Only 350 goals are missing to surpass Jabbar! Under the rule of post-00s, 40-year-old James continues the legendary suspense with his transformation

The warm yellow lights were still on at midnight. The sweaty figure under the training stand was repeatedly practicing the three-point shooting trajectory of the bottom corner. 40-year-old LeBron James pulled up the hem of his jersey to wipe his forehead, and the gilded embroidery on the side of his pants floated in the beam - this picture makes people see the young boy who walked out of Akron in 2003, but now his hair is frosty, and his knee pads draw a heavy arc when they jump. When Doncics used to chop the traffic on Douyin to harvest traffic, James was using shooting training to break his palms to remeasure the time scale of the "basketball legend".

The cry to surpass Jabbar to become the historical scoring champion in 2023 is still in my ears. The achievement of "411 Project" in 2024 (40,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 10,000 assists) has forced the basketball encyclopedia to open a separate chapter. And in the second round of the 2025 playoff G6, when he hit a key jumper before the final game, the 50,000-point (regular season + playoff) milestone displayed by the technical station made Jordan (5987-point playoff score) behind him only look up to him.

The most shocking thing is the potential breakthrough next season: Jabbar recorded the first record of a regular season goal scored 15837, and is now chased by James with 15488 goals. With his efficiency of 9.3 goals per game this season, he can surpass it in less than 40 games. You should know that the three-point line in Tiangou's era is still a decoration, and James' threat outside the three-point line (career 1994 three-pointer) has made the defender retreat outside the three-point line, and in this case he can still maintain a 60.7% shooting percentage at the basket. No wonder Popovich would say: "He has completed the rewriting of history in two basketball languages. "

It is undeniable that the average score of 24.4 points this season is the lowest since his rookie season. In the final quarter, the "Little Emperor" who was able to rush from the backcourt to dunk now has more choices to support the top of the arc; the first step in the breakthrough can no longer easily pass the defender, and the turnover jump shot after a single back has become the main weapon. Data shows that his proportion of shots at the basket this season has dropped to 32%, while the proportion of mid-range jumpers has increased to 28% - this is not a compromise, but an accurate calculation of the body by the old Jianghu. The changes on the defensive end are more intuitive. When Morant broke through, James' lateral movement speed could not keep up with the naked eye; when he was stuck in the rebound, the explosive power of the young inside also made him suffer occasionally. But he learned to make up for the speed flaw with predictions: this season, he averaged 1.3 steals per game and was still higher than 82% of the league's forwards, and his defensive position at critical moments is still the core of the Lakers' tacticality. As Coach Vogel said: "He is now defending with his brain, and those details of getting stuck in advance are needed to watch videos and learn for three years. "

The two-year 100 million contract last summer has now become the focus of public opinion. ESPN famous reporter Shams revealed that James is likely to implement the 52.6 million player option next season, but the Lakers' drastic changes have left the future full of fog: the Bass family sells most of its equity, and the shocking deal between Doncic and Davis gives the team a clear signal to rebuild. When the new boss emphasized the "rejuvenating strategy" at the press conference, 40-year-old James stood at the end of the player's passage and looked a little lonely. The more realistic problem is lineup adaptability. Doncic and James' "dual cores" seem gorgeous, but in fact they have hidden defensive loopholes: both of them are ranked 30% behind the league in defensive efficiency this season, and the scene of being targeted by their opponents in the playoffs is still vivid in my mind. Without the strong eyebrows protecting the basket, the Lakers' inside line has become a sieve. This lineup is difficult to cross the Nuggets in the Western Conference semi-finals. Perhaps James himself also knows: when the team no longer aims to compete for the championship, will he still be willing to continue as a "role player"? After all, he once said: "I would rather retire than do irrelevant things on the court. "

In the locker room, James's locker always has two pairs of sneakers: one is a signature model for the game, and the other is a professional protective gear for rehabilitation and training. This paranoia for details allowed him to maintain 82 full attendance at the age of 40. When Wade and Paul had already retired, and Durant and Harden began to suffer from injuries, he was like a sophisticated machine, fighting against the law of time with scientific maintenance.

Perhaps we should look at the problem from a different perspective: When other stars chase rings at their peak, James is challenging the greatness of another dimension - how to still use basketball wisdom to become the core of the team while physical functions decline. This ability to "reverse growth" is more worthy of writing into a basketball textbook than any record. As for how many years can I fight? Look at the 100 three-pointers he added after training. When the sound of the ball hollow into the net still echoes in the arena, the answer is hidden in those never-ending sweat.

After all, in the basketball world, the true legend never ages, but when the years carve marks on the skin, the desire for victory can still thump like the 2003 draft night.