The Lakers’ 40-year-old superstar, LeBron James, became the NBA's first 50,000-point man Tuesday night. James came into the Lakers' game against the New Orleans Pelicans needing a point to reach 50,000 combined points for his career in the regular season and postseason. He reached the milestone on his first shot, connecting on a 3-pointer from the left wing off a Luka Doncic feed to put the Lakers up 13-6 with 8:34 remaining in the first quarter. During an ensuing timeout, Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter called out the accomplishment, telling the crowd, Ladies and gentlemen, we all have just witnessed history. James finished with 34 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in Los Angeles' 136-115. The Lakers have won 17 of 20 to move into second place in the Western Conference at 39-21. James is the league's all-time leader in regular-season and postseason scoring -- with 41,871 points in the regular season and 8,162 in the playoffs. It's a hell of a lot of points, and I'm super blessed to be able to put that many points up in the best league in the world with the best players in the world over my career, James told Spectrum SportsNet in an on-court interview after the game. It's pretty special. In 28 games since turning 40, James is averaging 26.4 points on 54.1% shooting (42.3% from 3), 8.2 rebounds and 8.1 assists. James recently shared a graphic on Instagram showing how those averages compare favorably to his last MVP season in 2012-13, when he averaged 26.8 points on 56.5% shooting (40.6% from 3), 8.0 rebounds and 7.2 assists for the Miami Heat. I've had the opportunity to play the game that I love, and I've always been true to it, so I'm going to always try to give back, James said Tuesday night. James went 10-of-18 from the floor and 5-of-10 on 3-pointers, shooting better than 50% from the floor for the sixth time in his past seven games. And Doncic had 30 points on 9-of-19 shooting (6-of-13 on 3s), 15 assists and 8 rebounds as he and James became the first pair of Lakers teammates to score 30 apiece with five or more 3s in the same game in franchise history. It's amazing, Doncic said of James. Watching him do this stuff at this age, it's just unbelievable. Like, 50K points, I can't even explain how insane that is. He might get to 70K, you never know. The 22-year veteran reached the 50,000-point milestone just hours after being named the Western Conference Player of the Month for Febr We wouldn't be in the position we're in without him playing at the level he's been playing at, Lakers coach JJ Redick said before the Pelicans game. And that's offensively and defensively. Redick also admitted the Lakers wouldn't be in the position of celebrating James' 50,000th point Tuesday if the league had properly recorded the points James scored in recent years in some of the new wrinkles to the schedule. In three play-in tournament games (2021, 2023, 2024), James scored a combined 75 points. Those points have not been added to James' career playoff total. And in the in-season tournament championship game in 2023, James scored 24 points. Those points are not reflected in his regular-season career total, either. I have a strong feeling towards the play-in tournament, that those little one-game scenarios are playoff games, Redick said. I think those games should count, for sure, in the playoffs. While the 70,000-point bar that Doncic set for James might be out of reach, the Lakers' elder statesmen did discuss what's allowed him to stay competing at the level he's been at for so long. Just not falling out of love with the process, James said. Continuing to fall in love with the process, that's the hardest thing, every single year. You know it's going to be a long season, it's 82 games, 41 of them are on the road. It's a lot of travel. And as you get older, it affects you even differently. If you have a family, it affects you even differently. So, the process. Trying not to fall out of love with the process is the hardest thing.
