Before the 2022-23 season began, one of the most anticipated milestones was breaking the all-time scoring record set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. LeBron James surpassed the threshold on February 7, 2023, against the Oklahoma City Thunder. If you thought the moment was surreal watching from television, imagine seeing the whole thing go down live.
Romeo Travis, appearing on Plus Minus with Clock and Nick, disclosed what it felt like to be at Crypto.Com Arena when Bron broke the record. Travis, one of James’ closest high school friends, recalled the experience.
“I didn’t know it was coming, but when the game started, I was like, “Oh yeah.” LeBron plays in a way where you can see what kind of LeBron you get. Some days, he’s passive and starts the game featuring other people. In this game, he was not passive at all. He was shooting a lot.
“That’s why I’m like, “Yeah, he’s going for it.” Every shot was like the biggest shot ever. So every time he shot the ball, everybody was like [holding their breath]. The whole arena, everybody, paused. And it seemed surreal.”
“When the shot went in, the whole arena went crazy. I have never seen a live game stopped. Like, everything stopped. I was like, “Yo, how are they gonna play after this?”
Romeo Travis
In case you’re wondering, the shot Travis was referring to was a fallaway middy LeBron hit over Keinrich Williams. Those were points No. 38,387 and 38,388 for James, who now has a total of 38,652. If he averages 25 points next season, Bron could reach the 40,000-point plateau in roughly 54 games. Of course, that’s a very doable goal for a guy who averaged almost 29 a game in Season 20.
Travis, a teammate of James in St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High School revealed he was there to soak in the moment. He never pulled out his phone to film what was happening; instead, he witnessed the historic moment with his own eyes.
“This guy was sitting in front of me. I’m like, “Yo, Imma give you my number. Send me that video,” Romeo Travis recalled. “I’m watching this.”
Romeo Travis