LeBron James has already become the NBA’s all-time scoring leader and now is the first player in the NBA’s 77-year history to score over 40,000 career points.
LeBron James Becomes the First Player Ever in NBA History to Score 40,000 Career Points
LeBron James entered the contest against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, nine points away from becoming the first NBA player in history to surpass 40,000 points scored in a career. James started off slow in the game, passing to his teammates more than looking for his own buckets after air-balling his first attempt of the game. All the starters for the Lakers scored before LeBron got the ball on an outlet pass from Anthony Davis and rushed down the court for a layup to give him his first points on the night. LeBron closed out his first quarter shooting two of three after scoring a corner three over Nikola Jokić. The Lakers’ next two possessions resulted in lobs from James to Davis and then James to Rui Hachimura before LeBron checked out with 3:19 left in the first quarter, accumulating five points and three assists. LeBron didn’t wait much longer. He started the second quarter with a tough and-1 bucket before hitting a spin move layup with his left hand to reach the historic 40k mark. Though the game wasn’t stopped for the achievement, the fans showed LeBron their love and support, as James received a standing ovation while the crowd cheered from the stands.
HE HAS DONE IT 🐐
LEBRON JAMES HAS 40K CAREER POINTS pic.twitter.com/5d8SaT5cIO— Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) March 3, 2024
Coming into the game, it was known that James would reach the record as LeBron has only been held under ten points a total of nine times in his 21 seasons. In fact, LeBron owns the record for most consecutive games with at least 10 points, reaching double figures in scoring for 1,204 straight games and counting. LeBron James has by far separated himself from the record’s previous holder, Michael Jordan, who had at least 10 points for 867 consecutive games. LeBron’s streak has been ongoing since he was just 22 years old, in his fourth season in the NBA. Seventeen years later, James has played over 14 straight seasons without ever finishing a game with less than 10 points. During this streak and en route to becoming the first ever 40k point scorer, James has stacked up many accolades, records, and career milestones.
The “Chosen One” Out Performs Insane Hype
While still in high school, LeBron James was on the cover of Sports Illustrated entitled the “Chosen One,” entering the NBA with more hype and expectations than any other player before. James was drafted first overall in the 2003 Draft, selected by his hometown, Cleveland Cavaliers. At 18 years old, on October 29th, 2003, LeBron scored his first NBA basket with a mid-range jumper from an assist by Ricky Davis. LeBron James lost his first-ever NBA game 106-92 to the Sacramento Kings, finishing with 25 points and six rebounds while dishing out nine assists.
With LeBron James moving into 2nd all-time in scoring… we look back at the first basket of his career! #NBA75 pic.twitter.com/iFHeTahT2f
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) March 20, 2022
LeBron would need just 48 games after this first one to reach 1,000 career points. James was the youngest player ever to score 1,000 points and would continue being the youngest to achieve every thousand-point milestone in between, up to when he finally became the first to reach 40k points. On January 21st, 2006, after James had caught fire for 51 points against the Utah Jazz, LeBron, at 21 years old, became the youngest player ever to reach 5,000 career points, passing Kobe Bryant, who was 22 when he scored his 5,000th point. This was only the start, as James passed Bryant again as the youngest to score 10,000 career points. Not long after breaking 10,000 career points, LeBron, on March 21st, 2008, passed Brad Daugherty as the Cleveland Cavaliers career all-time scoring leader. James became a back-to-back league MVP in the 2009-2010 season, surpassing the 13,000-point mark and the 14,000-point mark to start the new year on January 2nd, 2010, vs. the Nets, and scored his 15,000 points on March 19th, 2010 in the first quarter of a game against the Chicago Bulls.
HISTORY.
With this bucket, LeBron James moves past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer! pic.twitter.com/N6V5RxPe6r
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 8, 2023
LeBron joined Kareem as the only other player ever to score over 38,000 points in an NBA career, surpassing the all-time scoring mark Abdul-Jabbar had set of 38,388 in February of last year when James hit a step-back jumper late in the third quarter against the Thunder becoming the NBA’s career scoring leader. After the achievement “The Captain,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar praised James, saying the younger man “planned to dominate” in the NBA and he has. “He led teams to three (now four) world championships. They didn’t get there because of someone else and LeBron tagged along; LeBron led them. He has that indefinable essence that they call leadership.”
LeBron’s name is already all over the NBA record books as the 39-year-old will become the 2nd player ever to play in a 22nd season, joining only Vince Carter next year as James has shown no signs of retiring yet. LeBron is in the top ten of several other prominent statistical categories, ranking 4th all-time in assists and eighth all-time in steals. LeBron’s longevity has been a significant contributor to his ascension of the NBA record books as James is 2nd all time in minutes played, 7th in games played, and is 4th all-time with 954 games won, behind the only three players with over 1,000 career wins, Tim Duncan, Robert Parish, and Kareem. LeBron James will look to extend his incredible double-digit scoring streak and continue adding to his legacy as the Lakers host the Thunder on Monday.
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