NBA Watch League Pass

Four stats to know as Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James turns 36

Scott Rafferty

•
Four stats to know as Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James turns 36 image

Happy Birthday to The King!

On Thursday, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James turned 36 years old.

To celebrate the occasion, here are four stats to know about James on his 36th birthday.

999: How many consecutive games LeBron has scored double-figure points in the regular season

Let's start here: James could make history when he takes the court against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday.

If he scores 10 points, James will become the first player in NBA history to record 1,000 straight games of scoring in double figures.

The last time James scored less than 10 points? Jan. 5, 2007, back when he was 22 years old. It's one of only nine regular season games in which James has failed to score at least 10 points to this point of his career.

If you were wondering, Michael Jordan has the second-longest streak in NBA history with 866 straight games of scoring in double figures. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (787), Karl Malone (575), Kevin Durant (562) and Moses Malone (526) are the only other players in NBA history with at least 500 such games, per Stathead.

Watch live games on your favourite device with NBA League Pass

34,332: How many total points LeBron has scored in the regular season

It's the third-most all-time.

Entering Thursday's game against the Spurs, James trails Malone in second place on the all-time scoring list by 2,596 points and Abdul-Jabbar in first place by 4,055 points. If James maintains a scoring average of 20.0 points per game for the foreseeable future — a safe bet considering the fewest points he's averaged since his rookie season is 25.3 — he'd catch Malone in 130 games and Abdul-Jabbar in 203 games.

So assuming he stays healthy, James could pass Malone at some point in the 2021-22 season and Abdul-Jabbar at some point in the 2022-23 season to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

Not bad for someone who has never fancied himself as a scorer, huh?

59,484: How many minutes LeBron has logged in the regular season and playoffs

James currently ranks eighth all-time in regular season minutes (48,673) and first all-time in postseason minutes (10,811). Combine them, and only — who else? — Malone (62,759) and Abdul-Jabbar (66,297) have logged more career minutes than James.

The crazy thing is that James is still arguably the best player in the league despite all the miles he's racked up. He's coming off of a season in which he averaged 25.3 points, 10.2 assists and 7.8 assists per game, numbers that helped him finish second behind Giannis Antetokounmpo in MVP voting. He then led the Lakers to their first championship in a decade, taking home his fourth Finals MVP award along the way.

According to Stathead, James posted a Player Efficiency Rating of 25.5 in the 2019-20 regular season, the third-best single-season PER ever registered by someone 35 years or older. He then posted a PER of 30.2 in the playoffs, the best-ever by someone 35 years or older who went on an extended run.

PER is far from a perfect stat, but ... yeah, what James is doing at this stage of his career isn't normal.

NBA FAN FORUM: Complete a short League Pass survey and have your say on how you want to watch games

10: How many times LeBron has been in the Finals

One of the most mind-boggling stats you'll ever come across: James has more Finals appearances than 27 current franchises.

The only teams that have been to the Finals more times than James are the Lakers (32), Boston Celtics (21) and Golden State Warriors (11).

James has done plenty of damage in the Finals. In addition to four championships and four Finals MVPs, he's scored the second-most points in Finals history, dished out the second-most assists, grabbed the fourth-most rebounds, made the second-most 3s and recorded the most triple-doubles.

James' runs to the Finals might not be over either. When it's all said and done, there might only be two teams with more Finals appearances than him.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its clubs.

Scott Rafferty

Scott Rafferty Photo

 

Scott Rafferty is an experienced NBA journalist who first started writing for The Sporting News in 2017. There are few things he appreciates more than a Nikola Jokic no-look pass, Klay Thompson heat check or Giannis Antetokounmpo eurostep. He's a member of the NBA Global team.