LeBron James has become the NBA's all-time leading scorer by scoring his 36th point with a turnaround jumper for the Los Angeles Lakers in Tuesday's game against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder.
James scored two more points in the fourth quarter, but the Lakers lost the match by 3 points. James finished with 38 points to push his career total to 38,390.
He broke the more than three decades old record of 38,387 points that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored in his career. The Hall of Famer, also a Lakers star, retired in 1989.
The game was briefly halted to honor the US basketball superstar for the landmark achievement.
Abdul-Jabbar, who was present to watch James break his record, raised a basketball aloft and handed it over to the new record holder in a symbolic gesture in the court.
"Everybody that's ever been a part of this run with me the last … 20-plus years, I just want to say I thank you so much, because I wouldn't be me without y'all," James told the audience.
LeBron James is now ahead of Abdul-Jabbar and on pace to widen the gap between the two basketball legends before the end of the 2022-23 season.
Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players in history.
The 2.06 meter-tall power forward has won four NBA championships, four NBA MVP awards, four NBA Finals MVP awards, three All-Star MVP awards, and two Olympic gold medals in his two decades-long career.
After averaging 20.9 points per game as a rookie with the Cavaliers in 2003-04, James has posted at least 25 points per game in every other season of his career.
He won the scoring title in 2007-08 when he averaged 30 points per game. He has cleared the 30-point threshold in three other seasons (2005-06, 2021-22 and 2022-23).
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