LeBron James added another historic achievement to his illustrious career on Thursday night, becoming the NBA’s all-time leader in regular season minutes played. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 35-year-old record during the team’s game 113-100 victory over the Sacramento Kings at the Golden 1 Center in California.

Playing in his 22nd season in the NBA, James entered the game against the Sacramento Kings with 57,437 minutes played, just 10-shy of eclipsing Abdul-Jabbar’s record (57,446), according to the Lakers. He set the mark in the second quarter and finished with 57,471 after playing 34 minutes.

“It’s a pretty cool honor,” James said after the game. “Obviously, anytime I’m linked with some of the greats to ever play this game and to know that I’ve been available to my teammates, to know that I’ve been able to do this at a high level for two decades and continue to put myself in record books in this game of basketball that I love so much, in the best league in the world is pretty cool and very humbling.”

Last season, James became the league’s all-time leader in minutes played, including playoffs, surpassing the record also previously held by Abdul-Jabbar (66,297) in a loss against the Philadelphia 76ers in November 2023.

“They both are special,” James said on which record means more to him. “I mean obviously you set your mark in trying to make things happen in the regular season to prepare for the postseason. It’s all part of the process and you know I’ve been able to have some deep playoff runs and play some meaningful basketball games in my career and to the postseason so they both have a special meaning, you can’t have one without the other.”

Thursday night’s milestone is the latest in the highly decorated career of one of the greatest players in the sport’s history.

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer James is a four-time NBA champion, and has made a record 20 All-Star appearances, among a long list of accomplishments since being drafted first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003.

The 39-year-old is averaging 22.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and nine assists-per-game for the Lakers this season.

CNN