LEBRON AND HIS ROUTE TO KAREEM’S THRONE

When LeBron James surpassed Karl Malone for second place on the NBA’s all-time regular-season points list, he set his sights on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s current all-time leading scorer.

Abdul-Jabbar has been atop the career points list since April 5, 1984, eight months before James was born, when he broke the mark previously held by Wilt Chamberlain. James now has that record within reach, needing 937 points to surpass Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387.

At his career scoring average pace of 27.1 PPJ, James would need 35 games to accumulate that total, putting him on pace to break the record on Feb. 9 against the Milwaukee Bucks. James has missed six games this season, and if he continues to miss games at the same rate as last season, the record game would be March 12, against the New York Knicks. In 15 games this season, James is averaging 25.9 PPJ, leaving him slightly behind his career pace.

We will have ongoing coverage of LeBron’s quest, including updated play-by-play projections and complete stats, throughout the season.

Although James has already missed six games this season, he is significantly ahead of the pace set by Abdul-Jabbar in his 20th and final season in 1988-89. James has scored 389 points in 15 games in 2022-23; Abdul-Jabbar needed 39 games to reach the 380-point mark.