Lakers’ LeBron James reaches 40,000 career points

THE ANGELS — Lebron James continues to extend his NBA career into uncharted territories, reaching 40,000 career points on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.

James entered the the Los Angeles Lakers‘game against him Denver Nuggets needing nine points to reach the mark. He got there with a layup at the 10:39 mark of the second quarter.

“I feel like I’m still that threat on the court and I can still do the things I did 10 years ago,” James said after the Lakers game. 124-114 defeat. “And some things he was doing 20 years ago, which is a strange thing to say.”

James finished with 26 points, putting his career total at 40,017 points.

“Nobody’s ever done it,” James said earlier this week when asked about the point total. “And for me to be in this position at this point in my career, I think it’s great. Is it at the top of things I’ve done in my career? No. But does it mean anything? Of course. Absolutely. Why Wasn’t it going to be like that? Being able to achieve things in this league, with the best players who have ever played in this league, the NBA, has been a dream for me, and achieving feats and having milestones throughout the world. career, they all mean something to me.

“Obviously, there is a hierarchical order in which [accomplishments] They are taller than others, but I would be lying to you if I said it didn’t mean anything. Because he absolutely does.”

James took his first shot of the night: a jumper over Denver Aaron Gordon – and then quickly found his rhythm. Anthony Davis He threw a pass as James ran down the court, and the 21-year-old veteran finished the sequence with a layup at the rim. Shortly after, James scored a three-pointer from the corner with Nikola Jokic protecting him.

He finished the first quarter with five points, and the arena kept counting down its countdown to 40,000 on the video board.

James started the second quarter with an and-1 layup to bring his total to seven, but missed the free throw. He then missed a three-pointer the next time, and fans held up their phones to record the possession in anticipation of his record-breaking hoop.

On the Lakers’ next trip down the court, James got the ball beyond the 3-point line, used a spin move to dribble Michael Porter Jr. and scored a left-footed layup to give him nine points for the game and even 40,000 for his career.

During the following timeout, James was presented with the game ball, greeted his family in the stands, and received a standing ovation from the crowd after the Lakers played a tribute video on the jumbotron.

James reached the milestone on the 62nd anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game. In the locker room after the game, James posed for a photo while holding a piece of white paper with “40,000” handwritten on it, a tip of the cap from Chamberlain’s iconic photo from March 2, 1962.

James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring total of 38,387 points last season to become the league’s all-time scoring leader, a record Abdul-Jabbar held for nearly 40 years.

“You just come to assume and expect the great things he’s doing, whether it’s hitting seven 3-pointers or his downhill attacks, taking off from the [dotted half circle in the lane] still at this point in his career,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said before Saturday’s game. “We’re not going to see this much longer and we have to appreciate it while it’s here. … I just appreciate him for what he’s given to the game, what he continues to give to the game and his knowledge, his performance.

“I’m honored to be able to coach him and see him firsthand.”

No other active player has even 30,000 career points. phoenix suns star Kevin Durant He is closest with 28,342 points, making him the league’s ninth all-time leading scorer.

When asked if he was motivated to keep playing and increase his scoring lead, James said the record was never something he was chasing.

“I never thought about getting the scoring record,” James said. “It just happened organically. I played the game the right way and I went out and played and let the game come to me, and the goal record happened organically for me. It was never one of my goals when I came into the league . ., like I want to be the top scorer of all time. But I’m still playing. And I can still score the ball, so [his point total is] “I’m going to go up until I finish playing.”

Lakers big man Anthony Davis He doubted James’ scoring total would ever be eclipsed.

“I mean, you’d think that possibly estefa [Curry]the way he throws the ball, but I guess not,” Davis said of the warriors of the golden state star, which has not reached 25,000 points. “It’s just difficult because he’s not done playing, so it’s only going to increase. That gap is only going to get bigger and bigger… So far, I don’t see anyone breaking his record.”

James, however, said he believes his record is not unbreakable.

“Obviously we have a lot of great guys in our league that can score the ball, and if they stayed healthy and played a lot of time, then they could eclipse him,” James said. “And besides, records are always meant to be broken. You can never say never for any record. At one point we said that Big O’s [Oscar Robertson’s] The triple-double record would never be broken and Russian [Westbrook] He did it and now he looks like the Joker. [ Nikola Jokic] and Luke [Doncic]“They do it every night.”

The milestone came in what was the Lakers’ eighth straight loss to the Nuggets, who eliminated them from the Western Conference Finals last spring, and continued a trend of James’ teams falling short when he has a record at stake.

“I was telling him in the locker room that maybe he should stop breaking records because we always lose every time he breaks a record,” Davis said. “And he said the same thing.”

James’ 30,000th point came in a loss to San Antonio Spurs in January 2018; His 35,000th point came in a loss to Brooklyn networks in February 2021. When he passed Michael Jordan for No. 4 on the all-time scoring list in March 2019, it was a loss to Denver. When he passed Kobe Bryant for the No. 3 spot in January 2020, it was a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. when I pass Carl Malone for No. 2 in March 2022, lost to the Wizards of Washington. And when he overtook Abdul-Jabbar for the No. 1 spot in February 2023, he lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“For me, the main thing is always the main thing, and that’s the win,” James said. “I hated that it had to happen in the loss, especially against the team that plays extremely well. We played good basketball tonight, but we couldn’t close out the game. So it was bittersweet, but we enjoyed every moment tonight on the court.”