With a fourth quarter bucket in Friday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, LeBron James added another jewel to his already impressive crown.
Knocking down a baseline turnaround, the King passed the great Michael Jordan for the most 30-point games in NBA history — surpassing MJ’s 562.
It’s no secret that Jordan has been an idol of LeBron’s from a young age and is the reason why James chose the number 23. And after the game, the Kid From Akron spoke on what it meant for him to surpass His Airness at this point in his career.
“It’s very humbling,” James said after the Lakers’ 119-102 win. “Anytime I’m mentioned with any of the greats, and arguably the greatest ever to play the game, super cool. It’s someone I idolized in my childhood, and I wear 23 because of him. So to know that I can sit here and be in the room or in the conversation or whatever it is, when you mention MJ, it’s just super-duper dope for me, being a kid from where I’m from.”
BRON PASSES MJ FOR MOST 30-PT GAMES IN NBA HISTORY 👑
LeBron James: 563 30-PT games
Michael Jordan: 562 30-PT games pic.twitter.com/sG7a5NgbBt— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 4, 2025
James passed Jordan on the all-time scoring list back in 2019 on his way to capturing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 a season ago.
When asked about surpassing MJ with one of the 10-time scoring champ’s patented moves, LeBron said his had a little bit of a twist.
“He was more of a left-shoulder fadeaway guy,” James explained. “I kind of go the opposite way. But it’s two masters of their craft, putting in work and work and work to the point where it kind of becomes unguardable. It’s just work. It’s just work and dedication. … I watched MJ a lot and saw how on-balance he was, even though he was fading away from the basket. So I just wanted to try to match that as my career has grown in years.”
Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images
LeBron’s longevity has been nothing short of impressive since entering the league in 2003 and it doesn’t look like he’ll be slowing down any time soon.
“I just love the game,” he told reporters. “… I still have a little bit left in the tank, so I guess I’ll go until it’s kind of empty, I guess.”
Next up for James is chasing Robert Parish’s 1,611 career games. He’s only 19 away from passing Vince Carter for third in that regard.
Related: LeBron James Revealed If He’d Ever ‘Unretire’ From Basketball