Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James became the first NBA player to ever score 50,000 regular season and postseason points in a career. He reached the 50,000-point mark on Tuesday during the Lakers 136-115 win over New Orleans.
James needed just one point on Tuesday to reach 50,000. He ended up scoring 34 points, and added eight rebounds and six assists.
Of his now 50,033 points, he has scored 41,817 points in the regular season and 8,162 points in the postseason. No other NBA player has ever scored even more than 6,000 points in the postseason. He is also the only player to ever score more than 40,000 points in the regular season.
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"It's a lot of points," James said on Tuesday. "Just picking up the game when I was a little kid and just having a love and support and just hoping I someday would be able to play at the highest level and I've been able to do that and really enjoy my career, so it was definitely an honor."
Even after turning 40 years old in December, James has continued to impress. He was also named the Western Conference Player of the Month. The honor made him the oldest player in NBA history to be named Player of the Month.
In February, James led the Lakers to a 10-2 record by averaging 29.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game.
When asked what the most challenging part about maintaining a high level of play after 22 years in the NBA is, James said, "Just not falling out of love for the process."
"Continue to fall in love with the process as that's the hardest thing to do every single year," he added. "It is a long season, 82 games, 41 of them on the road. It's a lot of travel. As you get older, that affects you even differently; you have your family, and it affects you differently."
The win put the Lakers in second place in the Western Conference. The Lakers on track to have their best regular season since 2019-20, when James helped Los Angeles win an NBA title.
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