When will LeBron break the NBA's career points record?

LeBron James
is on the verge of passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Abdul-Jabbar has 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
within reach.

So when will James score the 224 points he needs to surpass Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387? That depends.

– At his career scoring average of 27.2 points per game, James would need nine games to break the mark, putting him on track to do it Feb. 9 against the Milwaukee Bucks.

– At his 2022-23 scoring average of 29.8 points per game, James would need eight games to break the mark, putting him on track to do it Feb. 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

– Since turning 38 on Dec. 30, James is averaging 35.1 points per game. If he maintains that average, James would need seven games to break the mark, putting him on track to do it Feb. 4 against the New Orleans Pelicans.

This all assumes James plays every game between now and when he breaks the record. He’s already missed 10 games this season and the Lakers have two sets of back-to-backs between now and the end of February.

We’ll have ongoing coverage of LeBron’s quest, including updated game-by-game projections and complete
stats, throughout the season.