On February 7, 2023, in a 133–130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, he scored his 38,388th point to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the record-holder for almost 39 years, to become the all-time leading scorer in NBA history. Abdul-Jabbar had previously set the record on April 5, 1984, 8 months before James was born. After James broke the record, the NBA stopped the game for an on-court ceremony, where he gave a speech and then embraced Abdul-Jabbar