James Washington (182-PG-1987, college: MTSU) is a 35 year old 182cm guard from St Louis, Missouri playing his 12th professional season and first with Energa Kotwica Kolobrzeg (Poland-1Liga). He played at Western Illinois University and Middle Tennessee State university before turning pro in 2011 and playing in Germany for TBB Trier. His career has taken him to other countries like Sweden, Belgium, Croatia, Romania and France. He gave his thoughts about Lebron James breaking the NBA all-time scoring record from Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

Lebron James has beaten Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s NBA all-time scoring record. Did you stay up to watch history?

I tried my best to stay up. It came on a little after 4 am here in Poland. I was able to watch most of the 1st quarter. But I dozed off unfortunately.

How does one put this record into perspective best? It stood almost 40 years?

It’s enormously difficult to put this into perspective. Mainly because LeBron just continues to improve year after year. The crazy part is he is not even close to being finished. He scored 36 points in 26 minutes.

Was it another normal day at the office?

A normal day for him after the jump ball and after his first basket in my opinion. It’s very challenging to block out so much attention and media at that level. So I wouldn’t necessarily call it an overall normal day last night.

Do you know that you are linked in a way indirectly to Lebron James? You played with his friend and ex high school teammate at Trier Dru Joyce.

Dru Joyce is a great friend and big brother of mine. He was an amazing teammate and even better person/mentor. Proud of how he is doing as a college coach at the D1 level. We still keep in contact all the time. We still have countless debates back and forth about who is the greatest between Jordan and Lebron.

How much is that ball going to be worth?

Man, Priceless!!! I don’t think Bron will ever let that ball go. So we probably will never know.

Russell Westbrook made the pass. Do you think that in 20 years the pass could be remembered more than his triple doubles?

That could be a debate of how some people look at it. But in my opinion that was only an assist you would get in the NBA. And Westbrook triple doubles were CRAZY.

His record breaking basket was a step back over Kenrich Williams. Is that the kind of shot you expected knowing the kind of player he is? Or would you have expected a dunk for the spectacular finish?

You know how it is in live action at the highest level. Your usually going to take the easiest basket you can get. But I actually thought he was going to try to do the Kareem sky hook to pass him and pay homage while doing so.

There obviously is a lot of respect for Kareem, by the basketball world, but what would have happened on social media if Lebron had gotten the record with a sky hook shot?

Funny I just mentioned that. But social media is already going wild. And I think the topic will heat up even more as the week continues. But if he would have gotten the record with the sky hook? That would have been super crazy!

Kareem is such a gentleman. You didn’t grow up with him, but what does his legacy mean to younger guys? Can they even understand what that guy did?

My mother was a big Lakers fan so I was a little educated about his body of work on the court. But I would say most of the younger guys don’t understand. He played 20 seasons like Lebron, scored 38,000 plus points like LeBron, but with only 1 made 3 pointer.

Lebron will have more than 40,000 points when it’s all over. Back in 1984 people said it would never be broken? Will this record be broken?

Lebron can probably play for 5 more seasons. So nobody knows how much he will end up scoring. But with the development of the game today at such a young age. Unfortunately I think his record could be broken. Maybe one of these young talents like this Victor Wembanyama kid from France could be one to do it.

If Luka Doncic continues to play to 40 stays fit and becomes a physical specimen like Lebron, could he dethrone him?

Yes if Luka plays for that long, I think he can get it. But in my opinion if Luka wins a ring or 2, he won’t play close to the age of 40.

Does this record finally give Lebron the GOAT status over Michael Jordan?

No!!!! I still can not give Lebron the GOAT label. For me LeBron has always been a guy that fills the stat sheets. So him breaking all these records are of course super impressive. But he didn’t win enough for me. At the end of the day the game is about winning. Jordan had 6 rings and never lost in the finals. That’s ridiculous!

What is your favorite Lebron moment that you witnessed live or on TV?

I would probably have to say when he caught the lob and dunked on Jason Terry. People made it to a meme still to this day.

Thanks James for the chat.

Tags : JAMES WASHINGTON, ENERGA KOTWICA KOLOBRZEG, GERMAN BASKETBALL