LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, has reached a new milestone.
James became the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 career points. The Los Angeles Lakers All-Star officially crossed the threshold Saturday night in a 124-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena.
James scored 31 points in Thursday’s win over the Washington Wizards, entering the game with 39,991 career points. He scored his first bucket on Saturday on a fast-break layup midway through the first quarter, followed by a 3-pointer minutes later. James then made a layup through two Nuggets players to open the second quarter.
Two possessions later, James made a layup past Michael Porter Jr., reaching 40,000 career points.
James reached that standard just over a year after setting the NBA’s all-time scoring record. On February 8 of last season, James scored his 38,388th point, passing defending leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Since then, he has steadily increased his total, making the record even more out of reach for future challengers.
“I mean, I can’t sit here and say no, because obviously no one’s ever done it before,” James said Thursday night when asked if he was concerned about reaching the 40,000 point mark. “And I think it’s pretty amazing to be in this position and at this point in my career. Does it rank as the culmination of what I’ve done in my career? No. But… Does it mean anything? Of course. Of course.” Why not? ”
James, 39, remains one of the NBA’s top scorers in his 21st season. He entered Saturday with 25.3 points per game, ranking him 15th in points this season. Since averaging 20.9 points per game as a rookie in 2003-2004, James has averaged 25 points or more in each of his next 20 NBA seasons. He was the league’s leading scorer in the 2007-08 season with 30 points per game, and has exceeded that average twice in his career.
Just two games ago, James scored 19 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lakers back from a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter to a 116-112 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. He scored 34 points, leading all scorers in that game. James had a team-high 26 points and nine assists in Saturday’s game, making 12 of 20 from the field.
As long as James stays healthy, he plans to continue steadily increasing his numbers this season.of The Lakers are competing for a playoff spot as the No. 10 team in the Western Conference standings and will continue to rely heavily on James for the remainder of the season. It remains to be seen if he can keep them in the playoff race or pull them back into contention to avoid a play-in tournament.
