"I know exactly what he’s doing": Shaquille O'Neal reckons LeBron James is putting scoring record out of reach for '60-70 years' 

A few months ago, LeBron James surpassed fellow NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and became the all-time scoring leader in the league. Entering Year 21, the "King" has a golden opportunity to push the scoring record further to ensure that no player would be able to reach it.

According to NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, James' scoring record would be unlikely to be broken in the next '60 or 70 years', if the four-time NBA champion maintains his current scoring average until his retirement:

"In order to be the champs you have to beat the champs and the Denver Nuggets are the champs. LeBron and the Lakers understand that the Nuggets are the team to beat. A lot of people, including myself, want the Lakers to win. LeBron has been one of the only players that has looked consistently good on how they look," Shaquille O'Neal told ESPN, via Basketball Network.

"You know a lot of us when we get old we’re not the same player, for example, in my last year, I definitely wasn’t Shaq. I was chasing number five and just wanted to play with the Celtics, but he looks pretty good. He already has the most points; he passed Kareem, and he wants to take it to a place where the record will never be broken for the next 60 to 70 years. I know exactly what he’s doing," the legendary big man added.

At the moment, James has 38,652 points. He still has two years left in his current deal with the LA Lakers (the 2024-25 season is a player option), so he's expected to play till at least the summer of 2025.

The only active player who could break James' record is Kevin Durant, but he's far away. The superstar of the Phoenix Suns is 13th in the all-time scoring list with 26,892 points.

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Shaquille O'Neal explains why he was 'jealous' of LeBron James breaking all-time scoring rercord

In a historic moment in February, LeBron James became the all-time scoring leader in the NBA after breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's long-standing record.

Later, James was asked by Shaquille O'Neal, who works as an analyst for TNT, on whether that made him the greatest of all time.

LeBron James explained why he believes he's one of the greatest, or the greatest, to ever play this game. Meanwhile, O'Neal shared his thoughts on why he was 'jealous' to watch James break the all-time scoring record.

"It was a professional jealousy moment. If it was me, I would have been arrogant for 19 seconds. … I know he is a humble kid. I know he is going to give the answer, 'I don't want to be involved in the debate of who the greatest,'" Shaquille O'Neal said in an interview with Extra last February (segment starts at 2:00 mark).

"I am jealous of having the conversation. It is nice to be in 'Who’s the greatest? Him, or him?' Everybody would love to be in that position."

LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal were teammates in the Cleveland Cavaliers for one season (2009-2010) before James' move to the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010.