In a record-setting career, LeBron James set another record Monday night by becoming the youngest player in NBA history to amass 25,000 points.
James accomplished this feat Monday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, completing an alley-oop dunk in the fourth quarter en route to a 22-point performance that gave the 30-year-old superstar 25,001 points for his career. He earned a standing ovation from the Sixers’ crowd, per ESPN.
In reaching the 25K-point milestone, James surpassed Kobe Bryant (31 years, 151 days) as the youngest player ever (30 years, 307 days) to do so, a remarkable, yet unsurprising feat, given that James had been the youngest player to reach the 10,000-point, 15,000-point and 20,000-point plateaus as well.
James becomes just the 20th player overall in NBA history to hit 25,000 points, and did in just 915 games, behind only Wilt Chamberlain (691), Michael Jordan (782) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (889), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
For his part, James was quick to downplay his achievement, instead stressing the importance on winning as a team over individual accomplishments.
“For me, winning basketball games and then reaching milestones individually will be a pretty cool thing but obviously it will be a team aspect of it that comes first,” James said via the Akron Beacon Journal. “But any time along that line that you're able to reach a milestone, I think it's very humbling and it's a cool thing.”
“I know where I come from and I know where my family comes from and for me to have milestones along the way -- obviously I have more work to do -- but it's cool to see when you're able to kind of just stop and look at it,” James added. “Because I don't get much time to really stop and look at some of the things that I've done.”