This Wild Stat Puts LeBron James Reaching 40,000 Points Into Perspective

Even by Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James’s lofty standards, this number was something else.

James’s layup early in the second quarter against the Denver Nuggets Saturday evening gave him precisely 40,000 points in his distinguished NBA career, a quantity with no equal in league history.

The number of statistics that can put James’s career in proper perspective is dwindling, but Laker Film Room podcast host Darius Soriano offered a telling factoid during the game.

“A player would need to average 24.4 points a game while playing 82 games a season for 20 seasons to score 40,000 points,” Soriano wrote on social media. “It’s unfathomable, honestly.”

a player would need to average 24.4 points a game while playing 82 games a season for 20 seasons to score 40,000 points. it's unfathomable, honestly.

— Darius Soriano (@forumbluegold) March 3, 2024

Let’s put this in further perspective. In 2023, zero players in the NBA met Soriano’s criteria. The last players to average that number of points in an 82-game season were Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal and Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker in 2019, both of whom averaged 25.6. Both would need to do that 20 times over in order to catch James.

Forget basketball. When put this way, it seems plausible that James has set a Cal Ripken Jr.-like mark that may stand forever.