At this point, each point by LeBron James represents a new NBA record. He entered the Lakers game against the Pelicans Tuesday night with 41,837 running points, but remember, that does not count the postseason score. Add its 8,162 playoff points, and that was a total of 49,999 total race points.
That meant that he needed a bucket on Tuesday to review the amazing 50,000 running points, and he got it with 8:33 to go in the first quarter on a wing of a triple of a pass through his new career companion Luka Dončić.
This type of number can only be achieved when each element of basketball greatness is aligned. Talent, of course, but also intelligence, feels for the game, the ability to score from anywhere on the floor, either driving, publishing or shooting, against double equipment, triple equipment, on the half court and at the break, the average range, outside the capture, out of dripping, and forward.
But above all, this is a longevity record. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you are not lasting enough to endure while LeBron has done it, you are not sniffing a number like this.
In his 22nd season at age 40, James continues to play, possibly, at an MVP level among the top five with averages of 24.8 points, 8.6 assists and 8.0 rebounds entering Tuesday. It will be there this season. He was voted by the player of the West Conference, the oldest player in history to do so. And after he put 34 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the 136-115 victory over New Orleans, James has the Lakers (39-21) on a streak of seven consecutive victories and in the number 2 position in the west.
It is appropriate for James to have reached this 50,000 mark in a triple, since it has been the development of that shot that has played such an important role in maintaining that score skill. It is still a load train that reaches the edge, especially in the transition and when it lands in certain confrontations, but over the years it has become much more dependent on the triples as a less demanding production source. This season, James is winning 39% of its 3 in almost six attempts per game.
If you ask who is the second in the total list of race points, counting the regular season and the playoffs, it is the same as the official classification table: LeBron, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (44,149), Karl Malone (41,689), Kobe Bryant (39,283) and Michael Jordan (38,279).