Life is a circle.
LeBron James on Thursday in Sacramento became the NBA’s all-time leader in regular-season minutes, accomplishing that feat at the same venue where he made his NBA debut on Oct. 29, 2003.
By logging his 10th minute in the Lakers’ 113-100 win over the Kings, James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s longstanding record with 57,447 minutes. He would play another 24 minutes to reach 57,471 in his 1,517th game.
Abdul-Jabbar — who passed Elvin Hayes’ mark of 50,000 minutes on Feb. 14, 1986 — held the record for nearly 39 years.
Before James, Abdul-Jabbar and Hayes, the all-time minutes leader crown was held by Wilt Chamberlain (47,859), Bill Russell (40,726), Bob Pettit (30,690), Bob Cousy (30,131), Mel Hutchins (12,023), Andy Phillip (4,037) and Paul Arizin (2,939).
As such, James becomes the 10th player to hold the crown for total-minutes played. And with a whopping lead over other active players, it appears his record will stand for years, perhaps decades.
