LeBron James makes NBA history against the Denver Nuggets
Mar 2, 2024, 7:14 PM
LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to eclipse 40,000 career points in Saturday’s Los Angeles Lakers game against the Denver Nuggets.
He earned the accomplishment at the 10:39 mark of the second quarter with a layup. The game was not paused, but the accomplishment from “The King” was recognized by the crowd at Crypto.com Arena with a loud cheer.
LeBron James scores the bucket to become the first player in league history to score 40,000 career points 👑
DEN-LAL Live on ABC pic.twitter.com/I84Xd5hiWf
— NBA (@NBA) March 3, 2024
The legendary basketball player, who is in his 21st year in the pros, became the league’s all-time leading scorer last season when he topped Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s long-standing record of 38,387 career points. Of course, that season ended via a sweep to the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. In fact, the Lakers haven’t topped the Nuggets since 2022.
For LeBron, his career actually almost started in Denver. The Nuggets had the worst record in basketball leading into the epic 2003 NBA Draft. But the lottery pushed James’ hometown Cleveland Cavaliers to the top pick, and the Nuggets ended up with Carmelo Anthony at third overall.
James has gone on to play for the Cavs twice, Heat and Lakers, while capturing four NBA championships and four league MVPs and getting an All-Star nod 20 times.
Saturday was just the latest achievement for one of the greatest players in league history and given his recent play, there’s seemingly a good amount left in the tank as the 39-year-old seeks a new contract. This one may never be broken or it may take a long long time for somebody to even get close. The league’s next highest-scoring player still active is Kevin Durant, who is 11th all-time and is yet to reach the 30,000-point mark. Nikola Jokic is 216th by the way, having scored 13,550 points in his career.
Jokic’s and James battles have resulted in one series going each other’s way with the winner ending up with rings that same year. We may be poised for the rubber match between the two this summer. Jokic has gotten many James comparisons for the way he sees the game and can impact it in a multitude of ways. Last week, Jokic jumped ahead of James in career triple-doubles.
