The fans were torn from their seats. They were excited for their superstar, frenetically cheering for every point their idol scored – but in the end, they were nine measly points short of the next historic milestone: LeBron James still has to be patient in the hunt for the 40,000-point mark in the NBA.
In the Los Angeles Lakers’ 134:131 win after overtime against the Washington Wizards, the basketball icon once again played great, scoring 31 points and increasing his impressive haul in two NBA decades to 39,991 points.
The 40,000-point barrier, which no NBA professional has ever broken, is likely to fall on Sunday night at the home game against the Denver Nuggets.
The now 39-year-old James had already replaced the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points) as the best points collector in league history last season.
Karl Malone is in third place with 36,928 points, Dirk Nowitzki is sixth on the all-time best list with 31,560 points.