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Stefan Tonev
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LeBron James becomes NBA’s all-time leading scorer
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The Lakers star passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

On April 5, 1984 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar passed Wilt Chamberlain to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

Nearly 39 years later, the Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James passed Abdul-Jabbar, scoring his 38, 388th point in the fourth quarter of the game against Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.

Former record-holder Abdul-Jabbar was also sitting courtside, as he said he would until James broke the record, adding to the doubtless sense of occasion.

The game was stopped and Jabbar joined NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on the court.

“I want to say thank you to the Laker faithful,” James said. “I love you guys. You are one of a kind. To be able to be in the presence of such a legend as great as Kareem it means so much to me. It’s humbling. Please give a standing ovation to the captain.

“To my beautiful wife, my daughter, my two boys, my friends, my boys, my family, my mother, everyone who has ever been a part of this running with me these last 20 years.”

James concluded his speech by dropping an F-bomb.

Basketball hero James had eight points in the first quarter then was at 20 points at half-time, needing 16 in the second half to make history.

Abdul-Jabbar scored his 38,387 points across 1,560 games in 20 seasons. James is also in his 20th season, but has scored his points in 151 fewer games.

That puts James’s average points per game of 27.2 significantly higher than Abdul-Jabbar’s 24.6.