The Los Angeles Lakers star, 39, hit the career milestone Saturday against the Denver Nuggets
LeBron James is a history-maker!
During the second quarter of Saturday’s Los Angeles Lakers game against the Denver Nuggets, James, 39, became the first NBA player ever to score 40,000 points.
After hitting the milestone, James shared a montage of snaps on Instagram to mark the occasion along with a video from the game, writing in the caption, “1 of 1 ”
“LeBron James 40,000 points” flashed up on screens around the Crypto.com Arena during James’ big moment, with the crowd going wild to celebrate in a clip shared on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The sportsman needed nine points to hit the milestone at the start of Saturday’s game, which saw the Nuggets beat the Lakers 124-114. James ended up scoring 26 points on the night.
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Last February, James reached 38,390 points during the Lakers’ game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, officially making him the leading scorer in NBA history.
The historic point pushed James past the record’s former holder Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 76. At the time, James posed with a sign dated Feb. 7, 2023, with the number 38,390 written on it to celebrate the milestone.
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Abdul-Jabbar, who held the record for just shy of four decades, proudly handed over the honor to James.
“It couldn’t have been a better person to do it than LeBron. He earned it, he worked hard for it,” Abdul-Jabbar said after the game.
James’ latest scoring record comes after he told reporters at the All-Star Game last month that he hopes to end his career as a Laker.
“I am a Laker and I’m happy and been very happy being a Laker the last six years and hopefully it stays that way,” LeBron said, according to ESPN.
“But I don’t have the answer to how long it is or which uniform I’ll be in. Hopefully [it] is with the Lakers. It’s a great organization, so many greats. But we’ll see.”
