(Photo credit: Shutterstock.com / Kathy Hutchins)
LeBron James became the all-time scoring leader in NBA history when you combine the regular season and playoffs.
The 19-year veteran accomplished the milestone feat during the Los Angeles Lakers nail-biting defeat at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, 117-115, on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022.
The 37-year-old Akron, Ohio, superstar surpasses the incomparable Kareem Abdul Jabbar for first place in history in combined points.
👑 LeBron James is now the all-time leading scorer in NBA history (regular season + playoffs)
King: 44,157
Kareem: 44,149
Mailman: 41,689
Kobe: 39,283
MJ: 38,279— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) February 13, 2022
Of course, Abdul-Jabbar remains the all-time leading scorer in regular-season history — for now. As it stands, Abdul Jabbar is comfortably ahead of James when playoff points are excluded. He scored 38,387 for first place. Karl Malone is second with 36, 928 points and LBJ is third with 36,500, according to NBA.com.
The landmark accomplishment was very bittersweet for King James. He had an opportunity to tie the game and possibly send it into overtime in the waning seconds when he was fouled on a 3-point shot by the Warriors’ Stephen Curry. But James missed the first free throw, made the second, and the Lakers failed to tip in the rebound when James purposely missed the third FT.
Saturday’s thrilling loss drops the downward spiraling Lakers to 26-31. They have lost three in a row overall, five consecutive losses on the road and have lost seven of their last 10 games. They currently rank ninth in the Western Conference and are dangling from the precipice of disqualifying themselves for the playoffs, a cataclysmic happenstance for Southern California fans.
