Lakers' LeBron James Becomes 1st Player in NBA History to Score 50K Total Points

Another day and another record for LeBron James.

The Los Angeles Lakers star entered Tuesday's game against the New Orleans Pelicans needing just one point to become the first player in NBA history to reach 50,000 total career points. The King already surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record of 38,387 regular-season points in February 2023, and this is yet another accomplishment.

The 50,000-point mark includes James' scoring totals in the regular season and the playoffs. He entered the game against the Pelicans with 8,162 postseason points and 41,837 regular-season points, and accomplished the feat with a three-pointer in the first quarter:

He is the record scorer in both the regular season and playoffs, further underscoring his incredible consistency and longevity over arguably the greatest career in NBA history.

James' resume is unassailable at this point and includes four NBA championships, four NBA Finals MVPs, four league MVPs, 20 All-NBA selections, six All-Defensive nods, a Rookie of the Year and 21 All-Star Game selections.

Perhaps most notably when it comes to his scoring records, he has just one scoring title in his 22 seasons.

The King has not always been seen as an unstoppable pure scorer but rather someone who can impact the game in a number of ways as a facilitator, rebounder, defender and positionless wonder who has been on his way to the Hall of Fame since the early portion of his career.

Yet nobody in NBA history has scored more points than him in the regular season or playoffs, and the longer he plays the more unreachable his records will become.

James is 40 years old but is still playing at an excellent level while averaging 24.8 points, 8.6 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game. He is also shooting 51.8 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from deep and remains efficient from the floor even at this stage.

With yet another accomplishment in his back pocket, attention will eventually turn to his pursuit for a fifth ring.

He is better set up to pursue it than he was at the beginning of the season thanks to the Lakers' trade for Luka Dončić, which will put defenses in the seemingly impossible position of having to defend both superstars on the floor at the same time.

That will mean plenty more points for James as he continues to set the all-time bar in the category.