‘King James’ Flies Past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (infographic)

Aged 38, James scored 38 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday

More than 20 years after being labeled “The Chosen One” on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a junior in high school (and getting a matching back tattoo right after), LeBron James has turned hyperbole into reality by becoming the NBA’s all-time leading top scorer.

Aged 38, James scored 38 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, bringing his regular-season total to an incredible 38,390 points. That’s three more than six-time NBA MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had held the record for 39 years.

It took James 1,410 games to beat the all-time scoring record, 150 fewer than Abdul-Jabbar had needed to reach his career total of 38,387 points. Interestingly, both players took very different routes to their scoring records, as Abdul-Jabbar made just one (!) three-pointer from 18 attempts in his 20-year career, while James made 2,237 from 6,494 attempts.

In case you’re wondering where Michael Jordan is on the list: he’s ranked fifth with 32,292 regular season points. Having played “just” 1,072 games, “His Airness” is still number one in terms of points per game, however.

Infographic: 'King James' Flies Past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Statista

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