LeBron James had 19 points, six rebounds and seven assists while breaking the NBA record for regular-season minutes, helping the Los Angeles beat the Sacramento Kings 113-100 on Thursday night.
“Coach (JJ Redick) came in and congratulated me. My teammates… they told me I’m old as hell and all that. Like I said. It’s a pretty cool honor, obviously, anytime I’m linked with some of the greats that have ever played this game,” James said. “I’ve been available to my teammates. I’ve been able to do this at a high level over two decades. And to continue to put myself in record books in this game of basketball that I love so much and in the best league in the world is pretty cool and it’s very humbling.”
James spent 34 minutes on the court against the Kings to give him 57,471 in his career, moving past Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (57,446) for the record.
“Both are special. I mean obviously you set your mark in trying to make things happen in the regular season to prepare for the postseason. It’s all part of the process. You know I’ve been able to have some deep playoff runs and played some meaningful basketball games in my career, went to the postseason. So they both have a special meaning. You can’t have one without the other.”
“I just set the all-time-leading [mark] in minutes, I am not thinking about this next game yet. I’m about to get to this (hotel) room, drink some wine, play some Madden and chill the f— out.”
Anthony Davis had 21 points and 20 rebounds in the opener of a two-game set at Golden 1 Center. Austin Reaves scored 35 points and D’Angelo Russell added 16 points to help the Lakers (15-12) to their third win in four games.
The Kings trailed most of the game then closed within 93-90 on De’Aaron Fox’s jumper with eight minutes remaining. Reaves’s short bank shot and two free throws from Davis sparked a 10-2 run that helped the Lakers pull away.
Fox had 26 points, five assists and three steals for the Kings. Domantas Sabonis added 18 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. Malik Monk scored 17 points.
