With his seventh point in Tuesday's game against the Spurs, Cavaliers forward LeBron James became the youngest player in NBA history to score 30,000 career points.
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James turned 33 on Dec. 30, and at 33 years and 24 days when he got his 30,000th point, he is more than a year younger than Kobe Bryant was when he reached the milestone at the age of 34 years and 104 days.
James used a pull-up jumper in the final seconds of the first quarter to reach the milestone.
A jumper for 30,001 career points pic.twitter.com/NihviPgOxW
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 24, 2018
James is just the seventh player in NBA history to accumulate 30,000 career points, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Bryant (33,643), Michael Jordan (32,292), Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) and Dirk Nowitzki (30,808).
“Congratulations to LeBron on reaching 30,000 points - yet another milestone in an extraordinary career that continues to inspire," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
James, though, said he does not think of himself as a scorer.
"I'm joining elite company," James said Thursday, per NBA.com . "When I walk into the 30,000-point club they're going to look at me like, 'What are you doing here?' I ain't supposed to be there."
James has a solid chance at topping the list before all is said and done. According to USA Today’s math, if James averages 21.6 points in 70 games per season from 2018-19 through 2022-23, he’ll take the title of leading scorer in NBA history from Abdul-Jabbar.