DALLAS — While outdueling Luka Doncic on the court Friday, LeBron James also managed to one-up Michael Jordan in the record books.
James passed Jordan for fourth place on the all-time field goals made list en route to a 35-point, 16-rebound, 7-assist night in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 129-114 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
His fastbreak layup with 6:31 remaining in the third quarter was the 12,193rd made field goal in Game No. 1,234 of his career. Jordan had 12,192 in 1,072 games.
“Anytime you’re in a marathon and you able to have feats throughout that marathon, I think it’s just pretty cool to be linked with the greats,” James said, referring to the grind of the regular season, during his on-court interview with ESPN’s Jorge Sedano after the game. “You said the name Michael Jordan, it just means so much to me. Anytime I’m linked with his name, with his greatness and what he was able to do with the game. Hopefully I continue to make him and all the other greats proud. Anytime I’m linked with them. Hopefully I can continue to make my family and my fans proud as well.”
Last season James passed Jordan for fourth place on the all-time scoring list, an accomplishment that was dampened by the disappointment of a lost season for the Lakers.
Things are different this year, of course, with Friday’s victory extending the Lakers’ win streak to seven and improving their overall record to 31-7, good enough for first place in the Western Conference.
After the game, a reporter asked how the feat would cause others to reflect on James’ legacy in the future.
“I think my legacy will speak for [itself] when I’m done,” he said. “I don’t really talk about my legacy.”
Next up on the all-time field goals list at No. 3 is Wilt Chamberlain (12,681). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (15,837) is first, and Karl Malone (13,528) is second.
James also passed Artis Gilmore to move into 50th on the all-time rebounding list, upping his career total to 9,176 boards.
He’ll enter Saturday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder needing three assists to pass Isiah Thomas for No. 8 on the all-time list.
“He’s just special. You know what I mean? There’s not enough adjectives, really, to describe LeBron James,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s a guy that’s going to be setting milestones or breaking records every few games, seemingly, probably, for the rest of his career. So it’s pretty awesome.”