Will LeBron James break the NBA all-time scoring record against the Milwaukee Bucks?

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(Updated Feb. 5)

It's hard to match the serendipity of LeBron James surpassing the NBA's all-time scoring record against the Milwaukee Bucks, the team with whom Kareem Abdul-Jabbar began his legendary career.

Abdul-Jabbar, of course, led the Bucks to the 1971 NBA championship and won three MVPs in Milwaukee before a memorable trade that sent him to the Lakers. With Los Angeles, he carved out the bulk of his superstar career, spending 14 seasons before his retirement after the 1988-89 season.

His 38,387 points, without the benefit of 3-pointers (Abdul-Jabbar made one in his career after the 3-point line was introduced in the 1981-82 season), has remained one of the untouched standards in NBA history ever since. But now, James is poised to bypass the mark.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks will face LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 9. Antetokounmpo passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the Bucks' all-time scoring leader last season, while James is on the brink of passing Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA's all-time scoring mark. James could accomplish the feat against the Bucks in Los Angeles.

As it happens, James (38,352 points after 27 points in a loss to New Orleans on Saturday) and the Lakers will be welcoming the Bucks to town within the window where James could set the mark.

Needing 35 points to tie and 36 to set a new all-time record, James has one additional game to play before he faces the Bucks. The Lakers schedule looks like this:

  • Feb. 7 vs. Oklahoma City

  • Feb. 9 vs. Milwaukee

  • Feb. 11 at Golden State

James averages 30.0 points per game, and it could obviously go either way against the Thunder. As you can imagine, there's some variance here; he cleared 40 points three times in January but has been held to fewer than 30 in his past three games and four of his last five.

It seems at least greater than 50/50 that he'll set the mark against the Bucks, but with the Thunder game at home, could you also see a scenario where James inches close to the record and kicks it into overdrive to make it happen with an eye-popping scoring performance?

The Brewers narrowly missed a milestone earlier this year. Albert Pujols hit his 700th career home run Sept. 23 against the Dodgers, three games before the Cardinals came to Milwaukee for a two-game series. On Sept. 18, Aaron Judge hit two home runs in a game against the Brewers to bring his season total to 59; he hit an American League-record 62nd home run later in the season.

More:Giannis Antetokounmpo breaks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Milwaukee Bucks scoring record

More:Giannis, Kareem and Oscar are named among the 75 greatest players in NBA history in honor of the league's 75th anniversary

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Could LeBron James set NBA all-time scoring mark against Bucks?