When Lakers’ LeBron James is favored to score 40,000th career point

LeBron James doesn’t have any individual accolades or accomplishments left to garner. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar is broadly considered a top-two player of all-time, has won four championships with three different franchises and last season became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

Coming off a surprise run to the 2023 Western Conference Finals, it’s safe to say James is much more concerned with helping the Lakers climb the standings from 10th heading into the postseason than further burning his impeachable personal resumé. But that reality certainly won’t stop Vegas from capitalizing on basketball’s obsession with round numbers, prompting betting lines for James to reach the 40,00-point mark of career points scored.

James enters Wednesday’s battle with the Los Angeles Clippers having racked up 39,926 points. Barring the highest-scoring game of his career, The King won’t net his 40,000th point against the Lakers’ cross-arena rivals.

FanDuel Sportsbook has placed +4500 odds on James reaching that threshold on Thursday against the Washington Wizards, +195 odds he’ll do it March 2nd against the Denver Nuggets and +125 odds he’ll hit that mark two days later against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Los Angeles’ March 6th tilt with the Sacramento Kings is at +320 odds, with the team’s March 8th matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks coming in at +1100 odds.

The Thunder game really does seem like James’ best chance of hitting 40,000 points. He’s averaging 25 points per game this season and has a history of playing his best in big games, but it also wouldn’t be surprising if James sat out of the second leg of the Lakers’ back-to-back Thursday against Washington.

LeBron James needs 74 points to get to 40,000. He can easily do that in three games, right? If he doesn’t against the Thunder, it’s likely because James will have made that largely meaningless round-number history versus Nikola Jokic and the defending champs 48 hours earlier.