When will LeBron James break the NBA’s career points record?

When LeBron James passed
Karl Malone for second
on the NBA’s career regular-season points list, he set his sights firmly on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the
NBA’s current all-time leading scorer.

Abdul-Jabbar has been atop the career points list since April 5, 1984 — eight months before James was even born — when he broke the mark previously held by Wilt Chamberlain. Now James has that record within reach, and after opening the season with 31 points against the Golden State Warriors, he now needs 1,295 points to surpass Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387.

At his career scoring average of 27.1 PPG, James would need 48 games to rack up that total, putting him on track to break the record on Jan. 25 against the San Antonio Spurs if he plays every game between now and then. If James misses games at the same rate he did last season, the record-breaking game would come March 10 against the Toronto Raptors.

We’ll have ongoing coverage of LeBron’s quest, including updated game-by-game projections and complete stats, throughout the season.

JAMES VS. ABDUL-JABBAR

James is now in his 20th season, the same number Abdul-Jabbar played in his
career. And while the legendary Lakers big man posted bigger scoring numbers early in his playing days, James’ lengthy prime (18 consecutive seasons averaging at least 25 PPG) has allowed him to close
the gap.