LeBron James, the superstar of the Los Angeles Lakers, is now the greatest scorer in NBA history, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 points. The achievement occurred in the third quarter of Tuesday’s game (7) against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With 10.9 seconds left in the third quarter, James made the basket, marking his 36th point of the game and 38,388th of his career. He stretched his arms in celebration as the packed crowd at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles went into a frenzy.
The referees stopped the game to honor him on the court, where his mother, wife, and children met him and embraced him. NBA commissioner Adam Silver congratulated him, and Abdul-Jabbar—present and applauding as James approached the record—held up a basketball before handing it to James as if renouncing his own scoring crown.
“I just want to thank the Lakers faithful. You are one of a kind,” James said into a microphone.
He asked the crowd to give Abdul-Jabbar a standing ovation.
“Everyone who has been a part of this race with me for the last… 20 years or more, I just want to say thank you very much, because I wouldn’t be me without you.”
The 38-year-old player needed fewer games than the legendary Lakers player to reach the top of the scoring list—1,410 compared to Abdul-Jabbar’s 1,560. James’s record achievement is even more impressive as he is widely regarded as a player who also assists, recently achieving fourth place on the NBA’s all-time assists list.
The other top scorers are Karl Malone (36,928 points), Kobe Bryant (33,643 points), and Michael Jordan (32,292 points).
King James is also now the king of NBA scoring.