When LeBron James
passed Karl Malone
for second on the NBA’s career regular-season points list, he set his sights firmly on
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s current all-time leading scorer.
Abdul-Jabbar has been atop the career points list since April 5, 1984 — eight months before James was
even born — when he broke the mark previously held by Wilt Chamberlain. Now James has that record
within reach, needing 316 points to surpass Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387.
At his career scoring average of 27.2 PPG, James would need 12 games to rack up that total, putting him
on track to break the record on Feb. 9 against the Milwaukee Bucks. James has missed 10 games
this season. If he continues to miss games at the same rate he has so far this season, the record-breaking game would come
Feb. 23 against the Golden State Warriors. Through 34
games this season, James is averaging 29.7 PPG, putting him ahead of his career pace.
We’ll have ongoing coverage of LeBron’s quest, including updated game-by-game projections and complete
stats, throughout the season.
JAMES VS. ABDUL-JABBAR
Despite James missing 10 games this season, he has already surpassed
Abdul-Jabbar’s point total during his entire 20th and final season. James has scored 1,010 points in 34
games in 2022-23; Abdul-Jabbar scored 748 for the 1988-89 season.
JAMES
ABDUL-JABBAR
YEAR-BY-YEAR POINT TOTALS
20TH YEAR COMPARISON
[when LeBron breaks the record]. If we have a game, I still might come to the game, because that’s
a big accomplishment. I love Bron and everything he’s done for me and everything he stands
for.”
TYRONN LUE
LA Clippers coach
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
James finished a season-high 48 points, the most he’s ever scored against Houston. He’s now scored at least 40 points against every team except the Clippers.
LAST 5 GAMES
sought-after record in the NBA, things that people say would probably never be done, I think it’s
just super humbling for myself. I think it’s super cool.”
LeBRON JAMES
On passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images
LACHLAN CUNNINGHAM/GETTY IMAGES
This is the third meeting between the Lakers and Kings in the past month. James scored 31 and 37 in the previous two.
MORE LEBRON JAMES
Edited by Adam Reisinger.
Produced by ESPN Creative Studio: Michelle Bashaw, Rob Booth, Chris DeLisle, Jessi Dodge, Heather
Donahue,
Jarret Gabel, Luke Knox, Rachel Weiss.
Illustrations by Iveta Karpathyova. Development by Christian Ramirez. Research by ESPN Stats and
Information.
