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LeBron James Emerges First Player To Score 40 Against All 30 Teams

LeBron James is making history on his way to getting an all-time scoring record.

After his 46-point performance against the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, Lakers’ LeBron James is now 178 points away from passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time scoring leader.

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As this historic moment edges closer with every game – a look at LeBron’s current scoring average (30.2 ppg), puts him on pace to pass Kareem on February 4th against New Orleans. King James included another feather to his cap on Tuesday, becoming the first NBA player to score 40 points against all of the league’s 30 franchises.

However, this is not the first time LeBron has pulled off a feat like this; in November 2019, he became the first player in the NBA to record a triple-double against all 30 teams. His teammate Russell Westbrook joined him two months later.

LeBron ended Tuesday’s game with 46 points on 16-of-29 shooting from the field while making a career-high nine 3-pointers in 14 attempts. His ninth triple of the game cut what was previously a 21-point fourth-quarter lead for the Clippers down to 10 with 6:46 to play, capping off a 15-point scoring burst from LeBron in over four minutes of game time as he made three 3-pointers, a pair of free throws and dunks, The Clippers had LeBron scoreless the rest of the way and outscored the Lakers 20-12 to finish the game, securing a 133-115 win.

What LeBron James did on Tuesday, was his 73rd career regular season game with at least 40 points; he has another 28 on his playoff resume and his first against the Clippers in 41 games played. LA Clippers have tied down LeBron to his second-lowest scoring average against any opponent at 24.6 points per game; only the Detroit Pistons have not given up to James, allowing only 24.1 ppg in 61 career games.

Although the Clippers allowed a 40+ point game to LeBron, they won the match, extending their winning streak over the Lakers to 10 in a row in this intracity rivalry. James losing while still scoring up to 40 points is rare; after Tuesday’s match, the Lakers are now 60-13 (.822) when scoring at least 40 points.

Most Frequent 40+ Point Game Victim

Milwaukee Bucks: LeBron has six 40+ point performances over 61 career games, scoring 40 in nearly 10% of his games against the Bucks.

Highest Percentage of 40+ Point Games

Miami Heat: With five 40+ point performances in 43 games played, James has scored at least 40 in 11.6% of his game played against his former team. LeBron’s 40+ point game rate for his career is 5.2% (73 40+ point games in 1,404 games played).

Portland Trail Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers: Both teams have given LeBron the chance to score at least 40% in 10% of their games played – four in 40 games played against Portland and two in 20 games played against Cleveland.

Highest Scoring Average