Voltar
LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to make 16,000 regular-season field goals during the Philadelphia 76ers’ 112-106 win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday. His teammates teased him about it in the locker room afterward, and fans have been praising the chemistry around the veteran forward ever since.
Some of those fans went further, holding James’ new surroundings up against his years with the Los Angeles Lakers, the team he played for last season. The win moved Philadelphia to 8-1, first in the Eastern Conference.
James’ 16,000th field goal came on a driving layup with 10:34 left in the second quarter, his second field goal of the night, and the NBA confirmed the milestone while the game was still going. He finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists in 33 minutes.
The ribbing came after the final buzzer, with the 76ers roster congratulating James by saying, “1-2-3, old as [expletive].
James signed with Philadelphia in July, ahead of his 24th season, after playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Lakers. One fan wrote, “Glad he’s back in a non-toxic environment that actually appreciates him.”
James first took the career record as a Laker, when he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Denver in March, months before he signed with Philadelphia. Another fan brought his old team into it, writing, “Lakers would have given the ball to someone else.”
A third fan made the same comparison at greater length, writing that the Lakers “would’ve gotten that ball for a random bench player who scored 8 pts in that game instead of giving it to LeBron.”
Other fans left Los Angeles out of it and focused on the group around James now, which includes Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown. One asked, “When was the last time Bron has team vibes like this?”
Another fan wrote, “At least they trolling and it’s out of love. Bron deserve that.”
One user skipped the comparisons entirely and kept the focus on the room itself, writing that “the vibes is high in that locker room.”
The Sixers visit the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena on December 25, a trip that will put the four-time champion back in the building he called home as a Laker, this time wearing No. 23 for Philadelphia.
James’ 16,000th put him 163 makes ahead of Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 15,837, and three more baskets Wednesday stretched the gap to 166. Abdul-Jabbar is the only other player in league history to reach even 14,000. Every basket the 41-year-old adds in a Sixers uniform widens that margin.