Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James now owns the second spot on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
He surpassed Karl Malone during the second quarter of L.A.’s loss against the Washington Wizards on Saturday. The match was paused a little while later to commemorate James’ achievement.
On Sunday, the 37-year-old celebrated the achievement through a special Instagram post.
View this post on Instagram
Renowned as an all-around player throughout his entire career, James has also shown that he is one of the best scorers in league history.
After posting 38 points in the Lakers-Wizards match, he now has a total of 36,947 points for his career. He is 1,440 points shy of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who scored 38,387 points during his career. It seems increasingly likely that James will end up surpassing Abdul-Jabbar’s total sometime next season.
While his latest achievement is certainly worth celebrating, James is likely more focused on getting the Lakers back on track during the last stretch of the current regular season.
The team has a record of 30-41 and sits in ninth place in the Western Conference. It looks like L.A. will have to participate in the league’s play-in tournament in order to earn a spot in this season’s playoffs.
The Lakers are still not assured of a spot in the play-in tournament, though. They will need to finish the regular season as strong as possible.
That’s a tall order, as they will play against stiff competition to close out the regular season. Seven of their next 11 games will also be played on the road.
