Each autumn before the current season begins, the NBA publishes the “Official NBA Guide,” a reference book about all records, statistics and information about the Association.
The book (or now PDF) is a monstrous 977 pages. And if you do a Ctrl+F (or use the little magnifying glass), type in “Wilt Chamberlain” and see that his name appears 473 times for numerous reasons: 10 All-NBA teams, seven consecutive scoring titles, four MVPs, three retired jerseys (Warriors, Sixers and Lakers) and one award (Rookie of the Year) that bears his name.
Chamberlain, who played his last NBA season in 1972-73 and died in 1999, still holds 79 regular-season and playoff records. Some of them you may be familiar with — 100 points in a single game, 50.4 points per game in 1961-62 and most rebounds in a game, 55. Others — most seasons leading the league in minutes (eight), most consecutive 40-point games (14) and lowest percentage, games disqualified, minimum 400 games (0 percent; he never fouled out of a game) — may not be as familiar.
Yet, while the number of Wilt records may never be surpassed, another name appears a lot throughout the official guide: “LeBron James.”
When you search for that name, it appears 295 times. If Wilt is a colossus, what does that make LeBron? Once James officially retires, he will have provided countless stamps to the league’s record books, and they won’t be short on variety.
The youngest ever category? He owns that — just pick a milestone. Youngest ever with a 30-point game? Yep. Youngest player to pull off a 40-point triple-double? Of course. How about the youngest to achieve consecutive triple-doubles? Yep, yep.
Over James’ historic career, he’s aged well enough to become the oldest player to do several things, including recording a 30-point game, 30-point triple-double, 20-point, 20-rebound performance and 50-point double-double. His list of NBA records will be credibly longer than a CVS receipt, cementing his peak as the longest we’ve seen from any athlete in any sport ever.
Yes, Michael Jordan is one of the most dominant players in NBA annals and enjoyed possibly the best athletic peak in modern sports history, but 13 seasons will always be fewer than 23, which is to acknowledge the challenge of maintaining high-level feats for more than two decades.
Tom Brady indeed retired from the NFL as football’s all-time leader in Super Bowl wins, passing yards and touchdown tosses, but he attempted only three passes as a rookie and rode the pine until a Drew Bledsoe injury paved the way for opportunity.
If we do baseball comparisons, let’s input Cy Young, who retired with an MLB-record 749 complete games as a pitcher after the 1911 season. In the 115 years since then, no other pitcher has put together more than 405 such outings (Grover Alexander), and there’s very little chance of that record being broken.
Sports records are meant to be astonishing, whether they’re set by all-time greats or obscure names only a Google search could find. As time passes, once new marks are set, there can be an occasional debate over who could someday overtake it, let alone put their stamp on seemingly countless pages of new records.
At age 41, James’ per-game averages don’t resemble those that made him seem as if he were basketball’s ultimate created player until Victor Wembanyama came along, but his numbers remain plenty formidable for a player who stopped having much to prove in the last few seasons. That’s been the one special element of James’ career: how much he’s simply loved basketball for about his entire life. It’s only right for him to be basketball’s latest example of longevity.
At different points in his career, he’s been everything anyone could want in a hooper.
Among the NBA’s 42 players with at least 6,000 career assists, only James and Magic Johnson stand at least 6-feet-9 in height. Of the 45 players in league history to grab at least 10,000 rebounds, James is the only one to also amass five-figure dimes. He’s the youngest NBA player to reach the 10,000-, 20,000- and 30,000-point thresholds, all before he became the only one to score 40,000 points.
To frame James’ distinct two-way impact, he’s one of three players (Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone) to log at least 2,000 steals and 1,000 blocks, but he’s totaled more than 2,500 made 3-pointers than those Hall of Famers combined.
On the winning front, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,074) has notched more regular-season wins than James’ still-growing count of 1,040. Abdul-Jabbar became the first player in league history to win NBA Finals MVP for multiple teams (Bucks, Lakers), a list that has since added only James (Heat, Cavaliers, Lakers) and Kawhi Leonard (Spurs, Raptors).
With James soon to break Robert Parish’s record for games played, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer continues adding feathers to his cap in ways only the late, great Chamberlain can relate to. No different from Chamberlain getting contract offers a decade after retiring, James’ dunk reel since turning 40 is something that simply shouldn’t be normal and would put younger players’ own reels to shame.
