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James hit a turnaround 12-foot jumper over Zeke Nnaji with 12 seconds left in the first quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-113 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night to surpass Abdul-Jabbar’s mark.
“My name being mentioned with some of the greatest to ever play this game has always been humbling and pretty cool,” James said. “It’s a pretty cool thing. I grew up watching and reading, idolizing a lot of the greats. And if I ever was able to be a part of the NBA, I wanted to be in position where I could be named with some of the greats by doing something right.”
The record-breaking bucket gave James 15,838 career field goals in his unprecedented 23rd NBA season. Abdul-Jabbar had 15,837 baskets when the skyhook-wielding big man ended his 20-year career in 1989 as the NBA’s career scoring leader. Karl Malone is a distant third with 13,528 field goals.
James finished with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting but it was his all-round game that kept the Lakers close after the Nuggets jumped out to a 16-3 lead in their wire-to-wire win. James had a team-high eight assists, three steals and a big block.
James passed Abdul-Jabbar to become the top scorer in NBA history in February 2023. James was already the top scorer in NBA playoff history, and he surpassed 50,000 career points in the regular season and postseason combined a year ago.
James has already attempted more field goals than any NBA player — 31,274 entering Thursday night, including more than 7,500 3-pointers.
Abdul-Jabbar, the low-post virtuoso who made more than 50% of his shots in 19 straight seasons to start his career, attempted only 28,307 field goals — and just 18 of them were 3-pointers after the shot was introduced to the league midway through his career.
James hurt his left elbow on a layup that pulled Los Angeles to 110-106 with four minutes to go and left the game. He and Jokic banged into each other as James scored and James fell to the floor, bracing himself with his right arm but injuring his left. No foul was called and James said the officials told him the contact was “marginal.”
James tied Abdul-Jabbar’s record with his second basket of the game, an alley-oop dunk from Luka Doncic.
Now 41, James regularly sets NBA records for longevity and career achievements — most recently becoming the oldest player to get a triple-double last month.
