DENVER (AP) — LeBron James has surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most field goals in NBA history.
James hit a turnaround 12-foot jumper over Zeke Nnaji with 12 seconds left in the first quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers' game against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
The bucket gave James 15,838 career field goals in his unprecedented 23rd NBA season. Abdul-Jabbar had 15,837 baskets when the skyhook-wielding big man ended his 20-year career in 1989 as the NBA's career scoring leader. Karl Malone is a distant third with 13,528 field goals.
James passed Abdul-Jabbar to become the top scorer in NBA history in February 2023. James was already the top scorer in NBA playoff history, and he surpassed 50,000 career points in the regular season and postseason combined a year ago.
James has already attempted more field goals than any NBA player — 31,274 entering Thursday night, including more than 7,500 3-pointers.
Abdul-Jabbar, the low-post virtuoso who made more than 50% of his shots in 19 straight seasons to start his career, attempted only 28,307 field goals — and just 18 of them were 3-pointers after the shot was introduced to the league midway through his career.
Abdul-Jabbar was a career 55.9% shooter, while James has hit 51.6% of his shots.
James tied Abdul-Jabbar's record with his second basket of the game, an alley-oop dunk from Luca Doncic that cut Denver's early lead to 16-7.
Now 41, James regularly sets NBA records for longevity and career achievements — most recently becoming the oldest player to get a triple-double last month.
Before tipoff, Lakers coach J.J. Redick compared his superstar to another iconic American virtuoso: the Boss.
“Yeah, I’m a big Bruce Springsteen fan, and I would probably say his early albums really, really get me going,” Redick said. “There’s a youthfulness to him, you know, in energy. ‘Nebraska’ is actually my favorite album of all time. And that’s very different from what he had done that far in his career. And then you can kind of see the evolution of him as a singer-songwriter. and then he comes out with the greatest hits. And you’re like, ‘Wow, this is pretty good.’
“And then after that he comes out with ‘The Rising,’ which is one of the most important albums of the 2000s. So, you get to the end and you’re like, ‘Holy man, this guy’s greatest hits are like insane.’ And LeBron’s greatest hits, right? He just keeps adding to them. He just plays and plays and plays and the greatest hits, he’s got a hell of a catalog.”
Even more history awaits James later in March, barring injury: The Lakers' visit to the Nuggets was the 1,606th regular-season game of his career, putting him just five games behind Robert Parish (1,611) for the most in NBA history. James already holds the league's career record for playoff games with 292.
James says he hasn't decided whether to return to the Lakers next season, but he believes he could keep playing at a high level indefinitely. He was selected for the All-Star Game for the 22nd time in his career despite missing 18 games due to injury, precluding him from consideration for the postseason All-NBA teams.
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Beacham reported from Los Angeles. AP freelance writer Ashlyn Stapleton contributed.
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