WITNESSing Greatness: LeBron Joins Oscar Robertson in Elite Club
LeBron James achieved another historic feat by becoming a member of an elite club populated only by Oscar Robertson…until now. James continued his assault on the record books when he delivered his fifth assist of the night, moving him past Norm Nixon for 25th place in the all-time assists record.
By doing so, he joined the Big O as the only players in the top 25 all-time scoring and assists club. The achievement came Monday night when the Orlando Magic visited the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs cruised to a 117-103 win with James once again in the spotlight from his latest career accomplishment.
Nov 21, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard
Dennis Schroder(17) defends against Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) during the third quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs won 109-97. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
After the win, LeBron downplayed the comparison to Robertson and eschewed the comparisons to one of the game’s all-time greats. Here’s a transcript of his postgame interview courtesy of ESPN.
"“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,'”"
At the same time, James also pointed out that there’s hardly any conversation about comparing current NFL players with their legendary counterparts.
"“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.”"
LeBron currently holds the 19th spot in the all-time scoring list with 25,274 points and needs just six points to pass Reggie Miller and move into the 18th spot on the list.
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In the assists department, the King now sits comfortably in the 25th spot with 6,397 assists but he is only 57 and 58 assists away from passing Reggie Theus (24th) and John Lucas (23rd), respectively. With his current average of 6.7 assists per game this season, he will most likely move ahead of both players after nine more games.
Robertson is in the top 11 in scoring all-time and is in 6th place in the all-time assists department and once led all players in the latter category before Magic Johnson, John Stockton, and others moved ahead of him.
Additionally, James is just ten steals away from 30th place in steals, currently occupied by Terry Porter.
Join us weekly on WITNESSing Greatness as we chronicle King James’ career accomplishments this season.