LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers pulled off another big win on Wednesday night, this time knocking off the Portland Trail Blazers. This is a big deal because the Trail Blazers beat the Lakers in both of their earlier meetings (128-119, 124-120). This time around, it was the Lakers getting the big win, with a 126-117 victory. It was also huge because LeBron scored a season-high 44 points in the game and moved past Wilt Chamberlain on the NBA all-time leading scorers list.

The Lakers victory

As LeBron James has often said, the most important thing is winning games and personal records don't mean much if the team loses.

That makes the Los Angeles Lakers win even a bigger deal. LeBron himself hit 13-of-19 shots (68 percent) and five-of-six from beyond the arc. He also hit 13 of 15 free throws, which was a problem that he has struggled with this season.

Well, LeBron was great in this game. He finished with a double-double, adding 10 rebounds and had nine assists, one away from a triple-double. He also had three blocks. Joining him in the fun was JaVale McGee, who started at center and added 20 points and four rebounds, and his backup Tyson Chandler, who added six rebounds of his own.

Brandon Ingram finished with 17 points, Lonzo Ball with 11 and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 13. All in all, the Los Angeles Lakers did what they needed to do to win.

LeBron and his place in history

As for LeBron James, he finished the game with 31,425 points over his career. Wilt Chamberlain, a former Los Angeles Lakers star, finished his career with 31,419 points. Chamberlain played for 14 seasons and LeBron has played for 15 to reach this point. Up next for LeBron is a big one.

Michael Jordan sits in fourth place all-time.

He scored 32,292 points over his career. That is an 873 point difference. If LeBron James averaged 25 points-a-game, he would need 35 more games to catch that record and that could happen sometime between the middle and end of January.

After that, it is another Los Angeles Lakers legend in Kobe Bryant. Kobe played for 20 years and finished with 33,643 points.

That is 2,218 more points for LeBron to catch that record. He won't reach that until the midway point of the 2019-20 NBA season.

The next target is Karl Malone at 36,928 and then the number one scorer in NBA history is former Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareen Abdul-Jabbar, with 38,387 points. If LeBron James keeps his average at around 1,900 to 2,200 a season like he has the past few years, he won't reach Malone until sometime in the 2020-21 season. He would need to play until he was 37 or 38 at the same level he is now to reach Abdul-Jabbar.
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