LeBron James became the NBA’s first 40,000-point scorer last season, but among the milestones he will reach this season is a less distinguished institution. The Los Angeles Lakers legend will set the record for most career missed field goals, and he is on pace to become the first player to ever miss 15,000 shots.
James’ sixth miss of the season will break Kobe Bryant’s record of 14,481. Bryant ranks fourth in points but first in misses. James will be the all-time leader in both right after opening night when LA hosts the Minnesota Timberwolves. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in contrast, ranks second in points and eighth in misses.
CAREER | POINTS | FG | FGA | FG% | eFG%* |
LeBron James | 40,074 | 14,837 | 29,313 | 50.6 | 54.7 |
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 38,387 | 15,837 | 28,307 | 55.9 | 56.0 |
Karl Malone | 36,928 | 13,528 | 26,210 | 51.6 | 51.8 |
Kobe Bryant | 33,643 | 11,719 | 26,200 | 44.7 | 48.2 |
Michael Jordan | 32,292 | 12,192 | 24,537 | 49.7 | 50.9 |
*eFG%: Effective Field-Goal Percentage. Adjusted for 3-point attempts. ((FGM + (0.5 * 3PM)) / FGA
All things are not equal. Malone benefited from attempting 1,326 more free throws than anyone else. James plays at the peak of the 3-point bounty. Abdul-Jabbar scored the vast majority of his points within eight feet of the basket. All great scorers, all different skills and almost impossible to compare across eras.
The takeaway? Although James will pass Bryant for the most NBA misses ever, he remains the top scorer in both volume and efficiency. However, James would certainly prefer to celebrate his other milestones.
Speaking of which, James needs…
850 minutes to pass Abdul-Jabbar for most in career.
68 games played to catch Abdul-Jabbar for second behind Robert Parish.
423 rebounds to pass Patrick Ewing for 25th.
That’s right. By season’s end, James had probably played more minutes than anyone ever — nearly 1,000 hours — while ranking first in career points, fourth in assists and top-25 in rebounds. Abdul-Jabbar is the only other player to rank at the top 50 of all three categories. Kevin Garnett is the next closest.
If you didn’t know by now. LeBron James is good at basketball. Also these guys are…
Chris Paul is coming in for Jason Kidd
Chris Paul, who will ply his trade for the San Antonio Spurs this season, is poised to usurp Jason Kidd for second behind John Stockton in career assists. and steals Paul trails Kidd with 198 assists and 71 steals.
CAREER | HELTAS | STEAL |
John Stockton | 15,806 | 3,265 |
Jason Kidd | 12,091 | 2,684 |
Chris Paul | 11,894 | 2,614 |
Paul, who, like James, will turn 40 before the end of this NBA calendar year, recorded 393 assists and 70 steals in 58 appearances last season, playing mostly reserve minutes. He will likely start in San Antonio.
How much distance did Stockton put between himself and the field in both categories? Paul would have to replicate last season’s stats for another 10 seasons to have any hope of eclipsing either record.
Kevin Durant and the NBA’s next winning milestones
Durant needs 1,076 points to join James, Abdul-Jabbar, Malone, Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki and Wilt Chamberlain as the eighth member of the 30,000-point club. He scored 2,032 points last season.
With repeat performances from last season, Stephen Curry (23,668) and DeMar DeRozan (23,582) would become the 26th and 27th members of the 25,000-point club, and Giannis Antetokounmpo (18,502) would be the 52nd player to score 20,000 points – almost. automatic entry into the Hall of Fame.
Paul George (18,032) also has an outside shot to reach 20,000 points this season.
Possible additions this season to the 15,000-point club: Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris, Devin Booker, CJ McCollum, Nikola Jokić and Kawhi Leonard. Booker was the seventh-youngest player to reach 10,000.
The order on the NBA’s career scoring list will not change much, considering how high James and Durant have already climbed, although James Harden (25,885) could climb to 13th, passing Garnett, John Havlicek, Paul Pierce, Tim Duncan, Dominique Wilkins. , Oscar Robertson and Hakeem Olajuwon (26,668).
Rearranging the all-time 3-point list behind Stephen Curry
Curry is the 3-point king of the NBA. The 3,747 he made in his career is 774 more than Ray Allen, the previous record holder, and this season he should become the first player ever to make 4,000 triples.
The top 10 behind Curry, however, will be completely reshuffled. Here’s how it looks now:
CAREER | 3-POINTERS |
Stephen Curry | 3,747 |
Ray Allen | 2,973 |
James Harden | 2,940 |
Damian Lillard | 2,607 |
Reggie Miller | 2,560 |
Klay Thompson | 2,481 |
Kyle Korver | 2,450 |
LeBron James | 2,410 |
Vince Carter | 2,290 |
Jason Terry | 2,282 |
And this is what it will look like at the end of the season if everyone repeats last season’s performance:
PROJECTED | 3-POINTERS |
Stephen Curry | 4,104 |
James Harden | 3.126 |
Ray Allen | 2,973 |
Damian Lillard | 2,827 |
Klay Thompson | 2,749 |
Reggie Miller | 2,560 |
LeBron James | 2,559 |
Kyle Korver | 2,450 |
Paul George | 2,496 |
Vince Carter | 2,290 |
More milestones
Also…
Jokić (130) needs nine triple doubles to pass Magic Johnson (138) for the third most in history behind Russell Westbrook (199) and Robertson (181). Jokić played 675 games to Johnson’s 906.
Westbrook needs 532 assists to reach 10,000 for his career. He last recorded that many assists in a season in 2022-23. James is the only other player to record 25,000 points and 10,000 assists in a career.
Nikola Vučević needs 565 rebounds to reach 10,000. He would become only the 28th player ever to register 15,000 points and 10,000 rebounds in a career. Dwight Howard was last to hit both marks.
Brook Lopez needs 88 blocks to become the first player since Howard — and 20th player ever — to record 2,000.
