LeBron James is already the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. But on Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers star set a new scoring milestone.
James, during the Lakers’ matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night, officially scored his 50,000th point between the regular season and the playoffs.
James didn’t waste much time hitting the mark, which he came painfully short of hitting on Sunday night. Midway through the first quarter, James drilled a perfect 3-pointer from the wing.
James dropped 17 points in the Lakers’ 106-102 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, and came up with a clutch block in the final seconds to seal that win, but he finished the night with 49,999 career points. That pushed the 50,000-point milestone off until Tuesday night.
James is the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 points combined between the regular season and the playoffs. He broke Michael Jordan’s postseason scoring record in 2017, and he currently has more than 8,100 playoff points scored in his career. James then broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record of 38,387 points during a game in 2023.
Naturally, James is well ahead of everybody on the all-time scoring list. Abdul-Jabbar finished his career with 44,149 combined points scored, and he’s one of just three people with at least 40,000 points. Kevin Durant is the only active player inside the top 10 on that list, though he sits at just more than 35,000 combined points.
Despite being at the end of his career, James is currently on a remarkable scoring kick. He entered Tuesday’s game averaging 24.8 points, 8.6 assists and eight rebounds per game this season with the Lakers. He’s shot nearly 52% from the field, too. James has also recorded multiple games where he’s scored 40 points or more since he turned 40 on Dec. 30. Jordan is the only other player in league history to have a 40-point game after turning 40, though he only accomplished that feat once in his career.
James, who was the No. 1 overall pick out of high school in 2003, is in the middle of his 22nd season in the league. While it’s unclear how much longer he will play before retiring, his scoring record looks like it will stand for a very long time.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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