The King has added another accomplishment to his already stellar NBA resume.
On Saturday, Lakers forward LeBron James became the first player in league history to reach 40,000 points. With 10:39 left in the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Denver Nuggets, James drove past Michael Porter Jr. and made the historic layup. James finished with 26 points and nine assists in the Lakers‘ 124-114 loss to the Nuggets.
“I hate it that it had to happen in a defeat, especially versus a team that plays extremely well,” James following the defeat. “We played some good basketball tonight, but weren’t able to close it out.” This is the second time in a little more than a year that all eyes of the basketball world have been on James. The King became the all-time leader in career points when he surpassed another Lakers legend — Kareem Abdul Jabbar — in February of 2023.
Abdul-Jabbar remains second in NBA history with 38,387 career points, while another L.A. icon — the late Kobe Bryant — sits in fourth on the list with 33,463 points.
James passed the 40,000-point mark in his 1,475th career game. For comparison, it took Abdul-Jabbar 1,560 appearances to reach his mark.
James also owns the NBA record for most consecutive games scoring at least 10 points, reaching double-digits in 1,161 straight appearances.
James spoke with the media following the Lakers 134-131 overtime win over the Washington Wizards on Thursday.
“No, I never thought about getting the scoring record. It just happened organically,” he said. “I played the game the right way and went out and played the game and let the game come to me and the scoring record happened organically for me. It was never a goal of mine when I came into the league, like I wanted to be the all-time leading scorer. But I’m still playing. And I can still score the ball so it’s going to go up until I’m done playing.”
James has won four NBA titles, including one with the Lakers in 2020. The future first-ballot Hall of Famer has also won four NBA Finals MVPs, four regular season MVPs, and 13-time All-NBA First Team honors.