LOS ANGELES — LeBron James scored his first basket on October 29, 2003, and over the course of his 21-year career and counting, he now has accumulated 40,000 points. LeBron reached this at the 10:39 minute mark during the second quarter in a 114-124 loss vs. the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. 
As LeBron was only two points away, the crowd stood to their feet in Crypto.com Arena, every fans’ phone was recording a moment that will forever go down in NBA history. With all eyes on him and the anticipation mounting, LeBron took two dribbles to the left, one dribble between the legs, spun into the lane, and with cameras flashing, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer scored his 40,000th career point, making a scoop layup with his left hand. Despite Nikola Jokic jokingly telling LeBron right before tip-off that the Nuggets will hold him to only 8 points, so he won’t be able to reach the milestone tonight, he went on to put up 26 points in a losing effort, as his career point total now stands at 40,017.
The amount of points LeBron contributed to each franchise he played for includes: 23,119 points (27.2 ppg) in 11 seasons playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers; 7,919 points (26.9 ppg) in four seasons playing for the Miami Heat; 8,979 points (27.0 ppg) and counting in six seasons playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. To emphasize LeBron’s consistency, as well as defiance of Father Time, it took him the same amount of games to go from 0-10k points (368 games) that it did for him to get from 30k-40k (368 games).
When taking into account the combination of LeBron’s longevity, sheer athleticism, and pure skill, there may never be anyone else that can compare to the 20-time All-Star. Certainly, he will sit atop the NBA scoring leaderboard for years to come, and some might see LeBron’s recent achievement as something that will never be done again. To clarify, in order for a player to get 40,000 points, they will need to average 30 points per game for their entire career, and would be required to play for 20 years while averaging 67 games per season. Notably, no other active player in the NBA has yet to reach the 30k career points threshold. To mention, 35-year-old Kevin Durant is currently number nine on the all-time scoring list with 28,372 points.
Furthermore, what makes this scoring feat all the more impressive is that ever since coming into the league out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, LeBron exemplified the role of being a self-proclaimed “pass-first player” through his unselfish approach to the game of basketball.
“The scoring record was never ever even thought of in my head because I’ve always been a pass-first guy. I’ve always loved seeing the success of my teammates.” In view of this, LeBron has dished out 10,847 assists throughout his career, which ranks him fourth all-time. In addition, LeBron has grabbed 11,046 rebounds, so he is now a part of the 40k points/11k rebounds/10k assists club. And to put this in perspective, there is no other NBA player to ever even be in the 10k/10k/10k club.
Following an OT win vs. the Wizards Thursday, LeBron was asked if it meant anything for him to be one game away from reaching 40,000 NBA points, “I mean, I can’t sit here and say no because, of course. No one has ever done it,” James remarked (via The Athletic). “And for me to be in this position and time in my career, I think it’s pretty cool… To be able to accomplish things in this league, with the greatest players to ever play in this league, the NBA, this has been a dream of mine and to hit feats and have milestones throughout my career, they all mean something to me.”
After passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA’s all-time scoring list last season, and being the first to 40k after tonight, the next record on LeBron’s radar is becoming the world’s all-time leading scorer. This record includes a player’s point total from every professional basketball game they have ever played in (international games, playoffs, and even All-Star games). At 39 years old, LeBron currently has a total of 49,629 points scored throughout his entire basketball career, so he is now only 109 points away from passing Brazilian player Oscar Schmidt (1974-2003), who had accumulated 49,737 points over the course of a 29-year playing career.
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