Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James celebrated his 38th birthday in style on Friday night, leading his team to a comeback victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
The Lakers trailed by as many as 15 in the first half, but James led them back with a season-high 47 points to go along with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
James started the night slow, making just one of his first seven shots. He heated up from there though and was scoring from all over, finishing a very efficient 18-of-27 from the field.
It was a historic performance from James as he joined fellow Lakers legend Kobe Bryant as the only players in NBA history to score 45 points or more in their 20th season:
Players with 45+ PTS in a Game in Year 20:
— Kobe Bryant (Farewell Game)
— LeBron James (Tonight)That's it. pic.twitter.com/8HG4Thbj9g
— NBA Muse (@NBAMuse24) December 31, 2022
James also joined Michael Jordan as the only 38-year-olds to put up this ridiculous stat line:
38 year olds to record a 45/10/5 game: pic.twitter.com/2XV8NCZGzi
— StatMuse (@statmuse) December 31, 2022
James has always enjoyed playing on his birthday, moving to 5-4 in nine games on Dec. 30. No player in NBA history has scored more total points on their own birthday, where James averages nearly 34 points per game:
LeBron on his birthday:
33.7 PPG
7.6 RPG
7.0 APG
56.3 FG%
43.8 3P%— StatMuse (@statmuse) December 31, 2022
It was a statement performance for James, who seemed to call out the Lakers front office just two days prior when he said that he doesn’t want to finish out his career on non-competitive teams.
In his last 10 games, James has averaged 33.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.1 assists on 57% shooting with a +72 +/-, proving he can still play at an elite level. It’s now up to the Lakers brass to make the moves to put the pieces around him if the team wants to get back into playoff contention this season.
Anthony Davis making progress
In addition to LeBron’s incredible performance, Lakers fans also got some good news on the Anthony Davis injury front on Friday. He spoke to the media for the first time and although he would not put an official timetable on when he’ll be able to return, Davis said he is making progress.
Davis was playing at an MVP level before getting injured, so adding him to the mix with James playing like this could give the Lakers a legit shot at getting back into contention.
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