LeBron James

The basketball legend is just 36 points away from beating the NBA's all-time scoring record.

[WBUR.org.](https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/02/07/lebron-james-nba-scoring-record) Sherrod Blakely](https://www.bu.edu/com/profile/a-sherrod-blakely/) talks with Here & Now‘s Deepa Fernandes about the record long believed to be unreachable. Lebron James is set to break the NBA all-time scoring record

On Saturday, LeBron James moved within 36 points of breaking the NBA career scoring record in the Los Angeles Lakers' 131-126 loss to the New Orleans ...

At the time he said those words the Lakers had a record below .500 record and was out of playoff range, and James made it clear that tarnished the achievement. When James returned to Cleveland in 2016 to lead his hometown Cavs to their first NBA title, he wasn’t a better scorer or rebounder than he had been previously. And no one can object to the fact that the 1972 Miami Dolphins hold the only perfect season in NFL history. No athlete, good or great, ever regretted one second of being part of a championship team. If the achievement coincides with a win, the mood will be merrier, but the Lakers aren’t having a very good season and James will have some mixed emotions about his achievement either way. He has every chance of finishing the job in one of two home games this week, and when he does he will receive an extended standing ovation and prolonged recognition from the home crowd.

The Sporting News has you covered with live score and stat updates on what could be a historic night for LeBron James and the NBA.

10 p.m. 10 7:00 p.m. 7, which is 7 p.m. Viewers can also stream the game on Sling TV. Thunder from Crypto.com Arena will tip off around 10 p.m. - Time: 10:00 p.m. Thunder will air on TNT. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is expected to be at the game as well, as the NBA’s guest. Jay-Z is on hand to potentially witness history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is in the building to hand the crown to his successor. The Sporting News has you covered with live score and stat updates on what could be a historic night for James and the NBA.

LeBron may be pass-first, but three Finals games encapsulate the evolution of the soon-to-be all-time scoring leader.

"I wanted to put pressure on the rim -- to get a layup, and put pressure on the referees to maybe call a foul," he says. That part of his game blossomed in Miami, when James had to share the ball and the paint with Wade. James lofts that gorgeous layup so that it embeds into the top of the glass and drips downward. "And ultimately, it was the shot he had to conquer to win titles." "He made a tough floater on the biggest stage," Barnes says. "It is the best game I've seen in my life," says Iguodala, who watched from the bench with an injury. "It was a way for us to get D-Wade and James together -- to get an action with them together. "Right at the right elbow," James recalls. "That was a slugfest," James says. "When it got to the moments of truth, he'd turn on the scoring engine and do whatever was necessary -- almost against his instinct," says Erik Spoelstra, who coached James in Miami. "I've always tried to improve and never have a weakness," he says. "I see it and I smirk," James tells ESPN.

Fans with courtside seats to see LeBron James break the NBA scoring record will have to part ways with an e...

The Thunder will be back that night. “For the game (against the Bucks), we did sell a pair of tickets, courtside seats, for (USD)$24,000 a ticket, $48,000 total,” said Kyle Zorn, a brand manager at the online ticket marketplace TickPick. “We’ll stop and make sure that we’ve done our jobs as the archivists of the NBA. Many price points are likely out of reach for most fans. Which is why those same seats are even pricier for the Lakers’ next game against the Milwaukee Bucks — the two teams Abdul-Jabbar played for during his Hall of Fame career. “There’s no doubt we will stop that game and make sure we record for history, the ball, the basket, the uniform,” Silver said. If it happens early, a brief halting of play wouldn’t be unprecedented. Total price for the two seats with Ticketmaster fees: $261,000. And there’s no guarantee James will even break the record on Wednesday; in fact, at his current scoring pace, he would be just shy of the mark when the Thunder game ends. “It’s weird how prices for the game (on Wednesday) have decreased so significantly, as if it’s like a guarantee that he’s breaking it on (Friday),” Zorn said. At the same time, there’s that balance that they will be playing against a team that will very much want to win that night and not be distracted. “I feel like people are betting on the storyline that he does it against Kareem’s former team, but he could easily score 36 points (against Oklahoma) and then the market for the game (against Milwaukee) could completely crash.”

LeBron James is on the verge of passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most points in NBA history. Beyond holding the all-time record, here's why James holds ...

The footwork, the mannerisms, the mentality... For as dominant as Chamberlain was during the regular season, his scoring average went down in the playoffs in each of his 13 trips to the playoffs. In fact, when I did this same exercise a year ago, I placed Jordan ahead of James largely on the basis of scoring titles. [career game-winning buzzer-beaters](https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/buzzer-beaters.html) pale in comparison to the seven for James, he's never hit one in the playoffs. He has five of them, which is the most in NBA history. No player in league history has scored more points (until now) and no player in league history has a more unstoppable shot than the skyhook. He also led the Bulls outright in scoring in 32 of his 35 NBA Finals games, an unmistakable ability to seize the moment on the grandest stage. Add in LeBron's evolution as a 3-point shooter — he's quietly become one of the NBA's best at making step-back 3s — and it's apparent that James can beat opponents in more ways than even Jordan. can the greatest scorer in NBA history really be someone who ranks outside the top 20 in playoff scoring average? This is the big one and it's pretty simple: nobody won more scoring titles and nobody averaged more points. LeBron's rebuttal: The best argument for Kareem — that he's the all-time leading scorer — is about to be no more. They'll say he's not clutch and point towards his 4-6 record in the NBA Finals.