Few NBA players have played professional basketball as long as LeBron James has, and the 39-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star continues to make a case that none have done it better at his age.
James scored 40 points in L.A.’s 116-104 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, joining Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history with multiple games of 40 points or more after turning 39. James now has done it twice; Jordan, who played until he was 40, did it three times.
The 21-year veteran went 13-for-17 from the floor and tied a career high in 3s made, going 9-for-10 from deep.
“I don’t ever have to lean on [3-pointers] because I can do so much — I can score on any level on the floor basically once I cross half court,” James said of his improved marksmanship in the latter stages of his career. “But being able to have a growth mindset and be able to work on things that the league is changing to, the league is a heavy 3-point shooting league.
“I’m not one of those guys that wants to go out there and shoot 12, 14 or 15 3s per game. But I want to be respected, and teams have to play me from the outside. That’s still kind of one thing teams [think] … ‘If we have to give up something, we’d much rather him shoot the ball from the outside.'”
“It’s incredible,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “I told him in the huddle before his last little stretch and we ultimately subbed him out [that I was] just extremely thankful that he packed the cape on the road trip. Needed all nine of those 3s.”
The win lifted L.A. to 3-1 on its six-game road trip, which concluded Tuesday and Wednesday with a back-to-back against the Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards. The Lakers are No. 9 in the Western Conference with seven games remaining in the regular season — 1½ games behind the No. 7 Phoenix Suns.
The Easter shootin3 career.
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