King James just etched his name in history again by breaking Jordan’s record for most games scoring 30 or more points in NBA history.
During Friday’s Lakers-Hawks matchup, LeBron nailed a turnaround fadeaway in the fourth quarter to secure his 563rd game with 30+ points, pushing past Jordan’s mark from 2003.
Jordan hit his total in 1,072 games across 15 seasons, while LeBron needed 1,523 games over 22 seasons. The Lakers star spoke about his childhood hero with pure respect.
“It’s very humbling,” LeBron shared. “Anytime I’m mentioned with any of the greats, and arguably the greatest ever to play the game, super-cool. It’s someone I idolized in my childhood, and I wear 23 because of him. So to know that I can sit here and be in the room or in the conversation or whatever it is, you mention MJ, it’s like super-duper dope for me, being a kid where I’m from.”
His teammate Anthony Davis couldn’t help but crack a joke about the timeline while praising LeBron’s achievement. “It took him seven more seasons. But that’s obviously a hell of an accomplishment. I think he’s probably No. 1 fucking everything at this point,” Davis said.
When LeBron moved past Jordan for fourth in all-time scoring back in March 2019, he got emotional. In a heartfelt interview, the four-time champ called MJ “an inspiration” and “the lightning in a bottle for me, because I wanted to be like him.”
The milestones kept coming as LeBron also jumped ahead of Dirk Nowitzki (1,522) for fourth spot in regular season games played. Fresh off turning 40 last week, the King’s still going strong – he even told reporters after practice he might have way more basketball left in the tank.
“I probably could play this game at a high level for about another—weird that I might say it—but about another five to seven years, if I wanted to,” LeBron said.
