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      Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Is Greater Than Any Basketball Record

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      His N.B.A. career scoring record has been broken, but his legacy of activism and his expansion of Black athlete identity endure.Some athletes live swaddled in their greatness, and that is enough. Others not only master their sport but also expand the possibilities — in competition and away from it — for generations to come. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did just that, including for LeBron James, who has laid claim to the N.B.A. career scoring record that Abdul-Jabbar had held so tight for nearly 39 years.It is easy to forget now, in today’s digitized world where week-old events are relegated to the historical dustbin, how much of a force Abdul-Jabbar was as a player and cultural bellwether. How, as the civil rights movement heated to a boil in the 1960s and then simmered over the ensuing decade, Abdul-Jabbar, a Black man who had adopted a Muslim name, played under the hot glare of a white American public that strained to accept him or see him as relatable.It is easy to forget because he helped make it easier for others, like James, to trace his path. That is what will always keep his name among the greats of sport, no matter how many of his records fall.Guided by the footsteps of Jackie Robinson and Bill Russell, Abdul-Jabbar pushed forward, stretching the limits of Black athlete identity. He was, among other qualities, brash and bookish, confident and shy, awkward, aggressive, graceful — and sometimes an immense pain to deal with. He could come off as simultaneously square and the smoothest, coolest cat in the room.In other words, he was a complete human being, not just the go-along-to-get-along, one-dimensional Black athlete much of America would have preferred him to be.James has run with the branding concept that he is “More Than an Athlete.” Fifty-plus years ago, Abdul-Jabbar, basketball’s brightest young star, was already living that ideal.“He is more than a basketball player,” a Milwaukee newspaper columnist wrote during Abdul-Jabbar’s early years as a pro. “He is an intelligent, still maturing man, who realizes some of the individual and collective frailties of human beings, including himself.”James’s ability to make a cultural impact off the court is the fruit of the trees Abdul-Jabbar planted decades ago.Abdul-Jabbar, front right, was one of the prominent Black athletes at the Cleveland Summit in June 1967, with Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, front left; the boxer Muhammad Ali, front row, second from left; and the N.F.L. star Jim Brown, front row, second from right.Getty ImagesAs a star at the basketball powerhouse U.C.L.A. in June 1967, a 20-year-old Abdul-Jabbar was the only collegian with the football legend Jim Brown at the Cleveland Summit, a meeting of prominent Black athletes who gathered in support of Muhammad Ali’s refusal to fight in the Vietnam War.The next year Abdul-Jabbar shunned the Summer Olympics to protest American prejudice. “America is not my home,” he said in a televised interview. “I just live here.”In those days, Harry Edwards, now a University of California, Berkeley, sociology professor emeritus, led a new wave of Black athletes in protests against American racism. Abdul-Jabbar was a vital part of that push. He also converted to Islam to embrace his Black African heritage, and changed his name from Lew Alcindor to Kareem (generous) Abdul (servant of Allah) Jabbar (powerful).“You have to understand the context,” Edwards told me recently. “We’re still arguing over whether Black lives matter. Well, back then, Black lives absolutely did not matter. In that time, when you said ‘America,’ that was code for ‘white folks.’ So, how do those folks identify with a Black athlete who says I am a Muslim, I believe in Allah, that is what I give my allegiance to? They didn’t, and they let him know.”Edwards added: “What Kareem did was seen as a betrayal of the American ideal. He risked his life.”Black athletes still face backlash for standing up to racism, but their voices are more potent, and their sway is mightier now because of Black legends like Ali, Robinson, Russell and Abdul-Jabbar.You saw their imprint when James wore a T-shirt that said “I Can’t Breathe” for Eric Garner, or a hoodie for Trayvon Martin, or when he joined an N.B.A. work stoppage for Jacob Blake. When right-wing pundits attack James and his peers for protesting, remember that Abdul-Jabbar has been in the hot seat, too.The message here isn’t “Been there, done that, don’t need to hear it anymore.” No, that’s not it at all.What I am saying is this: No one rises alone.In this moment of basketball celebration for James, think about what he shares on the court with the 7-foot-2 center whose record he is taking: a foundation of transcendent, game-changing talent.Nowadays, a younger generation might know Abdul-Jabbar mainly as the sharp-eyed commentator and columnist on the internet — or simply as the guy whose name they had to scroll past in the record books to get to James’s. But his revolutionary prowess as a player can never be diminished.He led U.C.L.A. to three national titles in his three years of eligibility, his teams accumulating a scorched-earth record of 88-2. Along the way, the N.C.A.A. banned dunking, a move many believe was made to hinder his dominance, and U.C.L.A. came to be known as the University of California at Lew Alcindor.Abdul-Jabbar’s signature shot was the sky hook, which no one else has been able to perform quite like him.Rich Clarkson/NCAA Photos, via Getty ImagesSoon, there he was, dominating the N.B.A. with his lithe quickness and a singular, iconic shot: the sky hook. Athletic beauty incarnate.The balletic rise from the glistening hardwood; the arm extended high, holding the ball well above the rim; the easy tip of the wrist, as if pouring tea into a cup, while he let the ball fly.Swish.In his second professional year, he was named the N.B.A.’s most valuable player — the first of a record six such awards.That season, he led the fledgling Milwaukee Bucks to the 1971 N.B.A. championship. It would be the first of his six titles, two more than James.The pressure he was under as a player was immense for most of his career.He said he faced death threats after boycotting the 1968 Olympics.A phalanx of that era’s reporters, almost all of them white men, failed to understand Abdul-Jabbar and took to pat, easy criticism. He did himself no favors, responding by essentially turning his back, often literally, on many of them.He also absorbed blow after blow on the court. Fights were frequent then. Sometimes it was too much, and he snapped.He contained the multitudes, all right. Aggressive frustration included.As the years passed, Abdul-Jabbar evolved. He grew happier, less strident, more content and more open. His advocacy came to focus on human rights for all who are marginalized.And ultimately, fans who once held him with disregard began to warm up.Abdul-Jabbar’s jersey was retired at a ceremony on April 24, 1993, in Milwaukee. He spent six seasons with the Bucks.John Biever/NBAE, via Getty ImagesLeBron James now holds the crown as the league’s greatest scorer with 38,390 points. Well earned. He remains something to behold at age 38. Still, his Lakers are so disjointed they would need Abdul-Jabbar in his prime to make a serious run at an N.B.A. title this year.Then again, Abdul-Jabbar at 38 would work. That Abdul-Jabbar, in the 1985 postseason, took his championship series lumps during a Game 1 loss to Boston and then came back as if launched from a Bel-Air springboard.He ripped off a string of the finest games of his career, grabbing the championship trophy and the finals M.V.P. Award.There has never been a finals series run like that from a player with as many miles on the legs.It was just another way that Abdul-Jabbar stretched the meaning of greatness in the N.B.A., leaving the next generation and James to expand it even further.Sheelagh McNeill More

