LeBron James became the first NBA player to reach 40,000 points in the NBA on Saturday. The 39-year-old James said he is proud to have reached this milestone but described the game as “bittersweet”, as his team, the Los Angeles Lakers, lost 124–114 to the NBA champions, the Denver Nuggets.
"To be the first player to do something is pretty cool in this league, just knowing the history and the great players who have come through the league, and then seeing some of the greats in the stands tonight, it was awesome," said James, who scored 26 points tonight.
“But for me, the main thing, as always, is to win, and I hated that it had to happen in a loss.” James achieved this feat in 1,475 regular-season games, managing to score more than 10 points in each of his last 1,205 games.
To reach 40,000 points scored, LeBron James has played 1,475 NBA games. As @BenGolliver also pointed out on X (Twitter), LeBron scored his first 10,000 points in exactly the same number of games it took him to go from 30,000 to 40,000 points. According to this chart, it is possible that James is one of the most consistent players ever to play in the NBA.
Lakers' LeBron James is the first NBA player to score 40,000 points.James scored his first 10,000 points in the exact same number of games as it took him to go from 30,000 to 40,000- 10K in 368 games- 10K to 20K in 358 games- 20K to 30K in 381 games- 30K to 40K in 368 games pic.twitter.com/mw5nkSizyy
In February last year, James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s previous NBA career scoring record of 38,387 points, which had stood since 1989. LeBron is also in 4th place on the all-time assists list, with 10,847 assists (and an average of 7.35 assists per game).
According to observations from the @NiceKicks team on X (Twitter), LeBron James wore a pair of Nike LeBron 21 "Algae" when he scored the 40,000th point of his career. The "Algae" color scheme is still in stock at several retailers in Europe.
LeBron James surpassed the 40,000-point mark in his NBA career on March 2, 2024, in a game against the Denver Nuggets. Although James reached this historic milestone in the game, his team lost 124–114 to the Denver Nuggets.
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Vlad Ciutacu is a writer based in The Hague, Netherlands. He has been working in the footwear industry for more than a decade, with hundreds of pairs in his collection. His favourite models are the Air Jordan 1 and the Nike SB Dunk Low Pro. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
