LeBron James Fans Around the World Came to See Him Break The Scoring Record

Theo, asked what he liked about James, struggled to come up with an answer.

“I don’t know,” he paused and giggled. “All-around like Kobe.”

“Are you more of a Kobe guy or a LeBron guy?” he was asked.

Theo perked up. His answer was firm. There was no hesitation.

“Kobe.”

As it is for the Concepcions, sports can be a generational inheritance. Around game time, tickets on the resale market in the arena’s lower level were going for more than $1,000, a fact that was not lost on Jay Anderson, a 68-year-old anesthesiologist and season-ticket holder, who attended the game with his daughter, McKenna Anderson, a 38-year-old physical therapist. His fandom has long been more location based. He grew up in New York City, where he was a Knicks fan. After 30 years in Los Angeles, the Lakers now have his allegiance. He didn’t consider selling his ticket, which cost $175, though.

“It’s the only time I get to be with my daughter, which is worth a thousand dollars,” Jay Anderson said.

When James passed Abdul-Jabbar, he did so with a fadeaway jumper in the third quarter. The game stopped to celebrate the achievement, as James physically enveloped many of the people closest to him and those by his side throughout his entire life, including his family, friends, teammates and business associates. Thousands of strangers in the arena — people James will never meet or interact with — embraced him just as intensely from a distance, having been alongside him for the journey across multiple franchises, whether James knew it or not.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/sports/lebron-james-kareem-abdul-jabbar-scoring-record-fans.html