The NBA’s all-time leading scorer secures yet another impressive milestone in his storied career.

LeBron James, already the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, reaches 40,000 career points in Saturday’s game against the Denver Nuggets.

40K: LeBron hits latest milestone

In front of an enthusiastic crowd at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night, LeBron James became the first NBA player to reach 40,000 points.

James drove past Michael Porter Jr. and hit a layup with 10:39 left in the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Denver Nuggets for the historic basket.

LEBRON JAMES BECOMES THE 1ST NBA PLAYER WITH 40,000 CAREER POINTS

James received a standing ovation at the next timeout, while coach Darvin Ham gave him a congratulatory pat on the chest. There was an in-arena video presentation, which was preceded and followed by James raising the ball over his head.

While James’ latest milestone won’t have the same stature as becoming the all-time scoring king — he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for No. 1 all time just over a year ago — it will still be a special moment.

His words: “To hit feats and have milestones throughout my career, they all mean something to me. Absolutely. Obviously, there’s a pecking order of which ones are higher than others. But I would be lying to you if I said no, it doesn’t mean anything. It absolutely does.”

 

Nuggets coach Michael Malone spent five seasons with James as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005-10 and remains in awe of how he is able to still play at such a high level.

“I don’t get caught up in the number per se, but you just have to marvel at the continued greatness,” Malone said.

LeBron’s overall statistical ranking

James will be all over the NBA record books when all is said and done. Here’s a quick look at where he stands in several other prominent statistical categories:

Minutes played (2nd)
Assists (4th)
Steals (8th)
Games played (7th)
Rebounds (31st)

NBA’s all-time points leaderboard

RANK
PLAYER
PTS
GP
MIN
FGM
FGA
FG%

1
LeBron James
40,000
1,475


55,961
14,662
29,015
50.5

2
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
38,387
1,560
57,446
15,837
28,307
55.9

3
Karl Malone
36,928
1,476
54,852
13,528
26,210
51.6

4
Kobe Bryant
33,643
1,346
48,643
11,719
26,200
44.7

5
Michael Jordan
32,292
1,072
41,010
12,192
24,537
49.7

The Associated Press contributed to this report.