LeBron James has become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s mark of 38,387 points.
With a stepback jump shot with 10.9 seconds left in the third quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, James pushed his career total to 38,388 points to break the record that stood for nearly four decades.
With four championship rings and nearly every other honour available to an NBA player, the 38-year-old James now has one of the most coveted records in the game.
After breaking the record, the Los Angeles Lakers star stretched out his arms and threw both hands in the air. Abdul-Jabbar, who was at the packed Crypto.com Arena, rose from his seat and cheered James. The game was stopped as some members of James’ family, including his wife, mother and his children, took the floor for a ceremony recognising the moment.
James has averaged 27.2 points per game in his career while playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers (2003-10, 2014-18), Miami Heat (2010-14) and the Lakers (2018-present).
The burning question entering Tuesday’s contest between the Lakers and the Thunder was whether LeBron James could score the 36 points he needed to finally break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career NBA scoring record.
In true LeBron fashion, he didn’t even need a full game.
“I never thought anybody could beat Kareem’s record,” Magic Johnson said during a congratulatory clip, speaking for most NBA observers.
That includes James, who said in the run-up to Tuesday’s game that he never seriously contemplated besting Abdul-Jabbar’s record until recently given how unreachable it felt.
But James, who also played multiple stints in Cleveland bracketing a stretch in Miami, has followed the same path as his fellow Lakers star with consistent, high-level excellence and historic longevity. With double-figure points in all but eight career games, and scoring averages of at least 25 points per game in all 19 seasons since his rookie campaign in 2003-04, James consistently chipped away at the standard Abdul-Jabbar initially set in 1984 and continued to build on until his retirement in 1989.
“Congratulations to LeBron on breaking one of the most hallowed records in all of sports by becoming the NBA’s all-time scoring leader,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said via statement. “It’s a towering achievement that speaks to his sustained excellence over 20 seasons in the league. And quite amazingly, LeBron continues to play at an elite level and his basketball history is still being written.”
Re-live the moment when LeBron James surpasses Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
James now joins a lineage of record holders started by Joe Fulks and George Mikan, extended by Dolph Schayes, Bob Pettit and Wilt Chamberlain, and seemingly put completely out of reach by Abdul-Jabbar.
Or so we thought.
“To be in the presence of such a legend and great as Kareem, it means so much to me. It’s very humbling,” James said as the game was stopped for a brief ceremony at center court. “To everybody who’s ever been a part of this run with me the last 20 years, I just want to say thank you so much.
“To the NBA … I thank you guys so much for letting me be part of something I’ve always dreamed about. I would never, ever in a million years dreamed it’s better than what it is tonight.”
LeBron James becomes the all-time leading scorer by passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Said Abdul-Jabbar, “LeBron’s career is one of someone who planned to dominate this game. He had the size and the talent to step right into the NBA, and he immediately had his effect. It’s gone on for 20 years now. He has that indefinable essence that you call leadership, that people want to get behind him.”
LeBron James breaks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time NBA scoring record
