Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James eclipsed former Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan in one metric in Los Angeles’ win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.
James scored 30 points on 13-of-20 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting from deep against Trae Young and company. Friday marked the 563rd 30-point performance of his regular-season NBA career, and Jordan had 562 such games during his regular-season career with the Bulls and Washington Wizards.
Plenty of folks celebrated James’ milestone on social media, but Jordan’s former teammate Ron Harper issued a reaction that was very telling of his thoughts on the achievement.
Who really cares?
— Ron Harper (@HARPER04_5) January 4, 2025
Harper’s reaction may have to do with the fact that Jordan set his mark across 1,072 games while James needed 1,523 games to break it. Still, James’ milestone is another feather in his cap.
James has been the league’s all-time leading scorer for quite some time, and he’s the only player in NBA history with more than 40,000 points to his name.
The 40-year-old is still scoring the ball at an elite rate in his 22nd season in the NBA. Through 31 games played to this point, he’s averaging 24.1 points per contest while shooting 50.7 percent from the floor and 38.2 percent from 3-point range.
What’s more is that the forward has dropped 30-plus points in each of his last two games played now. He totaled 38 points on 15-of-25 shooting from the floor and buried seven 3s versus the Portland Trail Blazers earlier this week.
James’ scoring chops have helped the Lakers get off to a strong start to the new year, as Los Angeles has yet to lose a game since the turn of the calendar. The team has risen all the way up to the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference and is behind only the Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder in the standings.
The Lakers and James will have a chance to cut into the Rockets’ lead over Los Angeles in the standings when they play Houston on Sunday. The third-place Rockets own a two-game lead over L.A. with a record of 22-12, but they’re on the heels of a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday.
