Five Wild Ways To Put LeBron James' 40,000 Points In Perspective
Jim Poorten. Getty Images.5,181 players in the NBA scored less than 40,000 points. Then there's LeBron James. Love him or loathe him, that's a pretty cool longevity feat. So I figured why not have a little fun and go full BuzzFeed by listing off a few random stats to put it in a perspective I bet you haven't considered yet.
#1 - Check my work on this but I have Ben Simmons on pace to score 40,000 points by the year 2073
Let's work this out. Ben Simmons has played 366 out of a possible 616 regular season games (59%) and averages 14.4 PPG. 616/366 = 1.68 so to account for Instagram management games we can figure this all by estimating how long it'd take him to score 40k * 1.68305 in games actually played which is 67,322 points. Divide that by his average per game (again, 14.4) and you get the number of total games (played and IG mode) he'd need to reach 40k: 4,675. Divide that by 82 for games in a season and that gives us 57 total seasons of which he's already played most of eight. 57-8 = 49, so add 49 to 2024 and my friends get the banner ready for 2073 when Ben Simmons is a ripe 76-years old. Goes without saying it's only fitting he'll be back on a 76ers and I already can't wait to see what brand of walking cane he sports on the bench for whatever IG is in 2073.
#2 - It took the Charlotte Bobcats six years to score 40,000 points
Yeah - I dunno, 40,000 is cool I guess but this actually makes me think a little less of LeBron here than I originally intended this stat to do. I would have given a decade the over/under line before running the numbers. But it's always fun to find a good Bobstat to insert into any topic of NBA comparison and for that I thank them.
#3 - It took the NBA as a league 594 games (March 15th, 1947) to score 40,000 in it's inaugural season
Again, I'm not totally sure if this makes 40k more impressive or less. Did they even know how to score points in the first NBA season? The first game I have in my data in NBA history shows the Kicks beat the Toronto Huskies 68-66 on November 1st, 1946. What a barn burner. I was really hoping this would have gone through the entire first season but the league as a whole managed to score 47,541 points. Self-note: Remember this number if LeBron lasts another eight years or so.
#4 - The entire NFL scored 36,170 regular season points in 2023, 2022, and 2021 combined
This strangely helps me conceptulize 40,000 points a little bit better. I can do the multiplication of watching every touchdown at the end of RedZone and then account for Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights.
#5 - LeBron James accounts for .25% of all points scored in NBA history
My score history data tells me we are at 15,694,878 total NBA points as of march 3rd I believe of which .25% is LeBron's 40,000. .25% might seem like a small number unless it's your market share of Amazon stock or the percentage of NBA points you account for. You could think of it this way - if there were a lottery ball with every player's name on it for every point they scored, you'd pick LeBron one in every 400.
Alright, that's enough. Props to me for sticking to the facts and not even mentioning LeBron's eyeroll enducing presser after the game in which he claimed everyone wanted him to fail from the start of his career. And for not mentioning he reached 40k in a loss just like when he passed Kareem. Sometimes you have to sit back and appreciate what's in front of you and 40k points at LeBron's age is pretty damn cool.
Also props to me for leaving Tony Snell out of this one.