During Friday night’s Los Angeles Lakers game against Atlanta, LeBron James broke Michael Jordan’s NBA record for 30-point games.
James broke the record set by Jordan in 2003 by scoring at least 30 points in the regular season for the 563rd time in his career with an 18-foot jumper with 5:58 remaining. James shattered the record with his 1,523rd appearance over 22 seasons, while Jordan set the record with 1,072 career games over 15 seasons.
Growing up in Akron, Ohio, James looked up to Jordan. In March 2019, was moved to tears on the Lakers bench after surpassing Jordan for fourth place on the NBA’s career scoring list. He described Jordan as “an inspiration” as well as “the lightning in a bottle for me, because I wanted to be like him.”
During the Lakers’ visit from the Hawks, James also happened to surpass Dirk Nowitzki (1,522) for the fourth-most games played in the NBA regular season.
James, who turned 40 this week, is one of the few active players who saw Jordan play for the Chicago Bulls in his prime in the 1990s.
In his record-tying 22nd season, however, James is showing no signs of slowing down. Just one night ago, he tied Jordan’s 30-point milestone with 38 points against Portland.
James scored the third-most points ever by a player over 40 against the Blazers, making seven 3-pointers and trails just two games played by Jordan shortly after his 40th birthday with Washington.
In addition to holding other longevity records, James finished the previous season as the NBA’s career scoring leader. Over the last 18 years, he has scored 10 points or more in 1,253 straight games, shattering the mark set by Jordan from 1986 to 2001 (866).
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