The American has rewritten the history book over the course of his glittering basketball career. Now in his 22nd season in the North American elite league, James has the opportunity to reach new milestones in a handful of categories
No one knows when LeBron James will finally hang up his sneakers and end one of the most exceptional careers in basketball (and sports) history.
He has little to prove anymore, with a resume that includes multiple NBA championships, Olympic gold medals, MVP awards and recent status as the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored, both in the regular season and in playoff games, guaranteeing his enshrinement into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Perhaps the 39-year-old wants to add a few more digits to his points tally, or make history by winning a championship alongside his son Bronny, whom the Lakers selected in the 2024 NBA Draft.
LeBron has two years left on his contract, and while he’s still active in the sport, the seemingly ageless veteran will continue to chase down records, with the below five well within reach.
LeBron James points tracker: NBA’s all-time top scorer passes 40,000 career regular season pts LeBron James on his legacy ahead of 22nd NBA season THE BEST OF PARIS 2024 | Stream Paris 2024 replays, highlights and original Olympic Channel documentaries with a free Olympic Membership.📺🥇
Minutes played
With 56,697 minutes logged in the NBA, the man known as King James has played the equivalent of 39.37 days of non-stop hoops.
That’s an astounding tally that puts him just behind six-time NBA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with James needing 849 minutes to supplant his fellow Lakers legend.
If we go by last season’s averages in which he averaged a little more than 35 per minutes per game, James should break this record in his 25th game of the 2024/25 season.
(2023 Getty Images)
Games played
LeBron James is the only active player who ranks in the top 15 for total games played in the NBA, with 1,492 contests under his belt (James is in 6th place).
The three-time Olympic gold medallist is famed for the work he’s done to remain in peak physical condition throughout his career, which explains why he has a shot of catching four-time NBA champion Robert Parish (1,611 games) for the top spot in this category.
There are 82 games in an NBA regular season (with a possibility of a further 28 in the playoffs if each series goes to seven games), so James will only be able to break this record in the 2025-26 campaign—assuming he doesn’t miss extended time for injuries.
Win shares
Per Basketball Reference, win shares is a player statistic which attempts to divide credit for team success to the individuals on said team. It’s calculated using player, team and league-wide statistics and the sum of player win shares on a given team will be roughly equal to that team’s win total for the season.
As is the case with made field goals and minutes played, James is second behind Abdul-Jabbar in the all-time win shares table, 263.67 to 273.41.
With James averaging 7.3 win shares per game over the last six seasons, he’s very close to squeaking by Abdul-Jabbar yet again. But as is the case with most statistics, his age and health will be integral to his win share totals over the remaning two years of his contract.
Field goals missed
It’s essentially a foregone conclusion that James will set the all-time missed field goals record in 2024-25.
He’s currently just five shots behind Kobe Bryant (14,481 to 14,476), and given he averaged 8.3 missed field goals per game last season, James could break this record in the first quarter of the Lakers’ opening game on Tuesday (22 October) evening.
At first glance this may not seem like a positive accolade, but given how many games he’s played it seems fair that James will end up missing the most shots in NBA history. It’s also worth remembering James set the points and field goal attempts record before approaching Bryant’s shot total, and every non-active player in the top 30 in this category is a Hall of Famer.
So perhaps not so bad after all.
Field goals
Yes, James is the all-time leader in points and field goal attempts, but not field goals themselves.
That’s because James has spent the majority of his career playing in the most 3-point-heavy era in NBA history, meaning he’s had to hit fewer shots than previous generations (many of whom played without a three-point line) to generate the same amount of points.
So while James has made 14,837 shots in his career, he’s still 1,000 field goals behind Abdul-Jabbar in this department.
This is arguably the toughest record of the five for James to break as it requires good health and even better shot-making, but the 20-time All-Star has averaged 593.9 field goals in his six-seasons with the Lakers, so it’s prefectly conceivable that James moves past Abdul-Jabbar in this category too.