$212,000 NIL-valued JuJu Watkins turns into cheerleader as LeBron joins 40k points club: "Unreal"

Even as LA Lakers star LeBron James made history Saturday by scoring point No. 40,000 against the Denver Nuggets in a 124-114 loss, USC Trojans star JuJu Watkins led her team to a comprehensive 70-55 win against Arizona State.

A week after James congratulated Watkins on her 42-point effort against Colorado, the USC star, who has an On3 NIL valuation of $212,000, turned into a cheerleader for the Lakers star, reposting a post of his achievement on her Instagram stories with the caption:

"Unreal 🦌."

Image via Instagram

LeBron James sets hard-to-break record

While LeBron James has 40,017 points, no active player in the NBA has anywhere close. The Phoenix Suns' star Kevin Durant is the closest with 28,342 points.

During the postgame news conference on Saturday night, James' teammate Anthony Davis was in awe of the NBA legend, revealing that he doubted the record would ever be broken.

"I mean, you would think possibly Steph (Curry), the way he shoots the ball, but I guess not?" Davis said. "It's just tough because he's not finished playing, so it's only going to increase. That gap is only going to get bigger and bigger. ... As of right now, I don't see anybody breaking his record.

"I was just telling him in the locker room he might have to stop breaking records because we always lose any time he breaks a record. And he said the same thing."

LeBron James disagreed with his teammate regarding someone else breaking his record.

"Obviously, we have a lot of great guys in our league that can score the ball, and if they were to stay healthy and they would play a long time, then they can eclipse it," James said. "And then, records are always meant to be broken. You can never say never for any record.

"At one point, we said that Big O’s [Oscar Robertson] triple-double record would never be broken, and Russ [Russell Westbrook] did it, and now looks like Joker [Nikola Jokic] and Luka [Doncic], they’re doing it every night."

James showed his competitive side despite being the sole player with 40,000 points.

"For me, the main thing is always the main thing, and that's the win," James said. "I hated that it had to happen in the defeat, especially versus the team that plays extremely well. We played some good basketball tonight, but wasn't able to close it out. So, bittersweet, but enjoyed every moment tonight on the floor."

With LeBron James averaging 25.3 points in year 21, it is not inconceivable that he stretches his points scoring record to unreachable heights.