On Thursday, in the first quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Denver Nuggets, LeBron James passed Wilt Chamberlain to rank third all-time in career field goals.
Wilt Chamberlain holds the NBA record for most points in a game (100), most points per game in a season (50.4) and most field goals in a season (1,597). In November of 2018, James passed him on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, right after he joined Chamberlain’s former team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
With his third field goal against the Denver Nuggets, James reached 12,682 for his career which gives him the third-most in league history. The play came early in the first quarter on a layup. Chamberlain ended his career with a total of 12,681 field goals.
On January 25, 2020, James passed Kobe Bryant to become the NBA’s third all-time leading scorer. This occurred in Bryant’s hometown of Philadelphia the night before he tragically died in a helicopter accident.
The next targets for James, in field goals made, are Karl Malone, who made 13,528 field goals during his 19-year career, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is the all-time leader in field goals with 15,837. Malone and Abdul-Jabbar both retired with the Lakers.
The Lakers megastar averages roughly 735 made field goals per season for his career. Therefore, assuming he maintains his current pace, he would pass Malone towards the end of next season, and then need approximately three more seasons to catch Abdul-Jabbar.