But also, no different from Chamberlain, basketball will keep evolving after James is done. There will be passers who can eventually drop more dimes, shooters who will make more 3s, glass-cleaners who rack up more boards, potential iron men who might challenge his all-time games played record and timely journeymen who may secure more rings.
But nobody in basketball’s history will more distinctly amass the myriad benchmarks that will encapsulate James’ career, whether framing his age — young or old — peak dominance, championship pedigree, basketball IQ, competitive edge and outright unmatched talent.
If Wilt’s legacy is that of a quantitative colossus, LeBron’s may be that of a metrics mastodon. We will never see another one of him again. From record books to highlight reels to growing popularity, the game will be better for it.
Let’s look back and contextualize a few more of LeBron’s most notable (and possibly unbreakable) NBA records:
Regular-season points: 43,229 (and counting)
The previous mark set by Abdul-Jabbar stood for 13,074 days before James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer — deep down, Thomas Bryant probably still thinks he should’ve gotten an entry pass on that possession. With that said, it will take an ambitious scorer to size up this record for myriad reasons. James has 20 seasons averaging at least 25 points. Only 11 other players have logged 20 NBA seasons, period. Kevin Durant has averaged 25 points on 17 occasions, but the list drops to a three-way tie of 12 between Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Michael Jordan.
Playoff points (8,289)
Points by the bunch — whether scoring or passing — are James’ specialty, but racking them up during the playoffs holds different weight. Jordan is rightly recognized as the NBA’s peak postseason performer, but James, who made eight consecutive NBA Finals appearances from 2011-18 and has 292 playoff games under his belt, is arguably the most consistent. He’s 2,302 points ahead of Jordan’s once-longstanding mark — that is roughly the difference between second-place MJ and 18th-place Dirk Nowitzki (3,663). If you’re wondering which under-30 hooper could maybe challenge James’ playoff mark, start with 28-year-old Jayson Tatum, who is 34th in career playoff points (2,936) and tied for 103rd in playoff games (121).
All-NBA selections (21)
While sustaining dominance over two decades is its own task, so is simply remaining healthy. The NBA’s recently implemented 65-game rule for award and accolade selections has thrown a pretty big wrench into awards discussions, which will be the case for the foreseeable future. The noteworthy element behind this James distinction is how unlikely it is that we see a player sustain top-15 (and often top-five) level of play for more than two decades. Moreover, the league’s aforementioned 65-game stipulation will likely impose thin margins for players who have dominant seasons but may have trouble staying healthy.
Career playoff wins (184)
We haven’t seen a repeat NBA champion since the 2017-18 Warriors, although the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder may put an end to that run. But it will be tough for a single player to be the common variable behind 184 playoff wins, although it’s not impossible. Players such as Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been notching postseason dubs for a minute, and reigning regular-season and NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the likely catalyst behind what could be the league’s next dynasty — and this is before mentioning the inevitability of Victor Wembanyama and even Anthony Edwards. Each of these names will be viable challengers to James’ playoff wins record, but remember, James started notching postseason victories by age 21 and made his first of 10 career finals appearances by his fourth season. Just because he’s made it look easy for so long doesn’t mean it will be for the next generation.
Consecutive 10-point games (1,297)
Earlier this season, on Dec. 4 against the Toronto Raptors, James had one of his worst shooting performances ever en route to both a Lakers win and his consecutive games streak with double-figure points being snapped. Although he’s scored the most points ever, James also showed why he’s comfortably ranked fourth all-time in assists behind only John Stockton (15,806), Chris Paul (12,552) and Jason Kidd (12,091). By driving and kicking out to a wide-open Rui Hachimura, James’ aforementioned streak ended at 1,297 consecutive games, dating back to Jan. 6, 2007, back when the Billboard charts were topped by Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable,” Fergie’s “Fergalicious” and Mims’ “This Is Why I’m Hot.”
Jordan set the previous record of 866, which he finished on Dec. 26, 2001. A big reason why this record will be tough to top? Only 25 players in league history have totaled at least 1,297 regular-season games at all, let alone with double-figure scoring prowess. The 37-year-old Durant holds the NBA’s longest active streak with double-figure points (315), but second-place Gilgeous-Alexander (206) is the only other hooper to do so in at least 200 straight outings.
Simply put, it’ll be a while before anyone touches LeBron’s most distinct records.
