Shaq's 25000

[3P]

What do you think of Shaq surpassing 25000? Will he continue on and making a run at Kareem or will he fail to reach 30000? Is his career over or is he going to continue rolling on?

[maes]

Won't happen. Even if Shaq went up to last year's pace (20 ppg, 59 games) it will take him 5 more years.

But still, it's an amazing accomplishment...there are very few Centers in that list of top 25 scorers of all time.

[Slamduncan]

won't stay in the league long enough to get 30000

[beau_boy04]

Shaq won't pass the 28,500 mark

Other than that amazing career for the big fella!

[Bruce]

I think he could if he really wanted to. It's hard to really see how much impact his bad knee is giving him. I think it is all up to the success of his recent surgery that will dictate how shaq ends his career. but i think the days that shaq scores in the 20s and average 30+ mpg is over.

[Andrew]

If he was still putting up the same numbers as he was a couple of years ago and didn't have the nagging injuries that seem to be plaguing him as he gets older, I'd say he could have a decent shot. As it stands, he's probably not going to keep playing long enough to come close to Kareem's record. If he's got a couple of years left in him I'd say he'll get around 28,000.

Having said that, scoring 25,000 is no mean feat and not reaching 30,000 or passing Kareem won't hurt the legacy that Shaq has established.

[Bruce]

If he was still putting up the same numbers as he was a couple of years ago and didn't have the nagging injuries that seem to be plaguing him as he gets older, I'd say he could have a decent shot. As it stands, he's probably not going to keep playing long enough to come close to Kareem's record. If he's got a couple of years left in him I'd say he'll get around 28,000.

Having said that, scoring 25,000 is no mean feat and not reaching 30,000 or passing Kareem won't hurt the legacy that Shaq has established.

yeah, I think he has a decent shot at making 5th in the all time scoring list at the end of his career. afterwhich the likes of iverson, bryant, lebron and dwight will barge in to the all-time scoring list to put shaq at around 10th in the all-time scoring list.

[McDwyane]

nice job making the 25000,not sure if he can reach 30000

[gergerjai]

afterwhich the likes of iverson, bryant, lebron and dwight will barge in to the all-time scoring list to put shaq at around 10th in the all-time scoring list.

As much a beast as Dwight is, I don't think he will be the kind of guy that scores a lot. He will probably be pretty high on the all-time rebounding list though.

[Matt]

if only Shaq shot better from the FT line.....

[Tuomas]

...or had shot. I bet someone out of high school could break Kareem's record since they have 2-3 more playing years. Bryant?

[Dan's Brain]

Is it easier for a big man, a swingman, or a little guy to remain a consistent scorer for a lot of years? whose body would take the most punishment over the course of their career? whoever can keep themselves in the best possible shape for the longest amount of time would be able to come close to the record.

LeBron is probably the best bet for it. being a 20 point scorer as a 19 year old rookie is a good base to start from.

[Shi]

...or had shot. I bet someone out of high school could break Kareem's record since they have 2-3 more playing years. Bryant?

I'd say Bryant aswell.

[Drex]

LeBron is the youngest to reach 5000 points (or sth like that), right? I'd say he's could break Kareem's record. But I doubt it.

[beau_boy04]

Lebron James lack of motivation is killing me or maybe is his team poor play that is killing him

[Loenatic]

I don't think Shaq can reach the 30,000,but at this pace Kobe will.

[Andrew]

...or had shot. I bet someone out of high school could break Kareem's record since they have 2-3 more playing years. Bryant?

Kobe has to be a top candidate if you had to pick a player right now but maintaining the kind of scoring average he has now for around 15 years is easier said than done. The fact he came out of high school is no guarantee either; while he started racking up the points at a younger age, his body started suffering the wear and tear of professional basketball at 17 as well.

No active player is close to breaking Kareem's record yet. When they're pushing 30,000 points and still look like having years left we can talk about players having a really good shot at it.

[beau_boy04]

In 1978-79 Kareem was in his 10 years pro at 32 years of age
Kobe was 28 last year, with 10 years pro.

Kareem at the end of that season had 22,141 with 773 games played
Kobe as of last year ended with 16,866 with 707 games under his belt.

Difference is 5275 and 66 more games by Kareem. But then Kobe was 4 years younger in his 10th season as a pro.

You make your own conclusion

[Sauru]

kareems record will fall for sure. one of the highschool stars will take it down

[Andrew]

In 1978-79 Kareem was in his 10 years pro at 32 years of age
Kobe was 28 last year, with 10 years pro.

Kareem at the end of that season had 22,141 with 773 games played
Kobe as of last year ended with 16,866 with 707 games under his belt.

Difference is 5275 and 66 more games by Kareem. But then Kobe was 4 years younger in his 10th season as a pro.

You make your own conclusion

The conclusion I draw is that Kobe's in a great position to make a run at the record but nothing happens until it happens. We can do the math but ultimately Kobe has to play all those games and score all those points. Until then, it's speculation; not a given.

[3P]

Until then, it's speculation; not a given.

All the Kobe-hatters here probally want a repeat of Livingstons leg with Kobe.

Also why be so hyped about Kobe, Lebron came in the same age as Kobe, the only difrence is Lebron avraged 20ppg as a rookie while Kobe only had 7ppg. Kobe might end up breaking it, but either way at the end of Lebrons carrer he will be the all-time scoring leader.

[BigKaboom2]

Do you folks realize that Kareem scored over 38,000? Some people seem to think he's around 30,000 due to the original post. No way will anyone ever break that record, though I wish they would since Kareem is the original whine-after-every-frigging call player and constantly used his off-hand to hold off his defender while shooting a sky hook. (Not to mention he played for the Lakers )

[Christopherson]

Karl Malone did manage to score almost 37000 career points. However, Malone almost NEVER missed a game to injury. For someone to break Kareem's record it is going to have to be a perfect storm of sorts. Someone is going to have to have the talent, durability and longevity in order to surpass the record. That being said, new advances in medicine and performance enhancers make me think that it is possible to see someday. I just still don't think it will ever happen.

[beau_boy04]

Kobe's first 3 years - 2755 points in 200 games
LB23's first 3 years - 6307 points in 238 games
MJ23's first 3 years - 5762 points in 182 games
Jabbar's first 3 y - 7779 points in 245 games
Malone's first 3 y - 5250 points in 245 games

Kareem/Malone only missed 1 game in their first 3 seasons as a pro. Kareem played 1560 games out of a possible 1640 games. (82x20=1640)
Malone played 18 seasons (17 in Utah and his final season as a Lakers). In his first 17 seasons he played 1394 out of 1434 possible games . Throughout his career he played between 80-82 games but 2 seasons in which he got injured and played 49 and 42 games. So if anybody wants to break the record they pretty much can't have more than 2 injuries throughout his career. Kobe has already missed 113 games due to whatever reason there is in 10 years.

As you can see DURABILITY will play a big factor. That being said Iverson and T-Mac are out of the equation

[Sauru]

Do you folks realize that Kareem scored over 38,000? Some people seem to think he's around 30,000 due to the original post. No way will anyone ever break that record, though I wish they would since Kareem is the original whine-after-every-frigging call player and constantly used his off-hand to hold off his defender while shooting a sky hook. (Not to mention he played for the Lakers )

someone will easily break kareems record. jordan could have done it no problem if not for his 2 retirements. lebron stays healthy the record is easily his, even if kobe does break it first.