LeBron James becomes NBA's leading scorer

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LeBron James, last night, became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder, surpassing the record that six-time NBA MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had held for 39 years.
 
With 10.9 seconds left in the third quarter, James sank a stepback jumper from the left elbow – scoring his 36th point of the game and 38,388th of his career in front of a supercharged crowd at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena.
 
Officials paused the game to honor him on the court, where his mother, wife and children met and embraced him. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver congratulated him, and with Abdul-Jabbar – in attendance and clapping as James neared the record – raised a basketball aloft before handing it to James as if relinquishing the scoring crown itself.

“I just want to say thank you to the Laker faithful. You guys are one of a kind,” James said into a microphone.

He asked the crowd to give Abdul-Jabbar a standing ovation.

James scored two more points in the fourth quarter in a 133-130 loss – a disappointment for a team now two games behind the Western Conference’s final slot for the NBA’s play-in tournament. But the night – like so many moments in his career – belonged to him.

The 38-year-old needed fewer games than the legendary goggles-wearing center to hit the top of the scoring list – 1,410 to Abdul-Jabbar’s 1,560. James’ record-breaking feat is even more impressive given he’s widely considered a pass-first player in the league, recently claiming the fourth spot in the NBA’s all-time assist list.