LeBron James as he approaches 30,000 career points: “I’ve never given myself a ceiling”

MINNEAPOLIS– LeBron James has had his fair share of accomplishments in his 15 NBA seasons, but he’s approaching a pretty big one nonetheless.

James is just 136 points away from becoming the seventh player in league history to score 30,000 or more points (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Dirk Nowitzki). Considering James is averaging 27.6 points per game this season, he should reach the milestone around five games from now, which would be next Thursday against Orlando.

Although, this is one of the greats we’re talking about here. It won’t be shocking if it comes sooner.

When James accomplishes the feat, he may not get there in the fewest games, (That honor belongs to Abdul-Jabbar who joined the 30,000 point club in game No. 1,101. James will play his 1,101st game tonight against Minnesota.) but he will be the youngest player to reach 30,000 points at 33 years old, dethroning Bryant who was 34.

But with more attention on James’ impending milestone, he was asked after shootaround on Monday if he has his sights on Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record of 38,387.

“No. No. I haven’t,” James said Monday. “As far as stats go in my career, I’ve never thought about catching anybody. And I guess it’s just allowed me to be able to have feats that I can accomplish. I’ve never given myself a ceiling or a threshold of where I want to go.

“Listen, I’ve been blessed to play this game and this is my 15th year and everything for me is kind of extra credit at this point. For me to be able to get past Year 1 or Year 2 or Year 3, get past my rookie contract and do the things that I’ve done, I just appreciate that I can play this game at the level that I’m doing still.”

While none of us knows how long James’ career will last, the fact that it’s still possible for him to catch the all-time record is pretty extraordinary. But first comes 30,000.

The Cavs tip off against Minnesota at 8 p.m. as James will look to inch closer to the milestone.