LeBron James has made history again, this time breaking Michael Jordan's NBA record for most 30-point games in the league.
On Friday night, LeBron grabbed a record 563rd career 30-point game after hitting a turnaround fadeaway jumper in the fourth quarter in a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks. James passed Michael Jordan, who set the record back in 2003.
It took Jordan 1,072 games in 15 seasons to achieve the feat, while James did it in 1,523 games throughout 22 seasons. James expressed gratitude for breaking the record and admitted he "idolized" MJ while stating he wears No. 23 because of him.
"It's very humbling," James said. "Anytime I'm mentioned with any of the greats, and arguably the greatest ever to play the game, super-cool. It's someone I idolized in my childhood, and I wear 23 because of him. So to know that I can sit here and be in the room or in the conversation or whatever it is, you mention MJ, it's like super-duper dope for me, being a kid where I'm from."
James's teammate Anthony Davis joked that it took James a few more seasons to break the record but acknowledged The King's greatness on the hardwood. "It took him seven more seasons. But that's obviously a hell of an accomplishment. I think he's probably No. 1 fucking everything at this point," said Davis.
Bron also passed Jordan for fourth place on the NBA's career scoring list in March 2019, and the moment brought him to tears. During an interview, the four-time NBA champion called Jordan "an inspiration" and "the lightning in a bottle for me, because I wanted to be like him."
In addition to breaking Jordan's record, LeBron passed Dirk Nowitzki (1,522) for the fourth-most NBA games played in the regular season. It's also important to note that James turned 40 last week and hasn't shown any signs of slowing down, as he revealed he could play up to seven more seasons if he really wanted to.
"I probably could play this game at a high level for about another—weird that I might say it—but about another five to seven years, if I wanted to," he told reporters after practice.
