Los Angeles. LeBron James surpassed Michael Jordan's NBA record for 30-point games during the Los Angeles Lakers' victory over Atlanta on Friday night.

With an 18-foot jumper at 5:58 remaining in the game, "King" James scored his 30th point, marking the 563rd game of his career with at least 30 points and breaking Jordan's long-standing record of 562 games set in 2003. "His Airness" achieved the feat in 1,072 games over 15 seasons, while James broke the mark in his 1,523rd game across 22 seasons.

James, who grew up idolizing Jordan in Akron, Ohio, had a moment of emotional reflection in March 2019 when he passed Jordan for fourth place on the NBA’s career scoring list. At the time, James called Jordan “an inspiration” and “the lightning in a bottle for me, because I wanted to be like him.”

In a related milestone, James also surpassed Dirk Nowitzki (1,522 games) for the fourth-most games played in NBA history during the Lakers' 119-102 win over the Hawks.

At 40 years old, James remains one of the few active players who witnessed Jordan’s 1990s prime with the Chicago Bulls. Despite his age, James shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, just a night earlier, he scored 38 points against Portland to match Jordan’s 30-point mark.

James made seven 3-pointers in the game, marking the third-most points ever scored by a player over 40, trailing only two games by Jordan with Washington shortly after turning 40.

James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer last season and holds numerous longevity records. He has scored at least 10 points in 1,253 consecutive games over 18 years, surpassing Jordan’s previous record of 866 consecutive games (1986–2001).

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