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 423 points to surpass Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387.
At his career scoring average of 27.2 PPG, James would need 16 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 10 games
this season. If he misses games at the same rate he did last season, the record-breaking game would come
March 7 against the Memphis Grizzlies. Through 31
games this season, James is averaging 29.1 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
Despite James missing 10 games this season, he has already surpassed
Abdul-Jabbar’s point total during his entire 20th and final season. James has scored 903 points in 31
games in 2022-23; Abdul-Jabbar scored 748 for the 1988-89 season.
JAMES
ABDUL-JABBAR
YEAR-BY-YEAR POINT TOTALS
20TH YEAR COMPARISON
[when LeBron breaks the record]. If we have a game, I still might come to the game, because that’s
a big accomplishment. I love Bron and everything he’s done for me and everything he stands
for.”
TYRONN LUE
LA Clippers coach
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Both James and the Lakers continued their hot streaks. James topped the
30-point mark for the 10th time in the past 13 games to lead Los Angeles to its fifth consecutive win.
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
RON JENKINS/GETTY IMAGES
After being ruled out of Monday’s game in Denver with left ankle soreness,
James is next slated to play Thursday against the Mavs. When these two teams met on Christmas Day, James
scored 38 points.
MORE LEBRON JAMES
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 and
Information.