LeBron James Eclipse's 40,000 Career Points

[16thBBall Fan]

In Saturday's game vs. the Nuggets LeBron went over 40,000 points for his career. I know many will say it is a longevity accomplishment, but here are some astounding facts for this milestone. He has already scored more points with still 20 games to go more in two different categories. 1) He has scored more points in his 21st season than all other players combined in the history of the league who played 21 seasons. 2) He has already scored more points at the age of 39 than all other players who played when they were 39 combined.

The following I think kind of goes against the longevity argument to some extent: Below is a breakdown of the # of games it took LeBron to score each of his 10,000 milestones.

0-10,000- 368 games

10,000-20,000- 358 games

20,000-30,000- 381 games

30,000-40,000- 368 games

* So, it took LeBron the exact same # of games to score is first 10,000 as it did for him to score from 30,000-40,000. Plus, for his 21 years in the league for his career he is averaging 38 minutes a game.

[bugatti]

Saying this award is longevity based is not a slight against LeBron. It’s a testament to the kind of physical freak he is and his commitment to the craft and taking care of his body.  The only parallel we have to playing at this high of level for this long is Brady.

[Tranquility Base]

Kareem held the record for 38 years.  He ended his career after 20 seasons and LeBron topped Kareem's mark in just under 20 seasons.  Certainly James has hit many more threes that Abdul-Jabbar did but a record is a record.   With the NBA now veering to a perimeter game and even 7 footers chucking up hundreds of threes, I wonder if LeBron will hold this record for nearly 4 decades?

[MJAlltheWay24]

1 minute ago, Tranquility Base said:

Kareem held the record for 38 years.  He ended his career after 20 seasons and LeBron topped Kareem's mark in just under 20 seasons.  Certainly James has hit many more threes that Abdul-Jabbar did but a record is a record.   With the NBA now veering to a perimeter game and even 7 footers chucking up hundreds of threes, I wonder if LeBron will hold this record for nearly 4 decades?

I wonder how realistic it would be that someone like Steph Curry breaks it and I'm too lazy to look into the data to find out.

[Tranquility Base]

11 minutes ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

I wonder how realistic it would be that someone like Steph Curry breaks it and I'm too lazy to look into the data to find out.

Steph currently has just over 23,000 points and is in his 15th season.   So unless he can triple or quadruple his output in the next 5 years, he probably won't catch LeBron.

 

Closest Active players are KD, Hardin and Russell Westbrook and they are all 12,000 to 15,000 points behind James.

[bugatti]

It's not about the ppg, it's about the durability and longevity of it all which will put it way out of reach when you consider 1) players do not play the number of games each year as they used to; 2) LeBron is still playing at a high level setting the bar even higher.

[16thBBall Fan]

On 3/5/2024 at 12:51 PM, MJAlltheWay24 said:

I wonder how realistic it would be that someone like Steph Curry breaks it and I'm too lazy to look into the data to find out.

 

On 3/5/2024 at 12:59 PM, Tranquility Base said:

Steph currently has just over 23,000 points and is in his 15th season.   So unless he can triple or quadruple his output in the next 5 years, he probably won't catch LeBron.

 

Closest Active players are KD, Hardin and Russell Westbrook and they are all 12,000 to 15,000 points behind James.

 

On 3/5/2024 at 5:51 PM, bugatti said:

It's not about the ppg, it's about the durability and longevity of it all which will put it way out of reach when you consider 1) players do not play the number of games each year as they used to; 2) LeBron is still playing at a high level setting the bar even higher.

Here is some data for some current big time scorers and what it would take for them and then some phenom who might enter the league. 

For Giannis to get to 40K points: average 30 PPG, 75 games, for the next 11 yrs. For Luka: average 35 PPG, 75 games, for the next 12 yrs.

For a new player — from their rookie year  — they'd have to average 35, playing 75 games a year, for 15 and a half seasons.