On Sunday, Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin broke Wayne Greyzky's record to reign supreme as the leading goal scorer in the history of the NHL. The Kings and Oilers legend's feat was unbreeched for 31 years until Ovechkin matched the milestone and went past it. While it is a massive achievement, ESPN analyst Shannon Sharpe does not consider it to be on the same level with LeBron James' NBA scoring record.
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Shannon Sharpe Compares Alexander Ovechkin's Record with LeBron James
What stands out about the Russian superstar's record is how quickly he achieved it. While Gretzky took 1,487 games to score 894 goals, Ovechkin reached 895 goals in the same number of games. However, Sharpe believes there's an even more impressive feat.
LeBron James went past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record in the 2022-23 season. As nearly two seasons have passed since he attained the historic mark, Sharpe has more sample size to put weight to his statement.
Sharpe took to ESPN’s First Take to play the role of defense on behalf of James.
“Let me tell you how impressive LeBron James’ record is, he did it in 150 fewer games,” Sharpe said. “It took the same amount of games, 1,497, for [Ovechkin] to break Gretzky’s. LeBron broke Kareem’s record that stood for 40 years in 150 fewer games. He still ain’t played the number of games Kareem played.”
While both LeBron James and Alexander Ovechkin are legends of different sports, a comparison should not be made, but it is something which is inevitable in the present landscape. The number game always puts more leverage on the greatness quotient of one great but in the grander scheme of things it may not become a subject of debate. It is because one always compares Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, not Lionel Messi and LeBron James.