Four-time NBA MVP and future Basketball Hall of Famer LeBron James joined two elite clubs in addition to setting a new NBA standard in his first game of 2025 on Jan. 2 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
The four-time NBA champion scored 38 points while nailing seven of 10 three-points to notch his 362nd NBA game, scoring 30 or more points, tying six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan — widely regarded as the greatest of all time, or GOAT, by many. King James will break Jordan’s record the next time he scores 30 or more, and his team, the Los Angeles Lakers, still have 49 games left in the 2024-2025 season. But that is not the only historic club James joined last night.
The Chosen One — who turned 40 on Dec. 30 — became only the second player 40 or older to score over 35 points by dropping the third-most points by such a player with his 38 points. Jordan holds the record for most points scored by a player in their 40s or older when he scored 43 versus the New Jersey Nets on Feb. 21, 2003. Jordan also has the second-most with 39 points, set in 2003, which was his final season in the league.
There have now been only eight games of 30 points or more played by players after they turn 40. Jordan has four of them, while NBA Top 75 team members Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Dirk Nowitzki, and now, James all have one. Only Jordan, Nowitzki and James have done it in the regular season, with Abdul-Jabbar and Malone doing it during the NBA Playoffs.
Finally, James became the first player in the league’s nearly 80-year history to win an NBA game both as a teenager and as a 40-year-old after last night’s win.
James can break one or both of Jordan’s records on Jan. 3 when the Lakers host the Atlanta Hawks.