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      Nets Face Uncertainty Again After Agreeing to Trade Kyrie Irving

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      Adding Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant hasn’t led to a conference finals berth, much less a championship. After meeting Irving’s trade request, the Nets are once again in a state of uncertainty.Having superstar talent is the only surefire way to win a championship in the N.B.A. It has been nearly 20 years since a team won a championship without at least one superstar player, and usually it takes two.So when Kyrie Irving, a virtuoso at point guard, and Kevin Durant, one of the smoothest scorers in the game, chose the Nets in free agency during the summer of 2019, they seemed to be sprinkling onto the Nets the sort of pixie dust necessary to turn a team into a real title contender. And so, for the past three and a half years, the Nets firmly set their sights on a championship that, they believed, the arrivals of Irving and Durant had put within reach.But instead of taking incremental steps toward that goal, the Nets found that their path featured endless detours. They spent this era dealing with one distraction after another. They tried desperately to make the most of having two players as gifted as Durant and Irving, giving up draft picks and promising young players to acquire a third superstar and create one of the greatest collections of talent ever seen in the league. They changed coaches and even disciplinary philosophies in an attempt to make this work.For the past few months, the Nets seemed to have found some semblance of stability. They were winning games, Irving seemed to be in a good place, and even Durant’s knee injury, while detrimental, wasn’t catastrophic.But then their fragile peace fell apart again.Irving requested a trade last week, and on Sunday the Nets agreed to a deal that will send him to the Dallas Mavericks. Through the deal, announced Monday night, the Nets will receive two players, a distant first-round draft pick and multiple second-round picks. They never really got to enjoy the fruits of such a big free-agency score, and now their future is uncertain. In many ways, though, the team lived a murky in-between life, even with the two superstars who came to them four years ago.Only three weeks ago, Irving was lauding the Nets’ cohesion. Reporters had asked him what would keep the Nets from struggling after Durant’s injury the way they did last year when Durant was out.“I’m consistently in the lineup, that helps,” Irving said. He said the team didn’t have anyone who was “halfway in” and added: “And there’s just a primary focus on the big picture here.”Irving seemed to be taking a shot at James Harden, who spent about a year with the Nets before asking for a trade.The Nets acquired Harden from Houston through a four-team trade in January 2021 as part of their efforts to make the Durant and Irving experiment work. They gave up a king’s ransom to do it: The package included three first-round picks, four pick swaps and Jarrett Allen, a talented young center who has found success, including an All-Star selection, in Cleveland.James Harden arrived in a four-team trade in 2021, but he ended up playing only 80 regular-season games with the Nets.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesAt first, the trade seemed like a no-brainer. They were all perennial All-Stars. Durant and Harden had won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award. Durant and Irving had won championships. Who could beat this team? At least one article declared that they might be the greatest basketball team ever assembled.They took the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks to seven games in the conference semifinals in 2021 and seemed poised for domination in the 2021-22 season.But Irving barely played in the 2021-22 season because of his decision not to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Harden seemed irritated with Irving’s inconsistent availability, and once joked that he would inoculate Irving himself.But in an interview with FoxSports.com in December, Harden mentioned two other reasons that made his time in Brooklyn difficult: He was never fully healthy, and he struggled with the organization.“It was just, there was no structure,” Harden said. “And even superstars, they need structure. That’s what allows us to be the best players and leaders for our respective organizations.”The Nets traded Harden in February 2022, and got back Ben Simmons, who, in his 37 games for the Nets, has struggled to contribute.The Harden experiment had failed, and Irving was available only some of the time for most of the season. New York City’s private-sector vaccine mandate made him ineligible for home games until it was lifted, and the Nets did not let Irving play part time until they relented at midseason. The Boston Celtics swept the Nets out of the first round of the 2022 playoffs.There was some irony to the Nets’ being eliminated by the Celtics. In 2013, the Nets gave up five players, three first-round picks and the option to swap another first-round pick for four players, including Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Their Nets teams didn’t make it past the conference semifinals, either.The Nets had made a big bet on stars soon after moving to Brooklyn, making a trade with Boston for Kevin Garnett, right, and Paul Pierce. Those teams didn’t make it past the second round, either.Jason Szenes/European Pressphoto AgencyAfter losing to the Celtics in 2022, Irving overestimated his power within the organization.“When I say I’m here with Kev, I think that really entails us managing this franchise together alongside Joe and Sean,” Irving said, referring to the team owner Joe Tsai and General Manager Sean Marks.Marks was asked later if the Nets were committed to Irving.“We’re looking for guys that want to come in here and be part of something bigger than themselves, play selfless, play team basketball, and be available,” Marks said. “That goes not only for Kyrie but for everybody here.”The chaos was all too much for Durant, who asked for a trade in June and was given permission to seek one, but couldn’t find one to which the Nets would agree. He returned to the Nets, ready to move on.Where Durant stands now is uncertain. He expected to be competing for championships. It’s possible that once he’s healthy he will lead the Nets to a strong finish this season. But it’s also fair to wonder, as teams around the league surely are, if Durant will try again to be traded.If the Nets let it happen this time, it will fully end another star-laden era that never really got off the ground. More

