LeBron James has added another milestone to his legendary NBA career, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most field goals made in league history.
The historic moment came Thursday night during the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Denver Nuggets. James made a turnaround 12-foot jumper over Denver’s Zeke Nnaji with just 12 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
The shot marked the 15,838th field goal of his career, pushing him past Abdul-Jabbar’s long-standing record of 15,837 baskets. Abdul-Jabbar held the mark since ending his 20-year career in 1989, when he also retired as the NBA’s all-time scoring leader.
Karl Malone remains third on the list with 13,528 field goals, well behind the two all-time greats.
James has steadily rewritten the NBA record books throughout his career. In February 2023, he famously surpassed Abdul-Jabbar to become the league’s all-time leading scorer. He also holds the record for most points in NBA playoff history and crossed the combined milestone of 50,000 career points in regular-season and playoff games last year.
The Lakers star has attempted more shots than any player in NBA history. Entering Thursday’s game, he had taken 31,274 field goal attempts, including more than 7,500 three-point shots.
Abdul-Jabbar, known for his signature skyhook and dominance in the low post, attempted 28,307 field goals during his career. Only 18 of those attempts were three-pointers, as the shot was introduced midway through his time in the league.
In terms of efficiency, Abdul-Jabbar finished his career with an impressive 55.9 percent shooting percentage. James, meanwhile, has converted 51.6 percent of his shots during his remarkable run in the league.
James tied Abdul-Jabbar’s field goal record earlier in the same game with his second basket of the night, an alley-oop dunk assisted by Luka Doncic that trimmed Denver’s early lead to 16–7.
Now 41 years old, James continues to set records for longevity and performance. Just last month, he became the oldest player in NBA history to record a triple-double.
Before the game, Lakers head coach J.J. Redick reflected on James’ career and compared his sustained excellence to legendary musician Bruce Springsteen.
“Yeah, I’m a big Bruce Springsteen fan, and I would probably say his early albums really, really get me going,” Redick said. “There’s a youthfulness to him, you know, in energy. ‘Nebraska’ is actually my favourite album of all time. And that’s very different from what he had done that far in his career. And then you can kind of see the evolution of him as a singer-songwriter. and then he comes out with the greatest hits. And you’re like, ‘Wow, this is pretty good.’
“And then after that he comes out with ‘The Rising,’ which is one of the most important albums of the 2000s. So, you get to the end and you’re like, ‘Holy man, this guy’s greatest hits are like insane.’ And LeBron’s greatest hits, right? He just keeps adding to them. He just plays and plays and plays and the greatest hits, he’s got a hell of a catalog.”
More history could be on the horizon for James later this month. The matchup against Denver marked the 1,606th regular-season game of his career, placing him just five games behind Robert Parish’s record of 1,611.
James already holds the NBA record for most playoff games played with 292 appearances.
Despite turning 41, James says he has not yet decided whether he will return to the Lakers next season. However, he has repeatedly said he believes he can continue performing at a high level for as long as he chooses to play.
This season, he was selected to the All-Star Game for the 22nd time in his career, even though injuries forced him to miss 18 games, which prevented him from qualifying for consideration for the All-NBA postseason teams.