LeBron James became the first NBA player ever to score 40,000 points during the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers game against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. In a video shared on X, “LeBron James 40,000 points” appeared on screens around the Crypto.com Arena amid his historic moment, as the crowd cheered.
The NBA star entered Saturday’s game needing nine points to hit the milestone. His celebration was however cut short as the Nuggets beat the Lakers 124-114, with James scoring 26 points on the night.
“Being the first player to do something, it’s pretty cool in this league, just knowing the history, the greats that’s come through the league, and then you see some of the greats on the floor tonight, it was great to compete,” said James. “But for me, the main thing, as always, is to win, and I hated that it had to happen in a defeat.”
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James has achieved the feat in 1,475 regular-season games, hitting double-digit points in each of the last 1,205 of those, GPB explained.
With 38,387 career points, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar held the NBA’s all-time scoring record for more than 38 years. But history was made last February when James surpassed the former basketball star to become the highest scorer in NBA history.
The Los Angeles Lakers star reached the coveted pinnacle during their 133-130 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Prior to the game, James’ total career scoring points stood at 38,352, and he needed 36 to pip Abdul-Jabbar from the number spot, ESPN reported. The NBA champion scored 38 points.
Here’s why his latest record will not be easy to break:
Besides James, there are only seven active players with more than 20,000 points. 35-year-old Kevin Durant, who is the next-highest active player after James, has only 28,342 points, almost 12,000 behind James’ mark. And his age might not work well for him.
The Washington Post explained further in this report, “Durant’s career average of 27.3 points per game is actually 0.2 points better than James’ career scoring rate. But Durant — if he keeps that average — would have to play basically every game until the end of the 2028-29 season to reach the 40,000 mark. He’d be 40 at that time. Durant playing at that age isn’t completely unrealistic. The playing every game for five-plus years part probably is unrealistic; Durant hasn’t appeared in all 82 games of a season since 2009-10 when he was a 21-year-old.”
