The King's Quest: LeBron passes Kareem
LeBron James
has passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Abdul-Jabbar had been atop the career points list since April 5, 1984, when he broke the mark previously held by Wilt Chamberlain. Now James has that record.
James came into Tuesday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder needing to score 36 points to surpass Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387. He finished with 38.
JAMES VS. ABDUL-JABBAR
Despite missing 11 games this season, James has already blown past
Abdul-Jabbar’s point total during his entire 20th and final season. James has scored 1,326 points in 44 games in 2022-23; Abdul-Jabbar scored 748 for the 1988-89 season.
YEAR-BY-YEAR POINT TOTALS
“It’s just amazing to watch him. It’s his 20th season, and what he’s doing — he’s scoring 30, 40 almost every night. He’s just incredible.”
LUKA DONCIC
Dallas Mavericks guard on LeBron James
Photo by Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
OPP.
James reached the career record milestone with a 21-foot fadeaway jumper with 10.9 seconds left in the third quarter, giving him 38,388 for his career.
“The scoring record was never, ever even thought of in my head because I’ve always been a pass-first guy.”
LeBRON JAMES
To ESPN’s Dave McMenamin
AP Photo/Jess Rapfogel
OPP.
PATRICK MCDERMOTT/GETTY IMAGES
TK
TUNE IN
(TNT)
Edited by Adam Reisinger.
Produced by ESPN Creative Studio: Michelle Bashaw, Rob Booth, Chris DeLisle, Jessi Dodge, Heather
Donahue,
Jarret Gabel, Luke Knox, Rachel Weiss.
Illustrations by Iveta Karpathyova. Development by Christian Ramirez. Research by ESPN Stats &
Information.
