LeBron James played his 1,611th regular season game on Thursday night, moving the Los Angeles Lakers star to tie Robert Parish for the NBA all-time record.
Parrish has held the record for almost 30 years, but the 41-year-old is now looking to eclipse it.
James had 19 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Lakers defeated the Miami Heat 134-126, snapping their eighth straight win.
“I’ve always wanted to help my teammates, whether it was in Cleveland, here, or now in Los Angeles,” James said after the game. “It takes a lot. I mean, it takes a lot of mental strain when you try to play a lot.”
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LeBron James makes NBA history with 15,838th career field goal, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time record
James holds NBA records with 23 seasons played, 22 All-Star selections, 21 All-NBA team selections, and leads the NBA in points, minutes played, field goals made, and field goals attempted.
He hit a 12-foot jumper in the Lakers’ 120-113 loss to the Denver Nuggets earlier this month, breaking the NBA’s all-time field goal record and surpassing the benchmark held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar since 1989.
“You absolutely have to respect his competitive level,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Not only is he competing with the entire league, he’s competing with Father Time. And he’s giving Father Time hell.”
James was on the injury report after hitting an elbow on the court in the final minutes of Wednesday’s win over the Houston Rockets, where he tied a career-best 13 of 14 from the field.
“I think he understands the importance of his position,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after Thursday’s win. “And he always talks about not cheating in games and that he knows he’s one of the greatest players of all time. That comes with a lot of responsibility, and he’s doing everything he can to live up to that responsibility.”
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Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James became the oldest NBA player to record a triple-double with 28 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds in his team’s win over the Dallas Mavericks.
James enters Thursday’s matchup having played 310 more games than Russell Westbrook, the next closest active player in the league.
“There’s no one more deserving of breaking the Ironman record, the 1,611 game appearance record, than LeBron,” Parrish said on Sirius NBA Radio earlier this week. “In my opinion, he deserves it.”
On the same night, chants of “MVP” arose for Luka Doncic, who scored 60 points, the second-highest game points of his career behind his 73 points against the Atlanta Hawks in 2024. He also scored 60 points against the New York Knicks in 2022.
“It was very impressive, especially the away game in Miami,” Doncic said. “Hearing the whole crowd scream MVP, it gave me a little bit of goosebumps because that’s what every player wants to hear, so it was pretty special.”