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      Like a Record, LeBron James’s Age Is Just a High Number

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      Still among the best players in the N.B.A. at 38, James is now 36 points away from the league’s career scoring record. He could break it at home on Tuesday.NEW ORLEANS — LeBron James headed into Saturday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans needing 63 points to break the N.B.A. career scoring record. It was a large number for anyone to reach in a single game, especially a 38-year-old in his 20th N.B.A. season.And yet spectators wearing purple-and-gold jerseys and T-shirts displaying James’s No. 6 flooded Canal and Bourbon Streets ahead of Saturday’s game, and then they piled into the Smoothie King Center, most of them hoping to witness N.B.A. history.Larry Unrein, a New York native who traveled to three of the Lakers’ last four games, came to New Orleans a day after his 40th birthday, hoping for a belated gift.“He could break it, dude,” Unrein said before the game. “He’s 38, and he’s playing like he’s 24. I turned 40 yesterday and aspire to take care of my body, drink tons of water and stretch.” Unrein, who skateboards in his free time, said James was inspiring him to skate into old age.An employee at the arena named Anita, who would not give her last name but said she had been working there for 10 years, was nervous that the record might be broken on the Pelicans’ home floor. “We can’t let him do it here,” she said. “It ain’t about the King tonight.”No one, really, should have thought that James, at this point in his career, would score 63 points on Saturday. (His career high is 61 points, in a game against Charlotte in 2014.) But James has provided many miracles in his career. That he is competing at such a high level at 38 seems to be just one more — a feat that is altering perceptions of athletic limits and athletic primes.James fell short of the scoring record on Saturday, finishing with 27 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists, and the Lakers (25-29) lost to the Pelicans (27-27), 131-126. James is now 36 points away from passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who scored 38,387 points from 1969 to 1989, and tickets for the Lakers’ home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night have soared in anticipation that James will break the record then.On Saturday, James made plays that explained why many supporters will always believe that another miracle is on its way. He played 40 minutes, more than any of his teammates. It was the third time in his last four games that he played at least 40 minutes, a figure, he said, that was “catching up to him.”“I’m tired as hell,” he said after the game. “But I’ll be ready to go on Tuesday.”“I think it’s historic on a lot of different levels,” Lakers Coach Darvin Ham said earlier this season. “For him to be at this point of his career and still able to produce at the level in which he’s producing, I just think all of us, just really being able to witness it, be a part of it — it shows his competitive spirit, his no-quit mentality.”A moment of “How is LeBron doing this at this age?” came in the third quarter, with the Lakers leading by 7 and forward Herbert Jones barreling toward the rim. James took a charge, flying onto his back from the impact of Jones’s crashing into him. Many N.B.A. players, especially stars and older players, are reluctant to take a charge, given the risk of injury or, more simply, the wear and tear on the body over a long season. Even Kobe Bryant, who was known for his toughness and mentality when he played for the Lakers, was publicly against taking charges.Bryant’s reasoning was that great players such as Scottie Pippen and Larry Bird were injured after taking many charges throughout their careers, while others, including Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, didn’t take charges and avoided significant long-term injuries.But there was James, nearly 40, taking a charge on a player listed at 6 feet 7 inches and 206 pounds.James plunged into the crowd after diving for a loose ball.Emily Kask for The New York TimesWith just under three minutes remaining in Saturday’s game and the Lakers losing by 4, James dived for a ball heading out of bounds, launching himself above courtside fans. It was the second time he had done so in recent weeks. He did not save the ball, but players of his age and status would be excused for not even making the effort. James would not excuse himself: There he was, his blue-and-pink shoes among the fans’ faces in the crowd.“I think it inspires them out there to do their jobs,” Ham said this season about the impact of James’s play on his teammates.James aggressively attacked the basket throughout the night, bumping and fighting through fouls to make layups and sprinting past players for scores. On multiple occasions, younger teammates passed up layup opportunities to give the ball to their much older, but somehow much more explosive, teammate, who threw down dunks that ignited fans, many who wore his jersey and some who wore New Orleans colors.James was not perfect. He often settled for 3-point shots, including an off-balance one late in the game, which he missed and seemed foolish to take. He finished 1 for 7 from long range. Defensively, he, like his teammates, did little to stop the Pelicans’ 42-point barrage in the third quarter, which sparked their win.As James went to the free-throw line with 18 seconds left and the Lakers losing by 6, he missed his first attempt. If the game wasn’t over already, it was effectively over after that.But Anita, the stadium worker, wasn’t buying it. She thought James was too good to miss a free throw. This had to be part of a script: “He’s just doing that,” she said, “so he could get that record in L.A.” More

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      Nets Trading Kyrie Irving to Dallas Mavericks After His Request to Leave

