NBA SCORING RECORD TIMELINE

Timeline of the National Basketball Association’s scoring record progression, focusing on LeBron James and his pursuit of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the No. 1spot on the list:

Nov. 1, 1946: Ed Sadowski of the Toronto Huskies scores 18points on the first night of NBA play, technically making him the league’s leading career scorer. The “record,” as would be expected, was held by different players in the first 16 days of what was then called the Basketball Association of America.

Dec. 19, 1946: Joe Fulks of the Philadelphia Warriors moves into the scoring lead with 336points. The eventual inductee to the Basketball Hall of Fame would hold the record for more than five years. March 4, 1952: George Mikan of the Minneapolis Lakers has a 41-point, 36-rebound game against Philadelphia, and passes Fulks for the scoring lead with 6,942points. Fulks would reclaim the lead 11days later and keep it until Nov. 1, 1952, when Mikan took the scoring lead back and kept it for nearly five years.

Oct. 23, 1957: Ed Macauley of the St. Louis Hawks pushes his career total to 10,166 points, passing Mikan. Macauley would hold the record for only 39days.

Dec. 1, 1957: Dolph Schayes of the Syracuse Nationals takes over as scoring leader, passing Macauley with a total of 10,391 points.

Dec. 11, 1963: Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks starts a 796-day run as scoring leader, after finishing play that night with 18,373 points.

Feb. 14, 1966: Wilt Chamberlain of the 76ers passes Pettit, scoring 20,884points to that point in his career. Chamberlain would hold the record for 6,625 days.

April 5, 1984: Kareem AbdulJabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers passes Chamberlain. Abdul-Jabbar finished play that day with 31,421points, then scored nearly 7,000 more points before retiring. He would hold the record for more than 14,000days.

Dec. 30, 1984: LeBron James is born in Akron, Ohio. Oct. 29, 2003: James makes his NBA debut for the Cleveland Cavaliers, scoring 25points against Sacramento. He was 2,709th on the NBA’s career scoring list after that game.

Jan. 21, 2006: James scores the 5,000th point of his career in a game against Utah. He was the 634th player to reach that many.

Feb. 27, 2008: James scores career point No. 10,000, against the Celtics. At this point, he’s 283rd on the scoring list.

Feb. 1, 2009: James moves into 200th on the scoring list. Nov. 22, 2010: James passes Artis Gilmore (15,576) for 100th on the career scoring list.

April 10, 2012: James passes Isiah Thomas (18,822) for 50th on the career scoring list. March 3, 2014: James, wearing a mask to protect a facial fracture, scores a career-best 61points for the Heat in a win over Charlotte. He made 22of 33shots from the field. He’s 28th on the all-time scoring list.

Nov. 5, 2016: James passes Hakeem Olajuwon (26,946) for 10th on the career scoring list.

Dec. 9, 2016: James passes Elvin Hayes (27,311) for ninth on the career scoring list. Dec. 17, 2016: James passes Moses Malone (27,405) for eighth on the career scoring list.

March 30, 2017: James passes Shaquille O’Neal (28,596) for seventh on the career scoring list.

Oct. 27, 2018: James passes Dirk Nowitzki for sixth on the career scoring list. Nowitzki re-claimed the No. 6spot by passing Wilt Chamberlain. Nov. 14, 2018: James passes Chamberlain (31,417) for fifth on the career scoring list. March 6, 2019: James passes Michael Jordan (32,392) for fourth on the career scoring list.

Jan. 25, 2020: James passes Kobe Bryant (33,643) for third on the career scoring list. Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others perished in a helicopter crash one day later. Bryant’s last tweet would read: “Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames. Much respect my brother #33644“

March 19, 2022: James passes Karl Malone (36,928) for second on the career scoring list. Feb. 7, 2023: James passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) for No. 1on the scoring list, ending nearly a fourdecade run for Abdul-Jabbar as the record-holder.