LeBron James is the NBA's new all-time leading scorer

February 8, 2023
The King is officially the NBA’s all-time leading scorer thanks to this bucket and his 38 points in last night’s LA Lakers 133–130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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LeBron James is the NBA's new all-time leading scorer
SOURCE: HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES

The GIST: Take a bow, LeBron James. The King is officially the NBA’s all-time leading scorer thanks to this bucket and his 38 points in last night’s LA Lakers 133–130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

  • The 38-year-old now has a whopping 38,390 career points, surpassing the previous record holder, the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s mark of 38,387. In honor of this historic achievement, here’s a look at LeBron by the numbers.

2,478: That’s the most points James scored in a single 82-game season, hitting the mark with the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2005–06 campaign.

1984: The year Abdul-Jabbar — who put aside his differences with James and attended last night’s game — set the previously held scoring record. James was born eight months later.

20: LeBron is playing in his 20th NBA season and he’s finished as a top-20 scorer in the league every single time. Talk about consistency.

18: The age at which a young James entered the 2003 NBA Draft, having just graduated high school in Akron, Ohio. Safe to say “The Chosen One” lived up to the hype.

2: James has two basketball-playing, high school–aged sons: Bronny, a senior, and Bryce, a sophomore. The King has already said he wants to play one NBA season with Bronny, but might we see him on the floor with both of his sons? Now that’d be a slam dunk.