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      Irving’s tenure with the Nets was marred by his refusal to be vaccinated for the coronavirus and his posting of a link to an antisemitic film. In Dallas, he will join the superstar Luka Doncic.Kyrie Irving is on his way out of Brooklyn after three and a half scandal-filled years in which the Nets fell way short of realizing their aspirations of seriously contending for an N.B.A. championship.The Nets reached an agreement on Sunday to trade Irving to the Dallas Mavericks, according to three people familiar with the situation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade had not yet been announced and they were not authorized to speak publicly about it.The Nets were expected to receive Spencer Dinwiddie, 29, a guard who played five seasons with the Nets from 2016-21; forward Dorian-Finney Smith, 29; a first-round pick in 2029; and multiple second-round picks, two of the people said. The Mavericks will also receive the veteran forward Markieff Morris from the Nets, one of the people said.The deal could help the Mavericks (28-26) rise enough in the tightly contested Western Conference to contend for a championship this season.Irving, a dynamic point guard with a history of social activism, has also embraced controversy and conspiracy. He is in the final year of his contract with the Nets and had been hoping to work out a contract extension. With little progress on a deal, he asked the Nets to trade him last week, according to a person familiar with Irving’s request who was not authorized to speak publicly about it.On Jan. 26, Shetellia Riley Irving, his agent and stepmother, made public that his contract negotiations were not progressing.“I have reached out to the Nets regarding this,” she told Bleacher Report in January. “We have had no significant conversations to date. The desire is to make Brooklyn home, with the right type of extension, which means the ball is in the Nets’ court to communicate now if their desire is the same.”Irving and the star forward Kevin Durant signed with the Nets as free agents in 2019, hoping their talent could help lead the Nets to an N.B.A. championship. But Irving’s time with the Nets was tumultuous. He played in only 143 of the Nets’ 278 regular-season games while on their roster.When the two players signed with the Nets, Durant was still recovering from rupturing an Achilles’ tendon in the 2019 N.B.A. finals with Golden State. Durant then missed the entire 2019-20 season. After having an operation on his right shoulder, Irving missed the end of that season, which the N.B.A. ended in a so-called bubble on the Walt Disney World campus in Florida because of the coronavirus pandemic.The Nets lost a first-round series in the 2020 playoffs. In 2021, they lost an Eastern Conference semifinal series to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks in seven games.Last season, Irving played in only 29 of the Nets’ 82 games because he would not get vaccinated against the coronavirus despite New York City’s vaccine requirement for private sector employees. The Nets initially said they would not allow Irving to play for them at all while he was ineligible for home games. But in January 2021, they changed course and allowed him to join the team on the road..css-1v2n82w{max-width:600px;width:calc(100% – 40px);margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:25px;height:auto;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;font-family:nyt-franklin;color:var(–color-content-secondary,#363636);}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1v2n82w{margin-left:20px;margin-right:20px;}}@media only screen and (min-width:1024px){.css-1v2n82w{width:600px;}}.css-161d8zr{width:40px;margin-bottom:18px;text-align:left;margin-left:0;color:var(–color-content-primary,#121212);border:1px solid var(–color-content-primary,#121212);}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-161d8zr{width:30px;margin-bottom:15px;}}.css-tjtq43{line-height:25px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-tjtq43{line-height:24px;}}.css-x1k33h{font-family:nyt-cheltenham;font-size:19px;font-weight:700;line-height:25px;}.css-1hvpcve{font-size:17px;font-weight:300;line-height:25px;}.css-1hvpcve em{font-style:italic;}.css-1hvpcve strong{font-weight:bold;}.css-1hvpcve a{font-weight:500;color:var(–color-content-secondary,#363636);}.css-1c013uz{margin-top:18px;margin-bottom:22px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1c013uz{font-size:14px;margin-top:15px;margin-bottom:20px;}}.css-1c013uz a{color:var(–color-signal-editorial,#326891);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;font-weight:500;font-size:16px;}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){.css-1c013uz a{font-size:13px;}}.css-1c013uz a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? What’s their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source.Learn more about our process.Irving’s stance irritated a teammate, the star guard James Harden, who joked that he would vaccinate Irving himself, but then asked for a trade. Harden was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in February 2022 for Ben Simmons, who did not play for the rest of that season because of his mental and physical health.The Nets were swept by the Boston Celtics, the eventual conference champions, in the first round of the 2022 playoffs.After that series, Irving and Durant flirted with leaving the organization. Irving was given the opportunity to find a trade partner, but ultimately he opted into the final year of his contract. Last June, Durant asked for a trade, but the Nets did not find a trade they thought suited them.Despite having Simmons, Durant and Irving all available for the start of this season, the Nets lost six of their first eight games.During that time, Irving posted a link to an antisemitic film on his social media accounts. A reporter from Rolling Stone wrote that the film’s message centered on antisemitic tropes, and Irving was in trouble again. Irving faced backlash from Jewish leaders and the Nets owner Joe Tsai, who said on Twitter that he was disappointed Irving had linked to the movie and wanted to sit down with him so that he understood the hurt he had caused.In a news conference in late October, Irving defended posting the film. The Nets kept Irving away from reporters for the next two games, and on Nov. 2 he released a statement with the Anti-Defamation League saying he would donate $500,000 to anti-hate causes.But the next day, Irving addressed reporters after a practice and refused to apologize for posting the film or to disavow antisemitism.The Nets suspended Irving later that day and said the suspension would last at least five games. He missed eight games and was allowed to return to the team after he apologized. Around that time, on Nov. 1, the Nets fired Steve Nash, who had been their head coach since September 2020, and hired Jacque Vaughn, who had been Nash’s assistant.When Irving has played, he has shown his value on the court. He has averaged 27.2 points per game since his return, and the Nets have gone 22-10 with him in the lineup since then. The Nets (32-20) are fourth in the Eastern Conference. Durant has missed the Nets’ past 12 games with a knee injury. The Nets have gone 5-7 without him.On Saturday, a day after Irving requested the trade, the Nets sat Irving with what they said was a calf injury. Still, the Nets notched a thrilling 125-123 victory over the Washington Wizards with 44 points from a reserve player, Cam Thomas.The Athletic was first to report Irving’s agreement with Dallas on Sunday. He is leaving one superstar in Durant to join another in the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic. A 6-foot-7 guard, Doncic, 23, has been named an N.B.A. All-Star four times and was the league’s rookie of the year in 2019.Doncic played better at the beginning of this season than he had at the start of any of his previous seasons. His 33.4 points per game average ranked second in the league behind Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid entering Sunday. Doncic has not yet averaged more than 30 points per game in a complete season.In December against the Knicks, Doncic became the first player in N.B.A. history to score 60 points with 20 rebounds and 10 assists in one game. Earlier this season, he averaged 40.2 points per game during a 10-game stretch.Despite Doncic’s play, the Mavericks have struggled. They lacked enough depth to contend with injuries to key players. Maxi Kleber, a forward and center, had surgery on his hamstring in December. Christian Wood, who is also a frontcourt player, has missed the Mavericks’ last eight games with a fractured thumb.Dallas has won four of its last 11 games. The Mavericks are in sixth place in the Western Conference, but had only one fewer win than the third-place Sacramento Kings entering Sunday. More

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      LeBron James Keeps the World Watching

