Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James surpassed Hall of Famer Jamaal Wilkes to move into 10th on the franchise’s all-time scoring list. This came in the third quarter of the Lakers’ loss to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
James finished with 18 points on the night and now sits at 10,603 points in his Lakers career, jumping ahead of Wilkes who scored 10,601 in eight seasons with the Lakers from 1977-to-1985.
Wilkes was an important piece of two Lakers championship teams in 1980 and 1982 and averaged 18.4 points on 51.2% shooting in his career with the franchise.
Of course, Kobe Bryant is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with 33,643 career points in a Lakers uniform. He is followed by Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor and Magic Johnson in the top-five. James Worthy, Shaquille O’Neal, Gail Goodrich and Byron Scott hold spots five through nine with LeBron now joining the top-10. Rising up much higher on this list seems unlikely for LeBron, however, as he is more than 2,000 points behind Scott for ninth.
Making the top-10 of this Lakers’ all-time list in only seven seasons is an unbelievable accomplishment for James. The Lakers are the most storied franchise in basketball and nearly that entire top-10 is in the Hall of Fame which just speaks towards LeBron’s greatness, which is never in question regardless.
LeBron continues to make so much history in his career and became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in the purple and gold. Simply put, there has never been any player in league history to remain at this elite of a level more than 20 years into their career.
This season LeBron is averaging 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 9.0 assists for the Lakers.
Luka Doncic: LeBron James will be introduced last for Lakers going forward
Unfortunately for LeBron James, this accomplishment came in a loss and his focus is always going to be more towards team success. He recently welcomed a new superstar teammate to the Lakers in Luka Doncic and in his debut with the franchise, the 25-year-old actually was announced last after the 40-year-old.
After that victory, Doncic would make it clear, however, that LeBron will have that final spot at home games going forward.
“Yeah, he texted me in the morning,” Doncic said after the Lakers win. “He said, whatever you want. And I said, for him to text me that, it’s just amazing. Shows what kind of person he is to let me have my moment, so I really appreciate it… Today, he left me have this one. But from now on, he’ll be the last.”
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