Lakers News: LeBron James On Track To Hit Unprecedented Benchmark This Season

A possibly unbreakable mark.

Los Angeles Lakers All-NBA small forward LeBron James surpassed Kareem Abdul Jabaar to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer in February last season.

With 38,694 career regular season points scored to date (including his 42 to start the 2023-24 season), the four-time MVP could reach a truly unbreakable scoring mark in the 21st year of his storied tenure in the NBA, as Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report detailed before the start of the 2023-24 season. 

James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer last season. Now, he needs to make sure his record is safe forever. His 38,652 career regular-season points are just 54 games away (at an average of 25 points per game) from hitting 40,000. James has averaged 55.6 games per season since joining the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018-19, which means it may take him until the end of the regular season to reach this milestone. Considering that only 54 players in history have reached 20,000 career points and just eight have scored 30,000 or more, James reaching 40,000 may truly be an unbreakable amount.

via Greg Swartz, Bleacher Report

James' aggressive pursuit of the scoring record came at a price after he went down with a foot injury soon after he overtook the crown to end the regular season.

LA looked poised to miss the postseason but a new inspired roster thanks to a great trade deadline propelled the purple and gold to a play-in spot. 

Minnesota fell to the Lakers and two more teams faced a healthy James before falling in the postseason in a successful run to the Western Conference Finals. 

James couldn't get the job done despite a 40-point effort in the final game of the series before he and LA fell to Denver at the buzzer for the sweep. 

Individual history would be nice, but James knows the ultimate goal will be another championship that could be his last before his career is done. 

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