Career-wise, James is the gold standard. Coming out of high school, LeBron was the first overall pick from 2003, picked by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now over 20 seasons later, he has not only met the impossible expectations coming out of high school, but he’s also transcended the sport. LeBron is already cemented as one of the league’s few G.O.A.T.s, James continues to add to his legacy of accomplishments as an one of the three (where depends on whom you ask) best players to ever put on an NBA jersey.

Coming into the 2023-24 season with the Los Angeles Lakers, he was already the all-time leading scorer in all of NBA history before hitting the 40,000 milestone. In second place is the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who ended his illustrious career with 38,387 points. Karl Malone is third with 36,928. I know what you’re asking. Michael Jordan would have scored 41,000 points if he never retired, it would have been just one more record LeBron to surpass.

Back in 2013, The King blitzed the 20,000-point mark, becoming the fastest player to do so at just 28 years and 17 days. Then came 25,000 points and 30,000 points.  Those were all tremendous feats, but James has only pushed on from there. The 39 year old LeBron recently eclipsed the 40,000 milestone making him the first NBA player to ever pass up 40K points.

This already comes as James owns the record for most playoff points; having scored 8,023 points in the postseason. This is a colossal margin. Jordan is next at 5,987. Among active players, Kevin Durant is the next-closest competitor with 28,427 regular season and 4,878 postseason points. At one year short of 40 years old, we can’t help but marvel at LeBron’s unreal durability that allows him to continue playing at such a high-level. It’s not a secret that From personal chefs to hyperbaric oxygen chambers to calisthenics to gummies to cryotherapy, James spends millions a year on the known techniques to the latest and greatest technologies to ensure his body doesn’t age.

Keep in mind James hasn’t played more than 60 games since 2019-20, or the full clip of 82 games since 2017-18. He’s upheld an average of over 25.0 points per game since his second year. So, if his body continues to hold up there’s a good chance that James can add another 5,000 points to the tally. At this point it’s overkill; James is just making the unthinkable all the more impossible.

Lakers Aren’t Meeting LeBron’s Milestones

While LeBron James has clearly had a dominant career individually and from a team standpoint. His teams don’t always meet those same milestones. Take this season for example, James and the Los Angeles Lakers are barely in the play-in picture and are widely not considered a championship contender.

This would be according to the oddsmakers, of course. Anyone can look to the basketball odds to objectively see the likelihood of a team succeeding, and after completing the bwin registration online or on the app, it’s clear that the Lakers are dark horses at best. At +3500 to take the crown and +1600 to win the conference, it seems unlikely that James will add to his impressive tally of four to close the gap on the likes of Michael Jordan (6).

Still we should never rule out a potent team that has not only has LeBron and Anthony Davis in the front seat, but also has Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell as great support.  There have been teams that have defied the odds thanks getting hot in time for the playoffs. So there is time to close the gap and, impressively, build on his latest milestone. While Lebron has had seasons where his teams have disappointed, he’s had way more success than failures on the court. One should never ever count out LeBron — even a 39 year old one.