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      LeBron James sat in the visitors locker room at Madison Square Garden with ice on his 38-year-old knees and 28 more points to his name after his Los Angeles Lakers beat the Knicks in overtime. James’s teammate Anthony Davis teased him about how close he was to breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s N.B.A. career scoring record, then about 90 points away.Suddenly, James remembered something. His mother, Gloria James, was set to go on vacation soon. She might miss his record-breaking game.He called her on speakerphone, with a dozen attentive reporters close by. He asked when she was leaving, reminding her every once in a while, lest she disclose too much, that reporters could hear the conversation. Eventually, he looked around, sheepishly, and said he would call her later.“I love you,” he said. Then, just before he ended the call, he added: “I love you more.”It was typical James: He brings you along for the ride, but on his terms, revealing what he wants to reveal and no more. It is perhaps the only way someone who has been so famous for most of his life could survive the machine of modern celebrity.As he has closed in on Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points, the very idea of what it means to be a star has shifted since James scored his first two points on Oct. 29, 2003. And James has helped define that shift. He has risen above the din of social media celebrities and 24-hour news cycles, buoyed by the basketball fans who love him or love to hate him.James, at age 38, is closing in on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s N.B.A. career scoring record while playing with the energy of a much younger version of himself.Ashley Landis/Associated PressHe has been a selfie-snapping tour guide for this journey, with a portfolio that now extends well beyond the court. He has a production company and a show on HBO. He’s acted in a few movies and received some good reviews. His foundation has helped hundreds of students in his hometown Akron, Ohio, and a public school the foundation helps run there, the I Promise School, focuses on children who struggle academically. His opinions are covered as news, given far more weight than those of almost any other athlete.“Hopefully I made an impact enough so people appreciate what I did, and still appreciate what I did off the floor as well, even when I’m done,” James said in an interview. “But I don’t live for that. I live for my family, for my friends and my community that needs that voice.”Basketball Is the ‘Main Thing’In early 2002, James was a high school junior and on the cover of Sports Illustrated. News didn’t travel as quickly as it does now. Not everyone had cellphones, and the ones they had couldn’t livestream videos of whatever anyone did. Social media meant chat rooms on AOL or Yahoo. Facebook had yet to launch, and the deluge of social networking apps was years away.“Thank God I didn’t have social media; that’s all I can say,” James said in October when asked to reflect on his entry into the league.As a teenage star, he was spared the incessant gaze of social media and the bullying and harsh criticism that most likely would have come with it.But social media, in its many changing forms, has also helped people express their personalities and share their lives with others. It lets them define themselves — something particularly useful for public figures whose stories get told one way or another.James began thinking about that early in his career.His media and production firm, now called the SpringHill Company, made a documentary about James and his high school teammates titled “More Than a Game” in 2008. It also developed “The Shop,” an HBO show James sometimes appears on with celebrity guests, including the former President Barack Obama and the rapper Travis Scott, talking like friends in a barbershop.James has built a portfolio of movies and television shows that have expanded his influence beyond basketball.Coley Brown for The New York TimesJames likes to say that he always keeps “the main thing the main thing” — meaning that no matter what else is happening in his life, he prioritizes basketball. He honors the thing that created his fame.He led his teams to the N.B.A. finals in eight consecutive years and won championships with three different franchises. He was chosen for the league’s Most Valuable Player Award four times, and he has dished the fourth-most assists in N.B.A. history.James’s talent meant it didn’t take long for him to become the face of the N.B.A. He has mostly embraced that, capitalizing on an era when sports fandom was no longer about sitting down to watch a game so much as it was about catching small bites of the most compelling moments.“People’s interest in athletes moves very quickly, especially with the N.B.A. season,” said Omar Raja, who in 2014 founded House of Highlights, an Instagram account for viral sports moments, because he wanted to share clips of the Miami Heat during James’s time playing there with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.“LeBron’s Instagram stories would do as well as his poster dunks, and you were like, ‘This is crazy,’” Raja said.House of Highlights reposted two videos from James’s Instagram stories in May 2019. One showed James and a former teammate dancing in a yard. Another showed James and friends, including Russell Westbrook, smoking cigars. Both videos outperformed anything that happened in the playoffs.‘I Wish I Could Do Normal Things’James has used his fame to further business opportunities and build his financial portfolio. He has used it to both shield his children and prepare them for growing up in his shadow.He has used it for social activism, most notably in speaking about Black civil rights and racism. That began in 2012, when he and his Heat teammates wore hooded sweatshirts and posted a group photo on social media after the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager who was wearing a hoodie when he was shot and killed in Florida. The Heat decided to transfer some of their spotlight to the national conversation about racism that emerged.James wearing Eric Garner’s words “I Can’t Breathe” at a pregame warm up in 2014. Garner, a Black man, died after the police in New York put him a chokehold.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesBlack N.B.A. players have a long history of speaking out or demonstrating against racism and discrimination: Abdul-Jabbar and the Boston Celtics’ Bill Russell were vocal about the racist dangers they faced in the 1960s and ’70s. But what made the actions of James and his teammates stand out was that the superstar athletes of the ’90s and early 2000s — Michael Jordan, most notably — had often shied away from overt activism.What James chooses to talk about (or not talk about) draws notice.In 2019, when a Houston Rockets executive angered the Chinese government by expressing support for Hong Kong, James was criticized for not speaking out against China’s human rights abuses. James said he did not know enough to talk about them, but some skeptics accused him of avoiding the subject to protect his financial interests in China.And in 2020, when protests swept the country after the police killed George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, both of whom were Black, the N.B.A. made social justice part of its ethos. James used many of his news conferences that season to discuss racism and police violence against Black people.The attention to James’s words separates him from others, as does the attention to his life.“I don’t want to say it ever becomes too much, but there are times when I wish I could do normal things,” James said Thursday while standing in an arena hallway in Indianapolis about an hour after the Lakers beat the Pacers there. A member of a camera crew that has been following him for the past few years filmed him as he spoke.“I wish I could just walk outside,” James said. “I wish I could just, like, walk into a movie theater and sit down and go to the concession stand and get popcorn. I wish I could just go to an amusement park just like regular people. I wish I could go to Target sometimes and walk into Starbucks and have my name on the cup just like regular people.”He added: “I’m not sitting here complaining about it, of course not. But it can be challenging at times.”James grew up without stable housing or much money, but his life now is not like most people’s because of the money he has made through basketball and business (he’s estimated to be worth more than $1 billion), and because of the extraordinary athletic feats he makes look so easy. Once in a while, as when he’s on the phone with his mother, he manages to come off like just another guy.James speaks at the opening ceremony for the I Promise School in Akron, Ohio, in 2018.Phil Long/Associated PressAnother example: In October 2018, during his first Lakers training camp, James gave up wine as part of a preseason diet regimen. He was asked if abstaining had affected his body.“Yeah, it made me want wine more,” James said, relatably. “But I feel great. I feel great. I did a two-week cleanse and gave up a lot of things for 14 days.”James had also quit gluten, dairy, artificial sugars and all alcohol for those two weeks, he said.What was left?“In life?” James said. “Air.”There to See HimThe past few seasons have been challenging for James on the court. He is playing as well as he ever has, but the Lakers have struggled since winning a championship in 2020.They missed the playoffs last season and are in 12th place in the Western Conference, though they have played better recently. James, his coaches and his teammates all insist that he spends more time thinking about how to get the Lakers into the playoffs than about breaking the scoring record.Still, Madison Square Garden, one of his favorite arenas, buzzed on Tuesday night. Because of him.Celebrities, fans and media came to watch him, just as they did when he was a constant in the N.B.A. finals.He taped a pregame interview with Michael Strahan courtside. Then he went through his pregame warm-up, shooting from different spots on the court, working against an assistant coach, who tried to defend him. He took a few seconds to dance near the 3-point line as he waited for someone to pass the ball back to him.He was in what he’s made into a comfortable place: the center of the basketball universe. More

