, anyway, because of his vision,” said Skiles. “That’s what makes him so difficult to defend. Give him a steady diet of running and double-teaming him or whatever, he’s going to carve you up. He’s going to hit everybody [with passes], find everybody, find the open man. His vision certainly sets him apart from a lot of the great players.”
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LeBron was asked about whether he and the Big O., Oscar Robertson, speak.
“Any time we get an opportunity to either see each other or talk to each other, it’s always respect,” James said. “He’s a guy who laid the foundation, and I’m just trying to carry it on. How guys can be triple-threats, play for the team first, and then hopefully, someone else can take the example that I took from him and keep it going.”
James took to Instagram as well as the game to post about the accomplishment with the Big O.