LeBron James can never threaten Michael Jordan’s perfect 6-0 record in the NBA Finals.
But with each passing year and every official point, it becomes harder and harder to overlook The King as the GOAT.
Especially when James has 50,000 career points – and is the only player in NBA history to come close to that once-unthinkable achievement.
“LeBron is on next level,” one fan tweeted.
The 40-year-old James broke through the final level on Tuesday night, eclipsing 50k and moving almost 7,000 points past second-place Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
A barrage of 3-pointers, new rules that favor scorers, and a lack of league-wide defensive intensity have helped James polish his 1-of-1 crown.
But it’s not his fault he’s still dropping 40 points in 2025, and his revived Lakers entered Tuesday night in second place in the Western Conference.
Air Jordan never had anyone like Luka Doncic as a teammate when he was hanging onto the hardwood at 40.
James is averaging a surreal 24.8 points, 8 rebounds and 8.6 assists while shooting 51.8 percent from the floor, 39.1 percent on 3s and 76.8 percent from the free-throw line.
But the 50k mark is the true separator for James, who needed just one point against the New Orleans Pelicans to build his own Mount Rushmore.
Jordan finished his legendary career with 38,279 combined points in the regular and postseason.
Simple math shows that James is more than 11,000 points beyond everything that MJ accomplished.
“We in legendary times,” a fan wrote.
“The way the game is now, he can get 75k,” a second fan posted.
“Let’s Go King,” a third fan said. “Be champ again this season.”
Sure, James needs another ring to fully flex like Thanos.
But when Kevin Durant – the second-leading active scorer – is almost 15,000 points behind The King, you have to be a serious hater to ignore everything that James has unleashed since ‘The Chosen One’ entered the league as an 18-year-old in 2003.
Not to mention that a 40-year-old James is wiping the floor against a 40-year-old Jordan.
A time machine is the only thing that will ever settle the endless GOAT debate between Jordan and James.
But even that technological wizardry would be out of place, since Jordan only averaged 1.7 3-pointers attempted per game during his career.
James averaged eight a night in the 2021-22 season, and has taken almost 5,500 more 3s than Jordan ever did.
Throw in the fact that Air Jordan was regularly hammered by everyone from the ‘Bad Boy’ Detroit Pistons to Gary Payton’s Seattle SuperSonics, and The King and his Royal Airness simply played in different eras with different rules.
James will always be held back by his 4-6 Finals mark.
Haters will always point to a 2010 ‘Decision’ that created an era of superteams the NBA is still trying to recover from.
But 50,000 points is 50,000 points.
Only one person in the history of humanity has reached that mark in the National Basketball Association.
The King who keeps living, scoring and winning.
The GOAT of hardwood longevity and untouchable records.
James doesn’t need to be compared to Jordan now that he’s broken 50k.
The greatest scorer the NBA has ever seen at least deserves to be in Tom Brady territory.
