As LeBron James makes history, his Lakers come to grips with their dire present
Before each game, LeBron James takes a black Sharpie and writes “The Man in the Arena” on the side of his sneakers.
The Theodore Roosevelt-inspired phrase, which has come to define James during his legendary 20-year career, was no more applicable than on Tuesday night, when James was the center of the sports universe as he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time scoring leader.
“Tonight, I actually felt like I was sitting on top of arena tonight when that shot went in and the roar from the crowd,” James said afterward. “I’m not sure if I would be able to feel that feeling again.”
James’ historic top-of-the-world feeling was in sharp contrast to the somber, awkward postgame vibe in his team’s locker room. As James got dressed and hung out with his sons, Bryce and Bronny, in front of a half-dozen cameras for his future documentary, multiple Los Angeles Lakers players declined to speak to reporters, including Russell Westbrook for the second consecutive availability (he also declined at Monday’s practice). In the first half, Westbrook and Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy got into their second heated discussion on the bench over the past few weeks.
James’ co-star Anthony Davis, who had a quiet 13-point, 8-rebound performance after looking more like his old self during the second half of the road trip, was interestingly one of the last players to clap and celebrate James’ accomplishment, as revealed in a now viral video clip shared from behind the Lakers’ bench. Davis spoke with the media afterward, saying all of the right things about James breaking the record. But he was visibly dejected, whether by his production, another loss or something else.
This was the backdrop of James’ accomplishment: the 13th-place Lakers suffering a critical 133-130 loss to the 12th-place Oklahoma City Thunder and missing another opportunity to jump over a team ahead of them in the standings. With just 27 games remaining in the season, the Lakers now sit two games out of the final Play-In Tournament slot and four games back of the No. 6 position that would guarantee a playoff berth.
At the time of James’ historic basket, the Lakers trailed by five points. They still had a shot. But the Thunder, who used the momentum of the moment to their advantage, separated themselves once again with their ball movement and 3-point shooting in the fourth. Lakers coach Darvin Ham eventually decided to bench James and wave the proverbial white flag.
“Our offense, I think got stagnant and the guys, they wanted to see LeBron do what he did tonight,” Ham said. “A lot of times I think the attention was more about the focus was more about trying to get Bron to the record as opposed to just playing natural basketball.”
There have been few moments for the Lakers and their fans to genuinely be excited about since their 2020 championship. James’ record-breaking performance was one of those exceptions.
There was a buzz in Crypto.com Arena unlike any regular season game in recent memory. Lakers staffers compared the anticipation and atmosphere to Kobe Bryant’s final game in 2016 and Bryant’s jersey retirement in 2017. There were over 200 media members in attendance, a number typical of a Conference finals or Finals game, forcing the Lakers to use a much larger auxiliary press conference room to accommodate everyone.
In addition to James’ wife, Savannah, children, Bronny, Bryce and Zhuri, and mother, Gloria, he had dozens of friends and family members in attendance. The courtside celebrity list was impressive: Denzel Washington, Jay-Z, Bad Bunny, Floyd Mayweather, Usher, LL Cool J and Andy Garcia, among many others. Former teammates Dwyane Wade and Richard Jefferson were sitting in Lakers governor Jeanie Buss’ section. Abdul-Jabbar sat next to the Lakers’ bench, and Laker legends James Worthy and Bob McAdoo were also present.
The Crypto.com Arena crowd stood in anticipation during warmups. The arena roared every time James scored. They worked up into a fervor anytime he got up off the bench and walked to the scorer’s table to check in. They chanted “MVP!” when he was the free throw line. They serenaded him after he broke the record on a 14-foot fadeaway jumper late in the third quarter.
“It was electric, man,” Ham said. “And this is the first time — I have to think about it, but yeah, something of this magnitude outside of a Finals matchup or a Finals win, this is definitely, the electricity in the building hours beforehand. He gave the people what they wanted in true LeBron fashion.”
James, who arrived in a shiny all-black suit, delivered on what everyone wanted. He scored 20 points in the first and reached 36 points with 10.9 seconds left in the third quarter. James looked emotionally, physically and mentally drained, sticking his arms up in triumph before running to the other side of the floor and bending over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath. James’ teammates walked onto the floor, clapped and cheered, celebrating the historic moment they witnessed.
Then, a surreal scene unfolded, as a preplanned stoppage in play occurred for about 10 minutes. NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Abdul-Jabbar honored James during an emotional passing-of-the-torch moment at center court. His friends and family surrounded him, as well as photographers and select media members.
“I just want to say thank you to the Laker faithful,” James said on a microphone. “You guys are one of a kind. To be able to be in the presence of such a legend as great as Kareem, it’s very humbling.”
As has been the case in some of his recent milestones in a Lakers jersey — including passing Kobe Bryant for No. 3 and Karl Malone for No. 2 on the all-time scoring list — the game itself became something of an afterthought. After the crowd reached a euphoric pitch during James’ ceremony, it was silent for much of the final frame. The Lakers momentarily tied the game with 9:34 left, but otherwise trailed by double-digits or near-double digits for much of the quarter.
Throughout James’ pursuit, he and Ham have maintained that winning games and making the postseason were their goals, and the scoring record would inevitably happen. But it’s been a talking point for weeks, with James, Ham and the rest of the team being asked about it during every press availability.
On the one hand, the hallowed record is so revered that it deserved the recognition it’s received. This is a once-in-a-generation moment. With players increasingly sitting out regular-season games for load management, along with the increased severity of lower extremity injuries due to the game’s spread out nature, there’s a chance that James’ record — which he’ll continue to build on for at least two more seasons — will stand for several decades.
On the other hand, the chase certainly became something of a distraction. The focus of recent games was analyzing how far James was from passing Abdul-Jabbar and trying to calculate when he’d break it. Anytime James touched the ball on Tuesday, there was fervor among the crowd. His teammates picked up on that, feeding him the ball every chance they could, sometimes to the detriment of their offensive flow. The collective weight of James’ record may be lifted, but the disappointment with another dispiriting loss and the uncertainty of the Feb. 9 trade deadline still clearly hovered over the group.
“Now we just move on and try to submerge ourselves in how we try and get better and win games and win enough so we can be in a position to where we’re in the postseason,” Ham said.
Tuesday’s loss encapsulated the tragic nature of James’ Laker career outside of the 2019-20 season. He continues to break records and accomplish milestones that further cement his legacy as one of the greatest players ever, if not the greatest. He remains as dominant and brilliant as ever. He’s a singular force who can draw the biggest celebrities in the world to come see him make history.
But the 13th-place Lakers are at increased risk of missing the postseason for the third time in his five seasons. It’s difficult to separate the two, as the Lakers showed in recent weeks. Now that James has accomplished his goal, all that remains for this season is whether he and the Lakers — potentially with the help of a pre-deadline trade — can accomplish their collective one.
