Giannis Antetokounmpo expressed his ambition to break LeBron James' all-time NBA scoring record within four to five years. The Milwaukee Bucks star made the statement after scoring 29 points in a 116-99 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, reaching 21,002 career points. He became the sixth-youngest player to hit the 21,000-point milestone.
Following the Bucks' 116-99 win against the Brooklyn Nets, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two-time NBA MVP and NBA champion, shared his bold goal of surpassing LeBron James' career scoring record of 42,250 points. Antetokounmpo, in his 13th season, now has 21,002 points, placing him about halfway to the mark. Only nine active players have reached 21,000 points.
Antetokounmpo believes he can achieve the feat by age 35. "I think to get to the top of the scoring list is not six, seven, eight years, I think it's -- in my opinion -- four years away," he said. "Four, five years away. I think I'm going to be 35 years old sitting in this chair having a discussion of I am the top [of the all-time scoring list]. I would have talked that into existence. And not just talked it into existence, because I believe I'm going to do it. It's something that I want to do. But that's too far away. Four, five years from now I might have four other kids. You know, my wife might have left me, who knows four, five years from now."
To break James' record of 42,250 points as of November 30, Antetokounmpo needs 21,249 more points. Averaging his career 24 points per game, more realistic projections suggest it could take 10 years at 31.7 points per game over 67 games per season, or 11 years at 28.8 points per game. He has averaged over 30 points in each of the last four seasons and 67.2 games per season across his career.
Challenges include James continuing to score and Antetokounmpo playing into his 40s, similar to James. His strong health record supports the possibility, but the timeline remains ambitious.