LOS ANGELES — Lakers star LeBron James entered Tuesday night’s home game against the New Orleans Pelicans just one point away from becoming the first player in NBA history to score at least 50,000 career points (regular season and playoffs combined).
The 40-year-old James accomplished the feat with a 3-pointer with 8:34 left in the first quarter, putting him at 50,002 career points.
But if the league accounted for the statistics accumulated during the NBA Cup/In-Season Tournament final and Play-In Tournament games, James likely would have surpassed the 50,000-point threshold last week.
James, the league’s all-time league scorer, entered Tuesday with 41,837 regular-season and 8,162 playoff points for 49,999 in his 22-season career.
That total doesn’t take into account the 99 combined points James scored in three Play-In Tournament games and the 2023 NBA Cup final:
• 22 points vs. the Golden State Warriors in the 2021 Play-In Tournament;
• 30 points vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2023 Play-In Tournament;
• 23 points vs. the Pelicans in the 2024 Play-In Tournament;
• 24 points vs. the Indiana Pacers in the 2023 NBA Cup final.
Since the NBA Cup championship game doesn’t count as a regular-season game nor toward a team’s regular-season record, individual and team statistics from that one don’t count toward regular-season statistics.
The same is the case for the Play-In Tournament toward playoff statistics.
Lakers coach JJ Redick believes Play-In Tournament statistics should count toward postseason stats, but he understands why the NBA Cup final game doesn’t.
“I have a strong feeling towards the Play-In tournament, that those little one-game scenarios are playoff games. Those games should count, for sure, in the playoffs.
“In-season tournament, it’s a championship game. Maybe it’s its own separate thing. In totality, though, it’s good to know that we passed that, that mark. Humans like very easy numbers to remember, it seems like.”
James, who became the top scorer in regular-season history on Feb. 7, 2023, when he topped Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points during a game against Oklahoma City, began Tuesday at third in NBA history with 1,547 regular-season games played, trailing only Robert Parish (1,611) and Abdul-Jabbar (1,560). If he stays healthy and elects to return for a record 23rd season, he will likely surpass Parish next winter.
PLAYER OF THE MONTH
James on Tuesday added another record to his long list of accolades.
The Lakers’ 40-year-old star was named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Month for games played in February.
James averaged 29.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 6.9 assists during a month in which the Lakers went 10-2, including 9-2 in the 11 games James played.
He surpassed Karl Malone as the oldest player to be named Player of the Month. Malone won his final Player of the Month award for November 2000, when he was 37.
The Player of the Month award extends James’ league record to 41 monthly awards, including three since joining the Lakers in July 2018.
He last won Player of the Month in February 2020.
“We wouldn’t be in the position we’re in without him playing at the level he’s been playing at,” Redick said. “And that’s offensively and defensively. Since early December, leaving Miami, he’s been the leader of our team by far and an incredible teammate and has given it on a nightly basis everything he could give.
“And he was much needed. That level of play was much needed in February with [Anthony Davis] being out and then waiting on Luka [Doncic] to get right.”
INJURY REPORT
Austin Reaves missed his second consecutive game because of a strained right calf that limited him to nine minutes in Friday night’s home win against the Clippers.
Reaves’ status is considered day-to-day after tests showed no serious injury to the calf. The fourth-year guard entered Tuesday as questionable before being downgraded to out.
Redick said forward Rui Hachimura, who has been sidelined for three games because of left patellar tendinopathy, will be reassessed later this week.