Lakers News: Jerry West Predicts Whether Or Not LeBron James' Scoring Record Will Ever Be Passed

The Logo has some thoughts.

Hall of Fame Los Angeles Lakers guard and front office executive Jerry West sat down for an extensive interview with Los Angeles Clippers All-Star forward Paul George for a new installment of the latter's "Podcast P" show. 

Talk at one point turned to All-NBA Los Angeles small forward LeBron James, who shattered Laker legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's long-standing all-time NBA regular season scoring record this past February (although James had already overtaken Cap in cumulative combined regular season and postseason points during the 2021-22 season). James' new regular season record, for now, is 38,652 points.

West answered in the affirmative when asked if he ever expected Abdul-Jabbar's 39-year record to be broken.

"Oh yeah," West said. "And I'll tell you why. Because we're getting players that are uniquely sized, who have unique skills. I think [James] has gotten better as a shooter, he competes his fanny off, I'm a big fan. And to watch him play, he dominates a game, particularly when it's an open-court game, he will dominate the game. He knows what he's doing, and he carries people. They want to play with him."

George followed up with the next obvious question: would James' record, which will undoubtedly continue to grow exponentially unless he truly makes good on his threats of retirement, ever be surpassed?

"Well the biggest thing with me to try to look at it... can somebody stay healthy that long?" West wondered. "Will we have a four-point shot? Will we have a five-point shot? Who knows where this game is going [in terms of scoring]? I would hope that we have sort of reached the saturation point with these kind of gimmick things [West said in reference to the three-point shooting, the supposedly-impending in-season tournament, and the play-in tournament]."

It's funny that this conversation was with Paul George, a player whose injury absence in the postseason (in combination with his buddy Kawhi Leonard's) quite possibly cost this Clippers team (which West has helped construct) a first round series win over a decent-but-vulnerable Phoenix Suns team.

Are you following us on Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube yet? Join the conversation as we discuss the latest Lakers news and rumors with fans like you!