“He Was Very, Very Wrong!”: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Calls Out Magic Johnson Over Bold Claim on LeBron James’ Historic Record

LeBron James recently registered a new historic moment in the NBA after breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record. After 39 long years, the Los Angeles Lakers legend passed on the scoring torch to his Lakers’ superstar after James scored 38 points against Oklahoma City Thunder on February 7. Many experts had speculated for months about how Kareem would feel when LeBron broke his record, given their shaky relationship. One such expert was Kareem’s former Lakers teammate Magic Johnson. Recently, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar claimed that Magic Johnson got it all wrong in his bold claim while expressing his feelings about James surpassing him.

In October 2022, Magic Johnson shared his belief that LeBron James breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time breaking record would be ‘a hard pill to swallow’ for the six-time NBA champ. Magic felt that Kareem thought his record would never be broken. However, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar disagreed with his former Lakers teammate’s comments.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar takes a dig at Magic Johnson

In a recent update on Kareem Subtack, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stated that he loved Magic Johnson. The 19-time All-Star suggested that Magic knew him quite well after forty years of friendship. Kareem continued, “If he publicly announced that I had suddenly shrunk to 5’2″, even I would be tempted to believe him. But, in this case, he was very, very wrong.”

The six-time MVP reckoned that Magic Johnson was wrong about him feeling sour when his record got conquered. Moreover, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar clarified that he did not blame Johnson because Magic was aware of how competitive he used to be during his playing days. The 1970 Rookie of the Year added, “And, if someone had broken my record within ten years of me setting it, he would probably be right. I might have hobbled out of retirement just to add a few more points on my record.”

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However, The 75-year-old pointed out that he only thought of the record when someone mentioned it to him. Moreover, Kareem also laid out his priorities in life 34 years after he retired from the NBA.

Kareem prioritizes family over records

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said that he had invested himself in social activism, his career as a writer, and his family, including his three grandchildren. Moreover, the two-time Finals MVP insisted, “If I had a choice of having my scoring record remain intact for another hundred years or spend one afternoon with my grandchildren, I’d be on the floor in seconds stacking Legos and eating Uncrustables.”

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The Lakers legend felt that spending time with his grandchildren was more important than fretting over his record, which remained unshaken for nearly forty years. Thus, Kareem believed that Magic Johnson had got it wrong this time. He was more concerned about ‘picking the right word in his sentence’ than LeBron James breaking his record.