LeBron James becomes first player to score 50,000 points in NBA

LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 career points on Tuesday, extending his lead as the league’s all-time record scorer.

The Los Angeles Lakers superstar went into the game against the New Orleans Pelicans with 49,999 regular and postseason points after a 17-point performance in Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

It did not take long for the 40-year-old NBA icon to get the solitary point needed to reach the 50,000-point barrier.

James, who is in dazzling form in the 22nd season of a glittering career, gathered a pass from Luka Doncic and unfurled a sublime 25-foot three-pointer to move to 50,002 points with the Crypto.com Arena crowd roaring their acclaim.

LeBron James becomes first player to score 40,000 points in NBA

James had passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s previous all-time regular-season scoring record of 38,387 points in 2023 – itself a record that had stood for 39 years.

James is now nearly 6,000 points clear of Abdul-Jabbar’s total career points tally of 44,149, with Karl Malone third (41,689 points) and the late Kobe Bryant fourth with 39,283 points.

Michael Jordan is fifth on the all-time scoring list with 38,279.

Among active NBA players, only Kevin Durant with just over 35,000 points – roughly 15,000 points behind James – makes the top 10.

The Star