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The TakeNov 4, 2026·By The Dyme

LeBron James Becomes the First Player With 16,000 Field Goals, in His 24th Season

He made his 16,000th regular-season field goal early in the second quarter at Detroit, 69 more games into a career than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ever played (by our count).

Dyme card with the headline: LeBron James Becomes the First Player With 16,000 Field Goals, in His 24th Season

LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to make 16,000 regular-season field goals on Wednesday night, finishing a layup early in the second quarter of Philadelphia's game at Detroit. He came into the night at 15,998, needed two buckets, and got the second one with the 76ers up 33-23.

James has played 1,629 regular-season games counting Wednesday, 69 more than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in his whole career (by our count). Kareem made 15,837 field goals and held the record for decades until James passed him on March 5 of this year.

Kareem Was Faster. James Lasted Longer.

Kareem made 15,837 field goals in 1,560 games, about 10.15 a night (by our count, from Basketball-Reference). James got to 16,000 in 1,629 games, about 9.82 a night (by our count). Across a full career, Kareem made more shots per game than James has.

Kareem played 20 seasons and stopped at 42. James is in his 24th season, the most anyone has ever played, and turns 42 in December.

Karl Malone is third with 13,528 field goals in 1,476 games, about 9.17 a night. The gap from James to Malone is 2,472 made shots (by our count). At James's career rate, that is roughly 250 games (by our count).

The Peak Came Late

James has made at least 10 field goals a game in 10 different seasons, per Basketball-Reference. The highest of them was 2021-22 with the Lakers, his age-37 season, at 11.4 makes a night on 21.8 attempts. The next year he made 11.1 a night. Those two seasons added 1,249 made field goals (by our count, from Basketball-Reference).

Last season he made 7.9 field goals a game in 60 games, matching his rookie year for the lowest full-season rate of his career until this one. Through the first six games in Philadelphia he was at 6.2 makes on 13.7 attempts and 16.2 points a night, per Basketball-Reference.

Year 24 in Philadelphia

Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey are on the floor with him, and James came into Detroit averaging 7.3 assists and 7.0 rebounds, per ClutchPoints. Philadelphia came into the night 7-1.

Final: Philadelphia won 112-106 at Detroit, which came in 6-1 and left 6-2, and the 76ers moved to 8-1. James finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists on 5-of-10 shooting, 1 of 2 from three and 2 of 2 at the line, with a steal and a block in 33 minutes, per the official box score. Brown had 30. At the break Philadelphia led 56-42 and James had 8 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists on 3-of-5 shooting, per the official scorer's report. Bleacher Report's live blog noted he had only taken three shots by the middle of the second quarter while running the offense against what it called the league's No. 1 defense.

The ESPN broadcast, as relayed by Bleacher Report, added a second milestone in the same half: James has now assisted 205 different players, the most in the play-by-play era.

LeBron James and 17,000 Field Goals

At this season's pace of 6.2 makes a game, the next 1,000 field goals would take about 161 games, roughly two full seasons (by our count). ClutchPoints has noted this could be his final year.

Count the playoffs and his total entering Wednesday was already 19,053, per Basketball-Reference, 860 more than Kareem's combined 18,193 (by our count).

Sources:

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