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      Kyrie Irving Asks the Nets to Trade Him

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      The Nets guard, who will be a free agent this summer, wants out of Brooklyn just months after he caused an uproar by linking to an antisemitic film on social media.Kyrie Irving has asked the Nets to trade him before the N.B.A.’s trading deadline on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the request who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.Irving is in the final year of a four-year contract and will be a free agent this summer. The Athletic was first to report his trade request.Irving’s request comes three months after the Nets suspended him for refusing to disavow antisemitism after posting a link on Twitter to a film featuring antisemitic tropes. Irving missed eight games because of the suspension and returned after apologizing.He has averaged 27.2 points per game since his return, and the Nets have gone 22-10 with him in the lineup since then. The Nets are fourth in the Eastern Conference.It appeared as though the Nets, after months of drama and endless speculation about the direction of the team, had finally found some semblance of stability. But Irving has been a magnet for controversy for much of his career, and his trade request has most likely endangered the team’s fragile chemistry.A contender willing to trade for Irving would be well aware of the risks — as well as the potential rewards. He helped lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to an N.B.A. championship in 2016 alongside LeBron James, and Irving remains one of the league’s most exceptional talents. But there is baggage, too.After a 2-5 start this season, the Nets fired Steve Nash as their coach. He was replaced by Jacque Vaughn, one of his assistants, who managed to steady the team after a distraction-filled first few weeks of the season.Irving was criticized in October after he posted a link on Twitter to an antisemitic film, which espoused several false tropes, including questioning whether the Holocaust was real. Irving distanced himself from the Holocaust questioning, but he declined to apologize for the post in multiple combative news conferences even as he took down the post. During one of those news conferences, Irving expressed support for an antigovernment conspiracy theory pushed by the Infowars fabulist Alex Jones. The Nets suspended him on Nov. 3, and he returned to play on Nov. 20, despite some backlash from fans and the news media.Since then, the backlash has receded and Irving has shown flashes, at least on the court, of why the Nets signed him nearly four years ago.Irving and Kevin Durant joined the Nets as free agents before the 2019-20 season to form one of the more dynamic tandems in the league. Durant is one of the league’s smoothest scorers, and Irving is perhaps its best ballhandler. They each had championship experience and seemed poised, talent-wise, to bring the Nets a title.But there were questions and concerns from the start. Durant tore his Achilles’ tendon in the 2019 N.B.A. finals while playing for the Golden State Warriors, and he sat out his first season in Brooklyn. Irving, meanwhile, appeared in just 20 games before having season-ending shoulder surgery.The following season, the Nets made another splash by acquiring James Harden from the Houston Rockets in a three-team trade. But Irving missed several games for unspecified personal reasons, and during one of the stints when he was away from the team, video surfaced of him attending his sister’s birthday party without a mask, in violation of the N.B.A.’s coronavirus protocols. In the Eastern Conference semifinals, Irving sprained his right ankle against the Milwaukee Bucks and the Nets lost the series in seven games.The drama, though, was just beginning. Before the start of the 2021-22 season, the Nets issued Irving an ultimatum after he declined to be vaccinated for Covid-19: Get the shot, or stay home. Irving missed 35 games before the Nets reversed their policy, which cleared Irving to play in road games. He was able to play in home games nearly three months later when Mayor Eric Adams repealed a vaccine mandate for professional athletes and performers working in New York City.But Harden was gone by then, having joined the Philadelphia 76ers in a midseason trade. The Nets went on to get swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. In the wake of that disaster, Durant requested a trade but rescinded it before the start of this season.Irving had a player option for this season, and it was unclear almost until the deadline in June whether he would opt in. After weeks of speculation that he might be trying to force a trade, Irving announced that he was in for this season after all.“Normal people keep the world going, but those who dare to be different lead us into tomorrow,” Irving said in a statement at the time. “I’ve made my decision to opt in. See you in the fall.” More

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      Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Was the ‘Best Weapon in Basketball’

