CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James has become the seventh player in NBA history to score 30,000 points.
With mere seconds left to play in the first quarter against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center, James pulled up for a deep jumper on the right wing that was just inside the three-point line and knocked it down to surpass the 30,000-point mark, which put him in another elite club in NBA annals.
James got to 30,000 points by converting 10,890 of his 21,649 field goal attempts, knocking down 1,546 three-point tries and 6,675 of his 9,022 shots from the free-throw line. James is a lifetime 50.3 percent shooter from the field, 34.3 percent from three-point range and 74.0 percent at the charity stripe.
Along with James, only six other players have scored 30,000 points in NBA history, led by Milwaukee Bucks/Los Angeles Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Utah Jazz/Lakers forward Karl Malone (36,928), Lakers legend Kobe Bryant (33,643), Jordan (32,292), Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, 76ers/Lakers center Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) and Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (30,777).
Abdul-Jabbar, Malone, Jordan and Chamberlain are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, while Bryant will be inducted when eligible, and Nowitzki is still active with the Mavericks.
Last season, James became the all-time leading scorer in the history of the NBA Playoffs.
With his 29-point showing over the first two-plus quarters of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden in Boston, James moved past Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan for first on the NBA’s all-time postseason scoring list.
In 217 postseason games, James has scored 6,163 points while shooting .485 from the field (2,182 of 4,496), .330 beyond the three-point arc and .742 at the free-throw line.
In addition to James’ scoring prowess in the postseason, he ranks in the top 10 in three-pointers made, rebounds and steals in NBA Playoffs history.
Despite coming up on the losing end of The Finals for the fifth time in eight trips last June, James made NBA history against the Golden State Warriors. James averaged a triple-double of points, rebounds and assists over the five games, a first for the NBA’s championship series.
James averaged 33.6 points, 12.0 rebounds and 10.0 assists while shooting .564 from the field and .387 from three-point range against the Warriors.
James is the Cavaliers' franchise single-season leader in points scored (2,478 in 2005-2006), minutes played (3,388 in 2004-2005), field goals attempted (1,823) and made (875 in 2005-2006), free throws attempted (814) and made (601 in 2005-2006), and scoring average (31.4 points per game in 2005-2006).
In 812 regular-season games with the Cavaliers, James broke franchise records for the most points scored, scoring average per game, field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, three-pointers attempted and made, assists, defensive rebounds, steals, minutes played and minutes per game.
In addition to his regular-season records, James is the Cavaliers' franchise leader in points scored (3,825), scoring average (29.4 points per game), assists (990), field goals made (1,353) and attempted (2,849), free throws made (911) and attempted (1,253), three-pointers made (208) and attempted (650), defensive rebounds (992), total rebounds (1,188), steals (234) and minutes played (5,499) over 130 postseason games.
