LeBron James Passes Jerry West for No. 19 on All-Time Scoring List
Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James achieved yet another milestone during Tuesday's 104-99 loss to the Detroit Pistons, passing Hall of Famer Jerry West (25,192 career points) for sole possession of 19th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list, per Sportsnet Stats.
Despite making 11 of his 21 field-goal attempts in a 30-point performance, James was unable to lead his team to victory, as Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond (25 points, 18 rebounds) and point guard Reggie Jackson (23 points, 12 assists) both turned in huge performances.
The 8-3 Cavaliers have now lost their last two games by a combined eight points, after winning each of the previous eight contests.
Even with star point guard Kyrie Irving still sidelined, the James-led Cavs have proven to be one of the toughest teams in the Eastern Conference, sporting the best record and second-best point differential (+6.1 per game).
With 25,213 career points to his name, the 30-year-old James will surely climb further up the all-time list by the end of the season, with No. 18 Reggie Miller (25,279) and No. 17 Alex English (25,613) being the nearest targets.
The players at Nos. 14-16 on the list are all still active but with all three of them—Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce—resigned to lesser roles at this stage of their respective careers, it's conceivable James could pass all three by the end of the season.
No. 14, Duncan (26,087), is least likely to be passed by James, as the Spurs legend is still a key piece for a contending team, and he enters Wednesday's action with an 874-point advantage.
Of course, Duncan may do some climbing of his own, so James won't necessarily need to pass his contemporary in order to end up No. 14 or better on the all-time list.
