LeBron James isn’t necessarily old. But by the NBA’s standards, he is.
The 38-year-old was reminded of that fact after making league history in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 131-99 win over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night, which bookended a sweep of the inaugural in-season tournament’s group play phase.
Anthony Davis led the Lakers’ scoring in the victorious effort with 26 points and 16 rebounds. Meanwhile, James’ 17 points, nine assists and seven rebounds were an NBA milestone. Early in the first quarter, he became the first player in league history to exceed 39,000 career points. He was already the league’s leading scorer, an accomplishment he notched by passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 points last season.
James had a brief moment to bask in the moment.
“I haven’t had an opportunity to really wrap my head around what that means,” James said via the Associated Press. “There’s been so many great players that came across this league since the beginning of time, and so many great scorers. To be able to accomplish something that’s the first of anything, I think that’s always pretty cool. It’s a wild moment, that’s for sure.”
Then, a reporter asked the NBA veteran if he was aware that he is older than Jazz head coach Will Hardy, who is 35.
“I’m older than who?” James said, flabbergasted.
Eventually, he gave kudos to the reporter, who was shocked to get such a reaction.
“Yeah, that’s a good one. You got me on that one,” James said. “That’s crazy.”
The Kid from Akron has come a long way since he made his NBA debut in Sacramento 20 years ago at 18. He wasn’t the youngest player in the league at the time. That title went to Darko Milicic, the No. 2 pick in the 2003 draft.
But now, James is the oldest player in the league. Udonis Haslem and Andre Iguodala had him beat last season, boasting 43 and 39 years of age respectively.
James acknowledged his recent scoring milestone on Instagram Wednesday morning. “Top 2 and I’m not 2. 1 of 1!” he wrote, before sharing the video of his Tuesday night age realization moment.
James is poised to break one of Abdul-Jabbar’s records again this year.
The Captain averaged 23.4 points in the 1985-86 season. He was 39 years old at the time, setting the record for scoring average by the oldest player in the league in a season. James averaged 20.9 points during his rookie campaign, and he has never dipped below that marker since. He averaged 28.9 points last season.