LeBron James is now the NBA’s all-time leader in career points.
Needing 36 points entering Wednesday to break the record, James eclipsed the mark initially set by Kareem Adbul-Jabbar during the Los Angeles Lakers’ Wednesday night home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. With 10.9 seconds remaining in the third quarter, James sank a mid-range jumper to notch his 33,387th and 33,288th career points and set the new league scoring record.
An on-court celebration soon broke out at Crypto.com Arena, with Abdul-Jabbar presenting James with the game ball alongside a speech from NBA commissioner Adam Silver. Members of James’s family, including his wife, mother, and children, took the floor for the honoring, while former Lakers players and other notable figures were in attendance.
James then addressed the crowd with thanks to the Lakers fanbase, as well as an acknowledgment of former Laker Abdul-Jabbar (“Please give a standing ovation to the Captain, please!”). James also thanked his family, Silver and former league commissioner David Stern, and the NBA, as well as “everyone that’s ever been a part of this run with me the last twenty-plus years…I wouldn’t be me without ya’ll.”
Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record had stood since April 5, 1984 – nine months before the now 38-year-old James was born.