LeBron James' incredible 16-year career reached another milestone on Wednesday night as he passed Michael Jordan for fourth on the NBA all-time scoring list.
James scored 31 points in the Lakers' 115-99 loss to the Nuggets and now has 32,311 points in 1,190 career regular season games, an average of 27.2 points per game. Jordan scored 32,292 regular season points in 1,072 games, for a career average of 30.1.
The 34-year-old James, who idolized Jordan while watching the Bulls star in his prime, began the night needing 13 points to pass one of his heroes. James now trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points), Karl Malone (36,928) and Kobe Bryant (33,643).
The only damper on James' accomplishment was another Lakers loss as they couldn't beat one of the best teams in the league despite mounting a furious comeback after trailing 43-25 at the end of the first quarter.
The Nuggets were as balanced as ever on offense with all five starers in double figures, led by Will Barton with 23 points. Nikola Jokic added 12 points as he hit three of five shots to go along with 17 rebounds and eight assists.
The Lakers are 6½ games behind the Clippers for the eighth seed in the Western Conference and James is in risk of missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2004-2005 season.
He was 20 years old that season and Jordan was two years into his third and final retirement.
Chicago 108, Philadelphia 107: Zach LaVine scored 39 points, including hitting the game-winning layup with 1.6 seconds left, to lead the Bulls past the 76ers in Chicago. Jimmy Butler, who was traded from Chicago to the Timberwolves in 2017 for a package that included LaVine, led Philadelphia with 22 points.
