LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to record 40,000 career points in the Los Angeles Lakers 124-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena in Denver on March 2.
James famously passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time scoring leader on Feb. 7 2023. This is yet another great accomplishment in the milestone career James has put together.
As athletes get bigger and strong, one has to wonder is 50,000 the mark the next generation of athletes will look to eclipse.
Before Abdul-Jabbar, no one had come remotely close to scoring 40,000 points, retiring with 38,387. Abdul-Jabbar held the record for 39 years before being passed up by James. On April 5, 1984, Abdul-Jabbar passed Wilt Chamberlain to become the leagues official scoring leader. Chamberlain ended his career with 31,419 points.
Chamberlain became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer by surpassing Bob Pettit on Feb. 14, 1966 and would hold the record for 18 years. Pettit finished his illustrious career with 20,880 points. James has nearly doubled Pettit’s total and is still playing at an all-star level.
Pettit was the first player in league history to eclipse 20,000 points, Chamberlain was the first to surpass 30,000 and James is the first to reach 40,000. Since the NBA’s inception players have gotten younger, stronger and athleticism has reached new heights. The league has evolved and with every generation records such as league leader in scoring is pushed to a new level.
Pettit played a combination of the power forward and center positions respectively. Abdul-Jabbar and Chamberlain are two of the most imposing centers to grace the NBA’s Hardwood. James is the first non-big to hold the record which is a testament to what he’s accomplished. In the old days, the seven footers could pad their stats around the basket. The game played towards the center’s favor. It was once believed that you needed a great center to dominate NBA basketball. That thought process has since changed.
At 39, James’s averages are 25.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 7.9 assist, 1.3 steals, and 0.6 blocks while shooting 52.7 percent from the field. As an elder statesman, James can still stake claim to being the best player in the world. Normally when a player reaches such a milestone, you’d expected them to have fallen off. James is aging like fine wine. His numbers are similar to when he was in his mid-twenties.
When James entered the league in 2003, the style of play was much different. The NBA allowed for a more physical brand of basketball. Today, as is the case with MLB, the NFL and NHL to an extent, analytics hold great value. The three-point shot takes precedence over everything on the offensive end. James has stood the test of time as he’s been more than comparable during his career from three.
James tends to his body as well as any athlete we’ve ever seen. Barring injury, the record could very well be pushed to a point where it’d be extremely difficult for anyone to catch. Karl Malone, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant all came close to Jabbar’s 38,387 but came up short.
James has expressed interest in playing alongside his son, Bronny James. who is a freshman at USC. At this point, Bronny doesn’t seem ready just yet to make the leap to the NBA. James, who turns 40 on Dec 30, could have a few years left in him. Tom Brady won a Super Bowl Championship at the age of 43. Brady set the standard for athletes over 40. James is a physical specimen. Based upon what we’ve already seen, there’s no telling how long he could play.
Golden State Warriors Point Guard Stephen Curry has been one of the NBA’s premier players since entering the league in 2009. Curry surpassed Ray Allen as the leader in three-point field goals in 2021. Despite Curry’s prowess from beyond the arc, he still sits nearly 17,000 points behind James at 23,254. Kevin Durant is second in points scored by an active player at 28,372, followed by James Harden at 25,628. Durant is 35 years old, and Harden is 34. Both players will likely retire before coming anywhere near James’s 40,017 and counting.
This season the NBA introduced the first annual In-Season Tournament. All 30 teams are drawn into groups of five in their conference based upon their won-loss total from the 2022-2023 season. There are two stages, group and knock out. The Lakers on the tournament which included a prize of $500,000 for each member of the winning side. The Lakers hung a banner inside Staples Center in commemoration of the IN-Season Tournament Championship. Fans and many around the league were critical of the decision to hang a banner. Los Angeles is tied with the Boston Celtics for most titles in league history with 17. Teams with such historical accomplishments normally only recognize winning it all.
James has etched his name with some of the greatest players the NBA has ever seen. The irony of James scoring more point than any player in NBA history is the fact that he came into the game with a pass first mentality. If James approached the game such as Kobe Bryant did, his scoring total could have been close to 50,000 by now. The greatest of all-time debate is one that is opinionated if anything. Some say Jordan, others say James and the smart ones keep it objective. After all, there is no right or wrong answer. However, every time James sets another other than worldly record, it seems as if once his playing days are over people will realize just how dominant he truly was.
The Lakers are currently 33-29, sitting in tenth position in the Wester-Conference. If the playoffs began today, they’d be relegated to the play-in tournament. However, due to a cluster in standings the Lakers are only seven games back of the Los Angeles Clippers who are the fourth seed out west. Now that stat watching has subsided, James and company are free to focus on the business of pursuing championships.
