LeBron James becomes NBA’s third player to reach 36,000 career points

LeBron James became the third player to reach 36,000 career points in the NBA despite his team’s poor performance.

James put an end to Los Angeles Lakers’ five-game losing streak by scoring 32 points in an away game against the Houston Rockets held in Toyota Center in Huston, Texas on Wednesday. His career point record stood at 35,969 until the Wednesday game and he now has 36,001 career points. He is the only active player with career points over 36,000 points.

He is likely to become the second most scoring player until the end of this season. Currently, the first and second ranks are held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387 career points and Karl Malone with 39,628 career points. James is 890 points behind Malone at the moment. Given his average points scored per game is 28 this season, he can possibly score 1,288 points in the remaining 46 games.

If his team’s performance improves, James can break a new record sooner. He is holding his team up by himself now. In a game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday when the Los Angeles Lakers lost 99-104, he scored 37 points as the only player in the team scoring more than 20 points.

“We can clone LeBron James. Do you know any good scientists?” the team’s interim coach David Fizdale said. The Lakers are ranked seventh with 17 wins and 19 losses in the Western Conference.


leper@donga.com