LeBron James passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as NBA all-time scoring leader

Matt John
Feb 8 2023

The NBA has a new king sitting atop its scoring throne... The King.

On Tuesday night, in front of the legendary previous record-holder Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and a packed Staples Center in Los Angeles, LeBron James became the NBA's all-time scoring leader.

LeBron's 38,388th career point came via a fadeaway at the end of the third quarter.

He came out firing in the first half, dropping 20 on 6-for-11 from the field and getting downhill with aggression, and followed that up with 16 points in the third period alone to break the record.

Following the incredible feat, the Lakers and NBA stopped the game with 10.9 seconds left in the third and held a celebration.

"I just want to say thank you to the Laker faithful, you guys are one of a kind. To be able to be in the presence of such a legend and a great as Kareem, it means so much to me. It's very humbling," LeBron said to the crowd. "To my beautiful wife (Savannah), my daughter (Zhuri) my two boys (Bronny and Bryce), my friends, my boys, my family, my mother (Gloria), everybody that's been a part of this run with me the last 20-plus years — I just want to say I thank you so much 'cause I wouldn't be me without y'all. All y'all help, all y'all passion, all y'all sacrifice has helped me get to this point.

"And to the NBA, to (Commisioner) Adam Silver, to the late, great David Stern, I thank you guys so much for allowing me to be a part of something I've always dreamed about. I would never, ever in a million years dreamt this even better than what it is tonight."

Abdul-Jabbar's mark of 38,387 points stood for nearly 34 years.

Once thought to be an unbreakable record, LeBron has added inarguably his greatest individual accomplishment to date to a plethora of other personal accolades, most recently passing Mark Jackson and Steve Nash to take fourth place on the NBA's all-time assist list.

James is in the midst of yet another All-Star season in Year 20, entering the night's contest with averages of 30.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game.