LOS ANGELES– LeBron James continues to expand his NBA career into uncharted territory, reaching 40,000 career points Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
James entered the the Los Angeles Lakers‘ match against the Denver Nuggets He needs nine points to reach the mark. He got there with a layup at 10:39 of the second quarter.
“I feel like I’m still that threat on the court and I’m still able to do the things that I did 10 years ago,” James said after the Lakers game. 124-114 defeat. “And some things I was doing 20 years ago, which is weird to say.”
James finished with 26 points, bringing his career total to 40,017 career points.
“No one has ever done it,” James said earlier this week when asked about the point total. “And for me to be in this position at this point in my career, I think it’s pretty cool. Is this at the top of the things I’ve done in my career? No. But does that mean anything? Of course. Absolutely. Why not? To be able to accomplish things in this league, with the greatest players to ever play in this league, the NBA, that has been a dream of mine, and to succeed achievements and milestones throughout my career, they all mean the world to me.
“Clearly there is a pecking order among which [accomplishments] are higher than the others, but I’d be lying to you if I said that doesn’t mean anything. Because it absolutely is.”
James made his first shot of the night – a turnaround above Denver’s. Aaron Gordon — and then quickly found his rhythm. Anthony Davis bounced an outlet pass to him as James sprinted up the floor, and the 21-year-old veteran finished the sequence with a layup at the rim. Shortly after, James scored a corner 3-pointer with Nikola Jokic keeping it.
He finished the first quarter with five points and the arena recorded his countdown to 40,000 on the video board.
James started the second quarter with an and-1 layup to bring his total to seven but missed the free throw. He then missed a 3-pointer the next time, with fans raising their phones to record the possession in anticipation of his record-breaking hoop.
On the Lakers’ next trip down the court, James placed the ball beyond the 3-point line and used a spin move to dribble. Michael Porter Jr. and scored a left-handed layup to give him nine points for the game and even 40,000 for his career.
During the ensuing timeout, James received the game ball, greeted his family in the stands and received a standing ovation from the crowd after the Lakers played a tribute video on the jumbotron.
James reached this milestone on the 62nd anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game. In the locker room after the game, James posed for a photo while holding a piece of white paper with “40,000” handwritten on it – a piece of the cap from Chamberlain’s iconic March 2, 1962 photo.
James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s total of 38,387 points last season to become the league’s all-time leading scorer, a record Abdul-Jabbar held for nearly 40 years.
“You just come to assume and expect these big things that he does, whether it’s seven 3s or his downhill attacks, taking off from the [dotted half circle in the lane] “We’re still at this point in his career,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said before Saturday’s game. “We’re not going to see that for a very long time and we have to appreciate him while he’s here. … Just appreciate him for what he’s given to the game, what he continues to give to the game and his knowledge, performance.
“I’m honored to be able to coach him and see it for myself.”
No other active player has even 30,000 career points. Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant is the closest with 28,342 points, making him the league’s 9th all-time leading scorer.
When asked if he was motivated to continue playing to increase his lead in the score, James said the record was never a goal he aimed for.
“I never thought about setting a goalscoring record,” James said. “It happened organically. I played the game the right way, I went out and played the game and let the game come to me, and the goal record came produced organically for me. It was never a goal of mine when I came into the league. , like I wanted to be the best scorer of all time. But I’m still playing. And I can still score the balloon, so [his point total is] I’m going to ride until I’m done playing.”
The big man of the Lakers Anthony Davis I doubted James’ goal tally would ever be eclipsed.
“I mean, you would think that Steph [Curry]the way he shoots the ball, but I guess no?” Davis said of the Warriors of the Golden State star, who did not reach 25,000 points. “It’s just tough because he’s not done playing, so it’s only going to get bigger. That gap is just going to get bigger and bigger. … Right now, I don’t see anyone breaking his record .”
James, however, said he believes his record is not unbreakable.
“Obviously we have a lot of good guys in our league that can score the ball, and if they stayed healthy and played a long time, then they could eclipse him,” James said. “And then, records are always made to be broken. You can never say never for a record. At one point we said that Big O’s [Oscar Robertson’s] the triple-double record would never be broken and Russian [Westbrook] I did it, and now he looks like Joker [ Nikola Jokic] And Lucas [Doncic]They do it every night.”
The milestone came in the Lakers’ eighth straight loss to the Nuggets — who knocked them out of the Western Conference Finals last spring — and continued the trend of James’ teams failing when he has a record stake.
“I was just telling him in the locker room that maybe he should stop breaking records because we always lose every time he breaks a record,” Davis said. “And he said the same thing.”
James’ 30,000th point ended in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs in January 2018; his 35,000th point ended in a defeat against Brooklyn nets in February 2021. When he passed Michael Jordan for fourth place on the all-time scoring list in March 2019, it ended in a loss to Denver. When he passed Kobe Bryant for third place in January 2020, it ended in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. When he passed Karl Malone for No. 2 in March 2022, it ended in a defeat against Wizards of Washington. And when he overtook Abdul-Jabbar for the top spot in February 2023, it ended in defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“For me, the main thing is always the main thing, and that’s winning,” James said. “I hated that it happened in the loss, especially against a team that plays extremely well. We played good basketball tonight, but we couldn’t finish it out. So, bittersweet but I enjoyed it every moment of tonight on the field.”
