LeBron James first with 50K points in NBA regular season, playoffs
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers’ 40-year-old superstar, LeBron James, became the NBA’s first 50,000-point man Tuesday night.
James came into the Lakers’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans needing just a single point to reach 50,000 combined points for his career in the regular season and postseason. He reached the milestone on his first shot of the game, connecting on a 3-pointer from the left wing off a Luka Doncic feed to put the Lakers up 13-6 with 8:34 remaining in the first quarter.
During an ensuing timeout, Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter called out the accomplishment, telling the crowd, “Ladies and gentlemen, we all have just witnessed history.”
The Lakers forward is the league’s all-time leader in both regular-season and postseason scoring — with 41,837 points in the regular season entering Tuesday, and 8,162 in the playoffs.
In 27 games since turning 40, James is averaging 26.1 points on 54.1% shooting (42.3% from 3), 8.2 rebounds and 8.1 assists.
James recently shared a graphic on Instagram showing how those averages compare favorably to his last MVP season in 2012-13, when he averaged 26.8 points on 56.5% shooting (40.6% from 3), 8.0 rebounds and 7.2 assists for the Miami Heat.
The 22-year veteran reached the feat just hours after being named the Western Conference Player of the Month for February. He averaged 29.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.9 assists and L.A. went 10-2.
“We wouldn’t be in the position we’re in without him playing at the level he’s been playing at,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said before the Pelicans game. “And that’s offensively and defensively.”
Redick also admitted the Lakers wouldn’t be in the position of celebrating James’ 50,000th point Tuesday if the league had properly recorded the points James scored in recent years in some of the new wrinkles to the schedule.
In three play-in tournament games (2021, 2023, 2024), James scored a combined 75 points. Those points have not been added to James’ career playoff total. And in the in-season tournament championship game in 2023, James scored 24 points. Those points are not reflected in his regular-season career total, either.
“I have a strong feeling towards the play-in tournament, that those little one-game scenarios are playoff games,” Redick said. “I think those games should count, for sure, in the playoffs.”
Dallas Mavericks All-Star Kyrie Irving has suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his left knee, the team announced Tuesday while expressing optimism the veteran guard will “come back stronger than ever.”
Irving, 32, sustained the injury late in the first quarter of the Mavericks’ loss to the Sacramento Kings on Monday night.
The injury is a devastating blow to the Mavericks’ season, as Irving was the team’s best overall player and appeared in 50 of the team’s 62 games. Irving, who made his ninth NBA All-Star team in February, is the only NBA player this season averaging at least 20 points, 40% 3-point shooting and 90% from the free throw line. It’s the fifth season in his 14-year career in which he has reached or surpassed those averages — the second most all time, trailing Golden State’s Stephen Curry, according to ESPN Research.
In a live stream on his Instagram page on Tuesday, Irving thanked everyone who has reached out to him over the past 24 hours and said the “recovery process has already started.”
“Just wanted to let you guys know that I’m OK and I will be OK moving forward,” he said. “It does suck. A lot. I ain’t going to lie to you guys. This one stings for sure.”
Prior to Monday’s game, Irving was averaging 39.3 minutes played over his past 10 games, a stretch that began right after the team dealt co-star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, the most minutes per game by any player in the NBA from Feb. 4 to March 2.
Irving averaged 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists this season. He has a $43 million player option for the 2025-26 season, the final year of a three-year, $126 million deal he signed in 2023.
“Kyrie is the heart and soul of this team, and he has embraced the city of Dallas as his home and our fans as an extension of his own family,” general manager Nico Harrison said in a statement. “His work ethic and absolute dedication to his craft, it’s cut from the cloth of greats. I know it, I lived it, and I see the same ferocity and passion in him that I saw in Kobe.”
Following the news of Irving’s season-ending injury, the Mavericks’ NBA title odds dropped from 66-1 to 200-1 at ESPN BET.
Irving’s diagnosis is the latest loss for a Mavs team already missing superstar Anthony Davis — who left his only game with the team on Feb. 8 because of an adductor strain after being acquired from the Lakers in the Doncic trade — as well as Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford and Caleb Martin.
Dallas also lost reserve guard Jaden Hardy to a right ankle sprain midway through the third quarter.
The Mavericks fell to 32-30 after Monday’s loss and are 3½ games ahead of the Phoenix Suns for the 10th seed in the Western Conference standings.
ESPN
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LeBron James is already the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. But on Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers star set a new scoring milestone.
James, during the Lakers’ matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans at Crypto.com Arena, scored his 50,000th career point, including the regular season and playoffs.
James didn’t waste much time hitting the mark, which he came painfully short of hitting Sunday night. Midway through the first quarter, James drilled a 3-pointer from the wing.
James dropped 17 points in the Lakers’ 106-102 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday and came up with a clutch block in the final seconds to seal that win, but he finished the night with 49,999 career points. That pushed the 50,000-point milestone to Tuesday night.
James is the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 points combined in the regular season and the playoffs. He broke Michael Jordan’s postseason scoring record in 2017, and he currently has more than 8,100 playoff points in his career. James then broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record of 38,387 points during a game in 2023.
Naturally, James is well ahead of everybody on the all-time scoring list. Abdul-Jabbar finished his career with 44,149 combined points scored, and he’s one of just three people with at least 40,000 points. Kevin Durant is the only active player inside the top 10 on that list, though he sits at just more than 35,000 combined points.
Despite being at the end of his career, James is currently on a remarkable scoring kick. He entered Tuesday’s game averaging 24.8 points, 8.6 assists and eight rebounds per game this season with the Lakers. He’s shot nearly 52% from the field, too. James has also recorded multiple games in which he’s scored 40 points or more since he turned 40 on Dec. 30. Jordan is the only other player in league history to have a 40-point game after turning 40, though he only accomplished that feat once in his career.
James, who was the No. 1 overall pick out of high school in 2003, is in the middle of his 22nd season in the league. While it’s unclear how much longer he will play before retiring, his scoring record looks like it will stand for a very long time.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
James was already the NBA’s all-time leading scorer before Tuesday night’s milestone
More NBA news
Starting 5: Lakers on rise as LeBron James approaches another historic milestone
LeBron James is just 1 point away from becoming the 1st player to reach 50,000 total points (regular season and playoffs).
NBA.com Staff
LeBron James won his 1,000th game on Sunday and is on the brink of scoring his 50,000th point on Tuesday.
This article is pulled from our Starting 5 Newsletter, a daily look at all things NBA. To get the newsletter in your inbox every morning, subscribe here.
LeBron James has spent his career rewriting the record books, and tonight, he’s poised to add another chapter.
Entering Tuesday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans (10:30 p.m. ET, League Pass), James has 49,999 points. With 41,837 regular-season points (1st all-time) and 8,162 Playoff points (1st all-time), he is set to become the first and only member of the 50,000 total point club.
Consistency has been the key to LeBron’s rise up the all-time scoring leaderboard. Night in and night out, LeBron puts up his numbers.
Even more remarkable? In 1,834 career games, LeBron has scored:
James’ latest milestone comes at a time when both he and the Lakers are hitting their stride. Riding a six-game win streak, the Los Angeles has surged to second place in the West heading into tonight’s game.
If the Lakers win tonight, they’ll extend their streak to seven games and James will tie Tim Duncan for third-most career regular-season wins (1,001), trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,074) and Robert Parish (1,014).
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