Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James wasn’t the only legend to make history this past weekend. At the collegiate level, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark surpassed NBA Hall of Famer and LSU legend ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich to become the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history.
It was a record Maravich set back in 1970 and remained his for more than 50 years until Clark finally set a new record in her final regular season college game. Clark did so in the second quarter of Iowa’s game against the Ohio State Buckeyes, knocking down a pair of free throws to make history.
Women’s college basketball has enjoyed a renaissance as of late and Clark is a big reason why with her scoring exploits. After breaking the record she received a ton of support, including from LeBron as the Lakers star praised her on social media:
CONGRATS @CaitlinClark22 on becoming the All-Time leading scorer!! 🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣🪣. 🙏🏾🫡👑
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 3, 2024
After dropping 35 points in the Hawkeyes’ win over Ohio State, Clark now sits at 3,685 points and still has plenty of time to extend that record even further. Iowa has the Big 10 Conference Tournament and the NCAA Tournament ahead of them with them currently ranking sixth. After making the National Championship last year, Clark is hoping to finish the job in her final season as she has already announced she will be entering the WNBA Draft after this season.
Much like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record in the NBA, Maravich’s collegiate scoring record is one that many thought would never be broken in their lifetime. Making things even more impressive for Maravich was that he set that record without a 3-point line, while Clark is the all-time leader in women’s college basketball for 3-pointers made.
Greatness recognizes greatness and James understands breaking unbreakable records and made sure to praise Clark for an outstanding accomplishment. The women’s game is growing and LeBron wanted to ensure the Clark got her flowers on this day.
LeBron James calls reaching 40,000 points bittersweet after Lakers loss to Nuggets
While Clark’s milestone came in a dominant victory for Iowa, LeBron James’ 40,000th career point came in a Lakers loss to the Denver Nuggets. Because of that, while LeBron was appreciative of the love shown to him, he admitted it was bittersweet to accomplish this record in a loss.
“But for me, the main thing is always the main thing, and that’s to win,” LeBron said. “I just hate that it had to happen in a defeat, especially vs. a team that plays extremely well. And we played some good basketball tonight but wasn’t able to close it out. So, bittersweet. But I enjoyed every moment tonight though out on the floor.”
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