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NBA all-time scoring champion LeBron James has reached a new milestone.
James is now the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 career points. The Los Angeles Lakers All-Star officially crossed the threshold on Saturday night in their 124-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena.
James entered the game with 39,991 career points after scoring 31 points in their win over the Washington Wizards on Thursday. He scored his first basket on Saturday with a fastbreak layup midway through the first quarter, then followed up with a 3-pointer minutes later. James then opened the second quarter by making a layup through a pair of Nuggets players.
Then, two possessions later, James made another layup after driving past Michael Porter Jr. to reach 40,000 career points.
James reached the threshold just over a year after setting the NBA’s all-time scoring record. On February 8 of last season, James scored his 38,388th point to surpass previous scoring champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Since then he has continued to increase his total, putting the record even further out of reach for future rivals.
“I mean, I can’t sit here and say no because of course nobody ever has,” James said when asked if he cared about the 40,000-point mark Thursday night. “And for me to be in this position and at this point in my career, I think it’s great. Is it at the top of the things I’ve done in my career? No. But does it mean anything? Of course. Absolutely. Why? I would not do it?”
James, 39, remains one of the game’s leading scorers in his 21st NBA season. He entered Saturday ranked 15th in scoring this season with 25.3 points per game. Since he averaged 20.9 points per game as a rookie in 2003-04, James has averaged at least 25 points in each of the next 20 NBA seasons. He was the league’s scoring champion in 2007-08 with 30 points per game and has surpassed that 30-point average twice in his career.
Just two games ago, James scored 19 fourth-quarter points to lead the Lakers back from a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit in a 116-112 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. He led all scorers in that game with 34 points. James finished Saturday’s game with a team-high 26 points and nine assists while shooting 12 of 20 from the field.
As long as he stays healthy, James projects to continue adding to his tally this season. He The Lakers are fighting for a playoff spot as the 10th-ranked team in the Western Conference and will continue to lean heavily on James down the stretch of the season. It remains to be seen if he can keep them in the playoff race or even put them back in contention to avoid the play-in tournament.