Could Trae Young Someday Join LeBron James in the 40,000 Points Club?

Young is one of the most prolific scorers in the NBA and could have a chance to join James in that exclusive club

Last night, Lakers forward LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to reach the 40,000-point threshold. James became the NBA's all-time leading scorer last season and has continued to have the most successful career in NBA history. 

While James became the first player in NBA history to score 40,000 points, will be the last? Who could be next? 

Congrats to @KingJames of the @Lakers for becoming the first player ever to score 40,000 career points! pic.twitter.com/gShSHPICS8

— NBA (@NBA) March 3, 2024

I think it is possible that someday Hawks point guard Trae Young could join him. Do I think it is likely? No, but Young has been one of the most prolific scorers in the NBA since he came into the league and is still in the prime of his career and I think he has a lot of productive years left. Being injured and out for at least the next three weeks is not going to help Young in trying to get to 40,000 points though. 

The No. 1 thing that Young is going to need to even have a prayer of scoring 40,000 points is longevity. LeBron has defied logic in having as great of a career for as long as he has and still looks like he has multiple years of high-level play left in him. For anyone to score 40,000 points in their career, they are going to have to have a very long career, well into their 30's and approaching their 40's. Can Young do that?

One of the criticisms that Young has faced over his NBA career is that while he is a prolific scorer and exceptional passer, his size is going to bring limitations and that includes for how long he is able to play the game. He is not as physically gifted as James and will have to rely on craftiness, scoring, and shooting ability to get close to that mark. It is not impossible, but that makes it much more difficult for players with Young's skillset to do. 

To this date, Young has scored 10, 334 points in his career and has a career average of 25.6 PPG. 

When talking about players that could reach 40,000 points, Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey did mention Young as a possibility, along with Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, Victor Wembanyama, and Jayson Tatum: 

"A hand injury that's sidelined Trae Young could keep him out till the Atlanta Hawks have just a few games left in the season. That'll obviously impact his point total in 2023-24.

But at 25, Young already has a 2,000-point season under his belt (he led the league in total points at 2,155 in 2021-22).

Young's also not shy about getting shots up (he's currently 21st in NBA history in field-goal attempts per game). And assuming we don't see some drastic rule changes to slow down the league's issue with foul grifting, he should continue to pile up freebies too. He's 23rd all-time in career free-throw attempts per game.

But beyond the limitations of time and the fact that he's already well behind LeBron's pace (two problems everyone here is dealing with), Young is also 6'1". In basketball, that's undersized, regardless of position. And that will make it harder for Young to total points in his 30s than it will be for everyone else here."

Young is an incredible scorer and while I don't think 40,000 points is realistic (that is an incredible amount of points), never count him out of the conversation. 

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