Lakers: Charles Barkley Believes LeBron James Has The Greatest Story Of All Time

Everything that Lakers forward LeBron James has went through has put him in sight of the all-time leading scorer

When it's all said and done, the basketball world will truly miss the greatness that is LeBron James. James currently sits just under 1300 points away from breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all time regular season scoring record. 

To be fair, James has already surpassed the previous record for combined all-time scoring in the regular season and playoffs, also held by Abdul-Jabbar. James has scored 44,724 points in the regular season and playoffs, while Abdul-Jabbar poured in 44,149. Behind them are two other Lakers, Karl Malone (okay, okay, it was one season, but still) with 41,689 combined points, and Kobe Bryant with 39.283. Michael Jordan's 38,279 cumulative points round out the top five.

Despite the hate he has received throughout his career since his days of joining Miami, James has been an ideal role model for what it means to exemplify greatness. At 37 years old, James is doing things the basketball world has never seen before and has had consistent greatness since his rookie season.

James has made the All-Star team every single season except his rookie year and it is arguably he should've made it anyways. James is a four-time NBA champion with three different teams and has been the most love and hated player in the NBA.

All this and a lot more was enough evidence for NBA Hall of Famer and Inside The NBA Analyst Charles Barkley to consider James as the greatest sports story of all time (via NBA on TNT).

"We love LeBon. He's one of the greatest people I've been around. I've said this public before I think his story is the greatest sport story of all time. What I mean by that is Kobe struggled early in his career. Same with Kevin Garnett and other guys. They turned into great all timers but they struggled. LeBron James is the only guy in my 40 years of NBA who came out at 18, who was as good as advertised. His story coming out at 18, being as good as advertised, and has never been in trouble. I think he's one of the greatest stories of all time."

Fans should enjoy greatness while it lasts because sooner or later father time will inevitably catch up. Until then, the greatness of James is something to keep an eye on and something that may not be replicated for many years.