When LeBron James passed
Karl Malone for second
on the NBA’s career regular-season points list, he set his sights firmly on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the
NBA’s current all-time leading scorer.
Abdul-Jabbar has been atop the career points list since April 5, 1984 — eight months before James was even born — when he broke the mark previously held by Wilt Chamberlain. Now James has that record within reach, needing 630 points to surpass Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387.
At his career scoring average of 27.1 PPG, James would need 24 games to rack up that total, putting him on track to break the record on Feb. 11 against the Golden State Warriors. James has missed eight games this season. If he continues to miss games at the same rate he did last season, the record-breaking game would come March 12 against the New York Knicks. Through 25 games this season, James is averaging 27.8 PPG, putting him ahead of his career pace.
We’ll have ongoing coverage of LeBron’s quest, including updated game-by-game projections and complete stats, throughout the season.
JAMES VS. ABDUL-JABBAR
Even though James has already missed eight games this season, he’s significantly ahead of the pace Abdul-Jabbar set in his 20th and final season in 1988-89. James has scored 696 points in 25 games in 2022-23, just 52 fewer than Abdul-Jabbar scored the entire season.
JAMES
ABDUL-JABBAR
YEAR-BY-YEAR POINT TOTALS
20TH YEAR COMPARISON
TYRONN LUE
LA Clippers coach
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
On the same day James tied Jason Kidd for 11th place on the NBA’s career games played list, he dropped 38 on Kidd’s Mavericks, extending his streak of 30-point games to seven.
LAST 5 GAMES
sought-after record in the NBA, things that people say would probably never be done, I think it’s
just super humbling for myself. I think it’s super cool.”
LeBRON JAMES
On passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images
AP PHOTO/RINGO H.W. CHIU
In six meetings with the Magic since joining the Lakers, James has scored 30 points just once — a triple-double last December.
MORE LEBRON JAMES
Edited by Adam Reisinger.
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Illustrations by Iveta Karpathyova. Development by Christian Ramirez. Research by ESPN Stats and
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