LeBron James' journey to becoming the NBA's all-time leading scorer began on Oct. 29, 2003.
In one of the most anticipated debuts in the history of professional sports, an 18-year-old James stepped in front of a sold-out Arco Arena and added the first 25 points to his career tally.
As we commemorate James surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career mark of 38,387 points, let's look back to the bucket that first got James on the board.
It wasn't as flashy as his first breakaway dunk, but James' first bucket was worth just as many points.
Last year, James provided a breakdown of his first-ever NBA points. Here's how he described the play:
Coming off of a floppy action. Our coach (was) Paul Silas at the time, we used to run floppy and that's like one of the most basic, foundational plays — it's two guards starting underneath, you've got the two bigs on the block and you decide which side you want to come off of.
I was able to come off of a pin-down from our big, so I faded to the corner, took one bounce and was able to shoot over the top. I was nervous as hell, I'm not even gonna hold y'all. It was my first game in the NBA, it's something I always dreamed about.
For me to have my first shot go in and for it to be a jump shot, I always had dreams that it would be a layup or a dunk or a free throw, but for it to be a jump shot, it was pretty cool and it just settled me for the rest of the game.
And, to provide the answer to a pretty good trivia question, James' first NBA bucket was assisted by Ricky Davis.
James would get a breakaway dunk later in the game. While it wasn't his first bucket, it was the first of many iconic photos in his storied career.
The Kings ultimately got the win, but James' 25 points led all scorers. Not bad for a teenager in their first-ever NBA game, eh?
LeBron James debut stats, highlights
- 25 points
- 9 assists
- 6 rebounds
- 4 steals
- 2 turnovers
- 12-of-20 shooting
- 1-of-3 free throw shooting
