LeBron James broke another Michael Jordan record during the Los Angeles Lakers’ victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
With a turnaround jumper midway through the fourth quarter, ‘The King’ reached at least 30 points in a regular-season game for the 563rd time in his career.
In doing so, he surpassed the mark established by Jordan in 2003.
James also moved into fourth in the most number of games played in the NBA on 1,523 – one more than Dirk Nowitzki.
He now trails only Robert Parish (1,611), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,560) and Vince Carter (1,541) for most career games.
Speaking post-game, James said he was humbled to break another of his idol’s records.
“Anytime I’m mentioned with any of the greats, and arguably the greatest ever to play the game, super-cool,” he said.
“It’s someone I idolized in my childhood, and I wear 23 because of him.
“So to know that I can sit here and be in the room or in the conversation or whatever it is, you mention MJ, it’s like super-duper dope for me, being a kid where I’m from.”
Making history, of course, is nothing new for James.
But even though he passed Jordan with his latest on-court effort, fans were quick to make it clear where the power lies.
“Michael Jordan scored 30+ points in 562 out of 1,072 games. LeBron James scored 30+ points in 562 out of 1,523 games,” one person wrote on X, comparing the time it took the two stars to reach the mark.
“LeBron is an all-time great. Easily one of the top five players ever, but he will never be better than Jordan,” a second claimed.
“MJ would come out & put up 30 on Bron tomorrow night,” a third joked, while a fourth said: “Jordan retired twice, played baseball and still did it in 500 less games!”
“He’s been in the league so dang long. Should be first in everything,” a fifth person concluded, while another – perhaps unfairly – said: “Only took 22 years eh?”
Even teammate Anthony Davis, a Chicago native, didn’t let LeBron fully enjoy his latest bit of history.
He roasted the star for breaking MJ’s record in his 22nd season, echoing the thoughts of some fans on social media.
“It bothers me,” the Lakers big man said with a grin.
“But it took him seven more seasons.”
James, who turned 40 last week, is one of just a few remaining active players who witnessed MJ in his prime with the Chicago Bulls.
When the Lakers star passed the GOAT for fourth place on the NBA’s career scoring list back in March 2019, the moment moved him to tears on the bench.
He called Jordan ‘an inspiration’ and ‘the lightning in a bottle for me, because I wanted to be like him’.
But while it’s clear his love for MJ is strong, that won’t stop him chasing down more of his records.