Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has set the bar high regarding the NBA records book.
The 40-year-old player continues to make history. And for the records he already holds, he continues to expand upon those marks with each game he plays during the final years of his career.
James collected his latest career points milestone Tuesday against the New Orleans Pelicans when he became the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and playoffs. He reached the mark with his first basket of the contest – a 25-foot 3-pointer off an assist from Luka Doncic early in the first quarter.
James became the NBA’s all-time leading regular-season scorer when he broke Kareen Abdul-Jabbar’s mark of 38,387 points – which stood for 39 years – on Feb. 7, 2023. He scored his 40,000th regular-season point in Los Angeles on March 3, 2024 in a 124-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
In December 2024, James broke the 35-year-old record set by Abdul-Jabbar (57,446) for most minutes played in an NBA career. James entered Tuesday with 58,508 career minutes played.
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LeBron James reaches new NBA career points milestone
James entered Tuesday’s game against the Pelicans with 49,999 points – regular season and playoffs combined – and needed just one point to reach the 50,000 points milestone.
He scored a team-high 34 in the Lakers’ 136-115 victory.
The Lakers star now has 41,871 regular-season points and has scored 8,162 points in the playoffs during his 22-season career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers. He has won an NBA championship with each franchise.
LeBron James career stats
- Regular-season points: 41,871
- Playoff points: 8,162
- Regular-season field goals: 15,371
- Regular-season FGA: 30,341
- Playoff field goals: 2,928
- Playoff FGA: 5,896
- Regular-season 3-pointers: 2,541
- Regular-season 3-point attempts: 7,257
- Playoff 3-pointers: 470
- Playoff 3-point attempts: 1,415
- Regular-season free throws: 8,591
- Regular-season free throw attempts: 11,663
- Playoff free throws: 1,836
- Playoff free throw attempts: 2,479
Lakers’ next game
The Lakers will host the New York Knicks on Thursday, March 6, at 10 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on TNT and can be streamed on Max or Sling.
Watch Lakers vs. Knicks Thursday on Sling
This story has been updated with new information.
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