Lakers' LeBron James Passes Karl Malone for 2nd on NBA's All-Time Scoring List

LeBron James has cleared another hurdle in his race to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

The Los Angeles Lakers star moved into second place on the scoring list, surpassing Karl Malone (36,928 points), with his 20th point in Saturday's game against the Washington Wizards.

This is the second major scoring milestone James has set during the 2021-22 season. He passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record for most combined points between the regular season and playoffs during a Feb. 12 game against the Golden State Warriors.

James had been in third place on the NBA's all-time scoring list since Jan. 25, 2020, when he passed Lakers legend Kobe Bryant's mark of 33,643 points during his 20-year career.

Over the course of his storied career, James has insisted that he's not a scorer. He even had this tweet at the end of the 2020-21 season in response to a graphic about him posting his 17th consecutive year averaging at least 25 points per game:

Despite not thinking of himself primarily as a scorer, James passed Malone's scoring mark in 113 fewer games than it took the Mailman to reach the mark.

James' scoring average of 27.1 points per game is the fifth-highest mark in league history. He has been on a scoring barrage of late with two 50-point outings in a four-game span from March 5 to 11.

The only player still ahead of James on the NBA all-time scoring list is Abdul-Jabbar (38,387). He could move into first place at some point next season, as long as he remains healthy.

Abdul-Jabbar's final regular-season game in the NBA was on April 23, 1989. He scored 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 26 minutes against the Seattle SuperSonics.

There's little James has yet to accomplish in his storied career. He's a four-time NBA champion, 18-time All-Star, three-time NBA MVP and a 17-time All-NBA team selection.

Adding the NBA's all-time points record to his resume would be a cherry on top of things for James.