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      Everyone knew he was close to surpassing Wilt Chamberlain’s career scoring record in 1984. Opponents still couldn’t stop him.Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still a couple of months from breaking the N.B.A.’s career scoring record, but Mark Eaton of the Utah Jazz had been crunching the numbers, and he was worried — for himself.Eaton had determined that Abdul-Jabbar could eclipse the record when his Los Angeles Lakers faced the Jazz on April 5, 1984 — in Las Vegas, oddly enough — and guess who would probably get the defensive assignment as Abdul-Jabbar chased one of basketball’s greatest feats?“I don’t want to be in that picture!” Eaton told Swen Nater, a friend who was playing for the Lakers that season and who recalled their conversation in a recent interview.For 15 seasons, first with the Milwaukee Bucks and later as the Lakers’ impassive captain, Abdul-Jabbar had been drop-stepping and sky-hooking his way toward history — and no one, not even Eaton, a 7-foot-4 shot-blocking maestro who died in 2021, could prevent any of it from happening.In recent weeks, LeBron James of the Lakers has been on his own inexorable march, thrilling crowds and mowing through defenders as he gets closer to overtaking Abdul-Jabbar’s record, an achievement that once seemed untouchable.For Abdul-Jabbar, 75, the hubbub over his pursuit of Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring record nearly 39 years ago was little more than a distraction in the final weeks of the 1983-84 regular season, teammates said. The Lakers wanted to win another championship.“One thing that he didn’t really like to do was talk about himself,” said Mitch Kupchak, a teammate of his for five seasons before he joined the Lakers’ front office in 1986. “I think he just wanted to get it over with.”There was one player who wanted to talk about the record: Magic Johnson, the team’s All-Star point guard.“I’m making the pass,” Johnson told teammates, according to guard Byron Scott. “I’m throwing it to Cap for him to break the record.”Nater, 73, who was Abdul-Jabbar’s backup, joked that he tried to help out at practice in his own way in the days leading up to the April 5 game.“I basically let him score on me,” Nater said, deadpan. “I’d pat him on the butt and say, ‘Nice shot, Kareem.’ Or tell him to maybe follow through a little more with his wrist on the sky hook. I just wanted to build him up a little.”It was one of 11 home games for the Jazz in Las Vegas that season as the team’s owner sought to build a fan base there. And even though the Jazz were solid — they would advance to the Western Conference semifinals — would-be fans did not exactly flee their slot machines and flock to the Thomas and Mack Center to watch Adrian Dantley, Rickey Green and Darrell Griffith.Abdul-Jabbar used his signature shot, the sky hook, to break Wilt Chamberlain’s career scoring record in 1984.Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE, via Getty ImagesTheir game against the Lakers in April drew 18,389 fans — the largest for a Jazz “home” game since the team had relocated from New Orleans before the start of the 1979-80 season. The Jazz had no illusions about their role in the game being such a hot ticket. History was happening.“I don’t think anybody thought that they were going to stop him from scoring,” Dantley said. “No one has ever stopped the best weapon in basketball.”Before the game, the crowd gave Abdul-Jabbar a 45-second standing ovation, according to an account in The New York Times. Abdul-Jabbar, who needed 22 points to break Chamberlain’s record of 31,419 career points, expressed his appreciation by flashing a double thumbs-up, then went about his familiar business of leading the Lakers to another win.He scored 16 points in the first half. But even as the Lakers built a big lead in the third quarter, Abdul-Jabbar resisted forcing shots and consistently passed out of traps. A 12-footer along the baseline gave him 18 points for the game. By the start of the fourth quarter, the game was so out of reach that Frank Layden, the coach of the Jazz, began removing his key players to preserve them for the playoffs.But Abdul-Jabbar was so close to the record that he re-entered the game, and he tied Chamberlain when James Worthy passed to him for a dunk. The next assist needed to belong to Johnson, and when Johnson passed out of trouble to Bob McAdoo, one of the Lakers’ reserves, his teammates shouted at McAdoo to pass it back to Johnson.“Magic almost ran up and grabbed it,” Scott said, laughing at the memory.Bob Hansen, a first-year guard for the Jazz that season, was guarding Johnson and made the unconventional decision to give him a little space to make an entry pass to Abdul-Jabbar on the right block.“Didn’t want to really get in the way of history,” Hansen said.Hansen’s teammates had other ideas. Eaton and Green tried to double-team the 7-2 Abdul-Jabbar, but he took one dribble, pivoted to his right, then spun to his left to rise for a sky hook over Eaton, who had been dreading such a moment. Chick Hearn, the longtime play-by-play announcer for the Lakers, rejoiced when the ball splashed through the hoop.“The new king of scoring has ascended his throne,” Hearn said on the broadcast as Abdul-Jabbar’s teammates embraced him. “This man has accomplished something that I don’t believe — and I mean this sincerely — I don’t think this will ever happen again.”As reporters, photographers and dignitaries swarmed Abdul-Jabbar, Hansen waded through the mass of humanity with the ball in his hands. He found Abdul-Jabbar near midcourt.“I said: ‘Here you go, big fella, here’s the ball. Do you want the ball?’ He was like: ‘Yeah! Thanks, little man,’” said Hansen, who is 6-6. “And he patted me on the head.”Abdul-Jabbar acknowledged the crowd, thanked his teammates and hugged his parents, Cora and Al Alcindor.Abdul-Jabbar, right, talking to David Stern, who was the N.B.A. commissioner, after breaking the record.Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE, via Getty Images“His father, Mr. Alcindor, was very stoic,” Scott said. “He was an ex-cop in New York, so he was tough. It was probably the first time that I saw him give Kareem a hug. You could tell he was very proud, his mother was very proud.”Abdul-Jabbar was subbed out of the game and replaced by Kupchak.“That’s my claim to fame,” said Kupchak, 68, now the general manager and president of basketball operations for the Charlotte Hornets. “Put in the mop sweeper.”Chamberlain did not attend the game, but he came to a ceremony that the Lakers held at home the next day before they played the Kansas City Kings.In Las Vegas, the visiting locker room was so packed with reporters and photographers after Abdul-Jabbar broke the record that Scott tried to escape as quickly as he could.And while the Jazz did not enjoy losing that night, many players are still proud to have played a small role in basketball history, and to have witnessed a record that has stood for decades.“You do kind of appreciate the fact that you’re on the court with a legend,” said Thurl Bailey, a longtime power forward for the Jazz.Bailey has particularly warm feelings for Abdul-Jabbar. Earlier that season, Bailey, who was a rookie, emerged from the locker room at halftime of a game against the Lakers wearing an eye patch after Worthy had inadvertently scratched him. Abdul-Jabbar pulled Bailey aside and showed him his goggles.“Young fella, you need to get you some of these,” Bailey recalled Abdul-Jabbar telling him. “And I tried them and loved them and they worked. He was always nice to me.”When Abdul-Jabbar retired in 1989 after 20 seasons and six championships, his point total was so high — and he was such a singular talent, with the durability to match — that few thought anyone would rival it.But about eight months after Abdul-Jabbar’s record-setting game against the Jazz, something else happened: LeBron James was born. More

