J.R. Smith may remain in exile from the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he took time to honor former teammate LeBron James for a huge milestone in the future Hall of Famer’s career.
Smith offered a salute on social media that also recalled the era of success the Cavaliers had when the two players were on the roster together.
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The milestone James reached on Wednesday night was passing the legendary Michael Jordan on the NBA’s career scoring list. James entered Wednesday night’s game between his Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets needing just 13 points to accomplish the feat and achieved it by halftime.
James officially passed Jordan during the second quarter on a layup that he then converted into a three-point play after being fouled. During the next timeout, the Lakers honored James with a tribute video and fans at the game offered a standing ovation.
After scoring 31 in the Lakers’ loss, James now has 32,311 points over the course of his 16-year career. That puts him 1,332 points behind Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who stands at 33,643. After Bryant, the only two remaining players to pass are Karl Malone at 36,928 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the top with 38,387,
In the case of Smith, he’s awaiting the offseason after the Cavaliers were unable to trade him before the league deadline last month. The Cavs are hoping to find a trade partner for the veteran guard this summer. His banishment from the Cavs came back in November after he accused the team of tanking the season in order to secure a high draft pick.
