Photos by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is still achieving career firsts in his 22nd NBA season.
James recorded four straight triple-doubles for the first time in his professional career during the Lakers’ 120-115 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.
James finished the victory with 15 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists.
“Just putting the work in,” James said when asked about the triple-double after the win. “My teammates trust me with the ball. I guess they trust me a little bit too much tonight, with the [seven] turnovers. I’ve got to be a lot better than that if I have the ball in my hands, and I’ll clean that up.
“But I love the game, and I’m happy I’m still able to come out here and make some plays to help our ball club win.”
James achieved the feat in the third quarter of an NBA Cup group stage game in San Antonio. After his previous triple-doubles against the Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors and Memphis Grizzlies, he has helped the Lakers string together four straight wins.
James has rewritten the NBA record books in his two decades in the league, most notably with his historic career points total. He moved past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 points in February 2023, then became the first player in NBA history to surpass 40,000 regular-season career points in March 2024.
There is one NBA record James has yet to touch: Russell Westbrook’s all-time career total of 199 triple-doubles. The triple-double against the Spurs marked the 117th of James’ career, ranking the Lakers star behind Westbrook, Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and Nikola Jokic for the all-time lead.
The Lakers star, who has won four NBA championships and three Olympic gold medals, told reporters ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season that he did not believe there was “anything left for me to accomplish as a basketball player.”
“Everything else is extra credit. I’ll take it though. I love it,” James said in October. “I love what I do. But I’ve got everything.”
The triple-double streak will now count toward that extra credit and bolster his legacy as one of the best players— if not, as some fans argued on Friday, the best player— in NBA history.
James headed into Friday night’s game averaging 24.3 points, 9.4 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game.
If maintained through a full season, this would mark his 21st straight campaign putting up at least 24 points per game. And he’s doing it while shooting 45.9 percent from behind the arc, which would stand as a career-best mark through a full campaign.
James, who turns 40 in December, recently told reporters that he is “not going to play that much longer” because he doesn’t like the idea of “playing until the wheels fall off.” Luckily for the Lakers, the wheels don’t look set to fall off any time soon.
The veteran guard will look to extend his triple-double streak to five games on Saturday night during a road game against the New Orleans Pelicans. James is six games away from matching the record set by Westbrook in 2019 as he recorded triple-doubles in 10 straight games.
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