Tiger Woods lauds LeBron James’ durability after NBA star breaks scoring record
It was only fitting that Tiger Woods’ return to Los Angeles would coincide with a question about LeBron James in Woods’ pre-tournament press conference at Riviera.
As Woods, 47, prepares to play his first non-major PGA Tour event since the 2020 Zozo Championship with the unknown not so much whether he can hit the shots but if he can potentially walk 72 holes, he lauded the 38-year-old James’ durability during what has been a 20-year NBA career so far, and how James’ longevity allowed him to even have a chance at breaking Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career scoring record.
James passed Jabbar’s 38,387 points during the third quarter of last Tuesday’s Lakers home game against the Thunder.
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“As far as the LeBron record, what he accomplished is absolutely incredible of just the durability, the consistency and the longevity,” said Woods, a lifelong Lakers fan. “I never thought – I grew up watching Kareem here, never saw him play in Milwaukee, but he was the Cap, that’s all I remember, the Showtime Lakers and watching Cap run down there with goggles and hit the sky hook. That record we never thought it would be surpassed. But what LeBron is doing, but also the amount of minutes he’s playing, no one’s ever done that at that age, to be able to play all five positions, that’s never been done before at this level for this long.”
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Woods was also asked to compare NBA scoring record to a golf record.
“As far as our equivalent to that, I don’t know, maybe you look at maybe me and Sam [Snead] at 82 [wins], Woods said. “It takes a career to get to those numbers. That’s how I think probably best how you look at it.”