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      Breanna Stewart Will Sign With Liberty, Joining Fellow M.V.P. Jonquel Jones

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      Stewart, a two-time W.N.B.A. and four-time N.C.A.A. champion, had been outspoken about player travel leading up to the free-agent signing period.After weeks of cryptic Twitter messages featuring an assortment of mysteriously placed emoji as clues, Breanna Stewart finally made her plans crystal clear on Wednesday by posting on social media an image of the Empire State Building with “Stewie” emblazoned across it.One of the most accomplished basketball players in the last decade, Stewart announced she would join the Liberty in one of the biggest free-agent moves in W.N.B.A. history, although the Liberty have yet to disclose details of the deal.Stewart, who has averaged 20.3 points per game over her seven years in the league — all with the Seattle Storm — could form an exciting Big Three along with the point guard Sabrina Ionescu and the power forward Jonquel Jones, who arrived from the Connecticut Sun through a January trade, making the Liberty an instant title contender.By bolstering the roster with Jones, who won the 2021 W.N.B.A. Most Valuable Player Award with the Sun, and the 6-foot-4 Stewart, who was the M.V.P. in 2018, the Liberty endeavor to change their fortunes for good. Despite being one of the original eight W.N.B.A. franchises in 1997, the team has never won a championship. Stewart, meanwhile, has done it twice in the last five seasons, with the Storm winning the finals in 2018 and 2020. She is also a four-time All-Star in six years of play.The Liberty have not reached the finals since 2002, and they have not made it past the second round of the playoffs since 2015. With Stewart and Jones powering the frontcourt and Ionescu feeding them, the Liberty will be tabbed by many to pose a genuine threat to the defending champion Las Vegas Aces, a powerful team that is expected to be even more dangerous with the addition of the star forward Candace Parker.With her skill, size and leadership, Stewart was considered the top free agent in this year’s market, with the chance to tip the balance of power in the league with her decision. She spent weeks tantalizing fans on two coasts with a collection of emojis posted on social media. There was one with a person thinking, a scale and someone juggling three balls. Another featured a crystal ball, a sack of money and an hourglass and one even showed the Statue of Liberty.She finally posted the news that the Liberty had won, including a video of a beaming Stewart removing one shirt to reveal a Liberty jersey underneath while the song “Empire State of Mind” plays in the background. The post was likely sent from Turkey, where Stewart plays for Fenerbahce in the EuroLeague. Many W.N.B.A. players travel overseas in the league’s off-season to earn more money in Europe and Asia. Stewart missed the entire 2019 W.N.B.A. season after tearing an Achilles’ tendon while playing for Dynamo Kursk in Russia.Presumably, the deal with the Liberty will not be finalized until after a physical examination, but Stewart’s performances since her injury indicate she has completely recovered. In the three years since then, she has averaged 20.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, all roughly the same as her overall career averages. Last year, she led the league in scoring with 21.8 points per game and finished second in M.V.P. voting behind Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson. She is still a superstar.Stewart matched the W.N.B.A. record for points in a playoff game in a loss to the Las Vegas Aces. Now she will lead the Liberty in an attempt to overtake the Aces.Lindsey Wasson/Associated PressStewart is also an outspoken advocate for improved travel for W.N.B.A. players, even offering to contribute financially to that goal. She posted on Jan. 22, “I would contribute my NIL, posts + production hrs to ensure we all travel in a way that prioritizes player health + safety, which ultimately results in a better product.”W.N.B.A. teams travel by commercial airlines and not by charter flights, as many other professional and college athletes do. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said the league cannot afford to pay upward of $20 million each season for charter travel, though the league has allowed it under certain extenuating circumstances. The Liberty were fined $500,000 for secretly chartering flights during the 2021 season.While news of the signing brought joy to Liberty fans, Storm supporters, who had been closely following Stewart’s social media accounts for signs of her intentions over the last few months, were saddened by her departure. One frowning fan posted a selfie of her wearing a “Stewie MVP” shirt, declaring, “I’m so sad.” Another account, attached to Women’s Pro Hockey Seattle, posted crying emojis and, “Noooooooo!”In her last game for Seattle, Stewart matched the W.N.B.A. single-game postseason record with 42 points in a losing effort against the Aces, who advanced to the finals with the win. She went 6 for 8 from behind the 3-point line as she tied Angel McCoughtry, who scored 42 for the Atlanta Dream in a 105-93 victory over the Liberty in 2010.It was also the last game for the Seattle legend Sue Bird, who retired after the season as a 13-time All-Star and four-time champion with the Storm. Now, the Storm are left to forge ahead without two of their most celebrated stars.A native of North Syracuse, N.Y., Stewart was the most south-after recruit in the country in high school and chose to play at the University of Connecticut. She helped the Huskies compile a gaudy 151-5 record and win four straight national championships, including UConn’s last in 2016. She was also named Player of the Year by The Associated Press following her last three seasons there.The Storm selected Stewart with the No. 1 overall pick in 2016. She won the league’s Rookie of the Year Award and within two years had won her first championship. Now the challenge is to come back to her home state and help an old franchise to finally break through. More