LeBron James became the NBA's top-scorer of all time after breaking the scoring record by Kareem Abdul Jabbar. LeBron scored 36th point vs. Oklahoma City Thunder in the 3rd quarter and now has 38,388 points in total.
LeBron James made history, becoming the NBA's top-scorer of all time after scoring 36th point vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, taking his total to 38,388 points.
James made a step-back jumper with 10.9 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The game was temporarily stopped to honor LeBron's achievement.
Kareem symbolically passed the ball to James, which looked like the pass of a torch.
Player of the Game | |
EFF
27
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|
Jaylin Williams | |
Points | 14 |
Accuracy | 4-6 |
Rebounds | 7 |
Assists | 7 |
In a 130-133 loss vs. Thunder, James finished with 38 points (9/14 2PT, 4/6 3PT, 8/10 FT), 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 4 turnovers.
Abdul-Jabbar has been atop the career points list since April 5, 1984, when he broke the mark previously held by Wilt Chamberlain. Now, James is the new record holder.
Top 10 NBA All-Time points leaders
Rank | Player | Points | Games | Minutes | FGM | FG% |
1. | LeBron James | 38,390 | 1,409 | 53,742 | 14,053 | 50.5 |
2. | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 38,387 | 1,560 | 57,446 | 15,837 | 55.9 |
3. | Karl Malone | 36,928 | 1,476 | 54,852 | 13,528 | 51.6 |
4. | Kobe Bryant | 33,643 | 1,346 | 48,643 | 11,719 | 44.7 |
5. | Michael Jordan | 32,292 | 1,072 | 41,010 | 12,192 | 49.7 |
6. | Dirk Nowitzki | 31,560 | 1,522 | 51,367 | 11,169 | 47.1 |
7. | Wilt Chamberlain | 31,419 | 1,045 | 47,859 | 12,681 | 54.0 |
8. | Shaquille O'Neal | 28,596 | 1,207 | 41,917 | 11,330 | 58.2 |
9. | Carmelo Anthony | 28,289 | 1,260 | 43,513 | 10,119 | 44.7 |
10. | Moses Malone | 27,409 | 1,329 | 45,071 | 9,435 | 49.1 |
"The scoring record was never, ever even thought of in my head because I've always been a pass-first guy," James admitted to ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
LeBron's most efficient season points-wise was back in the 2005-06 season. Back then, he scored 2478 points in total (averaging 31.4 points per game). Over his career, James scored more than 2000 points in one season ten times.
"LeBron has taken care of himself so well, and he's been able to play a bundle of games for a lot of years," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "His commitment to the game and to what he has to do has allowed himself to be in this position."
LeBron only led the NBA in scoring for one season. By comparison, Adrian Dantley, who's not even among the top 30 scorers of all time, did that twice. By comparison, Jordan did that 10 times.
"It's just amazing to watch him," Luka Doncic said earlier this season. "It's his 20th season, and what he's doing -- he's scoring 30, 40 almost every night. He's just incredible."
After becoming the NBA's top scorer of all-time, James is also among the top 10 players in a few other key statistical categories:
- Games played – 9-10th (1409 games played in total)
- Minutes played – 3rd (53,742 minutes played in total)
- Points – 1st (38,390 points in total)
- Assists – 4th (10,354 assists in total)
- Steals – 9th (2,179 steals in total)
- Defensive rebounds – 10th (8,931 defensive rebounds in total)
- Field goals made – 2nd (14,053 field goals made in total)
- Field goals attempted – 2nd (27,829 field goals attempted in total)
- 3-pointers made – 9th (2,237 3-pointers made in total)
- 3-pointers attempted – 4th (6,494 3-pointers attempted in total)
- Free throws made – 4th (8,047 free throws made in total)
- Free throws attempted – 5th (10,949 free throws attempted in total)
- Turnovers – 1st (4,926 turnovers in total)