“Blessed to Not Make it”: 20x All-Star LeBron James Reflects on Career’s 1st Selection After Surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James continues to surprise the NBA world. A year after surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the scoring champion, he again surpassed him tonight with another record. He went on to become the record holder for earning a spot in the All-Star game for the 20th time, beating Jabbar’s 19 x All-Star appearances. Following that feat, he opened up on missing out All-Star spot in his rookie season.

Apart from his rookie season, James has played in every single All-Star game of his career. Reflecting on the rookie season, the post-game interviewer asked if he was mad about it. King James responded, by saying, “It made me stronger, going into year two… I needed to put in some more work. I was blessed to not make it in my first year because it definitely put me in a position where I needed to go harder.”

The third fans returns result came in earlier today and LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo continue to lead the league with most votes. And James picked up the mic to thank his fans for voting him for his 20th NBA All-Star appearance. He said, “I am very gifted, very blessed, very humbled… It means a lot to me… Hopefully I can continue to make my fans proud… It’s always an honor.”

Notably, King James’ words came in after his steady 25-point outing against the Chicago Bulls to seal a comfortable 141-132 win. It wasn’t just a one-man-show, as D’Angelo Russell continued his red-hot form ever since his trade rumors.

The Lakers are currently looking to rope in an offensive spearhead ahead of the trade deadline, Russell seems to be the one, who is going to bid farewell to the Purple and Gold team.

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Keeping the Lakers’ run this season aside, let us look into the historical All-star ladder.

Most All-Star appearance ladder

After leaving out Bron and Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant currently holds the third place with 18 appearances, followed by Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Shaquille O’Neal with 15 appearances. And, Michael Jordan stands in the seventh spot with 14 appearances.

Moreover, there are only three active players  on the list with more than 10 appearance. Kevin Durant with 13, CP3 with 12 and James Harden with 10.

Stephen Curry had the opportunity to climb up to his 10th All-Star game. Unfortunately, the 4x NBA Champion failed make the cut and he is expected to make it to the reserves.

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What do you make of LeBron James’ mindset on not making the All-Star appearance in his rookie season? Let us know in the comments below.