LeBron James on breaking Robert Parish’s NBA video games report: ‘That’s a fairly cool factor’

ORLANDO — LeBron James, already the NBA’s all-time chief in factors and minutes, is now the league’s all-time chief in video games performed.

In one other testomony to his unmatched longevity, James performed his 1,612th profession recreation Saturday in opposition to the Orlando Magic, breaking Hall of Fame middle Robert Parish’s iron-man report.

“It was a regular prep day. I mean, I kept it, you know, the same as the previous whatever 1,600 whatever the record is … but I knew, you know, once I stepped on the floor and the game began that I was breaking the record, and … that’s a pretty cool thing,” James stated after. “I said it the other night, the best thing you can have for your teammates is availability. And I try to be available throughout my career, two decades-plus … you know, to my guys. And … you know that’s just a byproduct of it.”

Fittingly, James’ first factors Saturday within the Los Angeles Lakers’ 105-104 win in Orlando got here after a steal that he punctuated with a robust one-handed slam dunk.

Austin Reaves, James’ longest-tenured present teammate, stated he informed James he forgets he’s enjoying with somebody in his twenty third NBA season when he tries to attach with him for lobs.

“I was like, ‘I’m going to kill you one day on accident, just throwing the ball like I forget that you’re 41. I’m still throwing it to 35 (-year-old) LeBron,” Reaves stated. “It’s just incredible what he does every single day.”

James scored 12 factors with six rebounds, 4 assists and three steals Saturday in opposition to the Magic, the Lakers profitable on James’ milestone recreation.

The accomplishment comes at a time when James is enjoying extremely environment friendly basketball. Tasked with being supportive of Lakers guard Luka Dončić and Reaves, James is taking pictures 60.3 % from the sector whereas averaging 19 factors, 7.3 rebounds and 5.5 assists over his final six video games.

His group has gained 9 in a row.

On the season, he’s averaging 21.1 factors per recreation — his twenty third straight 12 months scoring at the least 20 a recreation. He’s taking pictures 51.4 % from the sector this season and has made greater than 50 % of his pictures in 15 of the final 17 years.

“He’s had an awesome season; he’s had an awesome career,” Lakers coach JJ Redick stated.

“There’s just a deep-seated love for the game of basketball, and to do it as long as he has, you not only need to have the love, but you need to have the love for the commitment to prepare your body and to prepare your mind and to get your rest. He loves the process. He really does. He loves his process, he loves his routine, he loves the feeling of being diligent.”

Over his report 23 seasons, James has performed in 87.7 % of the potential video games he may’ve — a quantity that will’ve been even greater if not for a run of accidents suffered throughout his time with the Lakers.

James has missed at the least 10 video games in all however one in all his seasons in Los Angeles — the 2019-20 championship season. Before enjoying with the Lakers, he’d missed greater than 10 video games simply as soon as in his profession.

He’s performed a high-impact fashion all through his profession — he’s nonetheless one of many NBA’s greatest transition gamers. He’s tenth all time for utilization price whereas enjoying 60,710 profession regular-season minutes — greater than 42 full days’ price of NBA basketball.

Adding in playoff video games, James has stepped onto the NBA court docket 1,904 occasions for 72,772 minutes.

He’s anticipated so as to add to these numbers Monday when the Lakers play the Pistons in Detroit.