LeBron James Has Set an NBA Record in Every Playoff Game for the Lakers and Is on His Way To Another

There’s no denying that LeBron James is one of the greatest players in history. Where he might rank on that particular list will always be a debate but nobody can argue his success, both in the regular season and the NBA playoffs.

This year’s postseason is obviously LeBron’s first with the Los Angeles Lakers and his 14th overall appearance in 17 NBA seasons. The only times James has missed out on the playoffs were his first two seasons in the league with the Cleveland Cavaliers and last year with the Lakers. With nine previous appearances in the NBA Finals, that obviously means that James has appeared in quite a few postseason games, 254 to be exact, which obviously means that he’s scored quite a few points.

In fact, LeBron James has scored more points in the NBA playoffs than any player in history, which means he sets a new NBA record with every single bucket he scores.

2020 marks LeBron James’ 14th postseason appearance

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As mentioned, this is LeBron James’ 14th appearance in the NBA playoffs. After missing out on the postseason his first two years in Cleveland, he led the Cavaliers to five straight playoff appearances, including a trip to the NBA Finals, before taking his talents to South Beach.

In four seasons with the Miami Heat, LeBron helped lead the team to the NBA Finals every year. After losing to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, James finally won his first title 2012 as the Heat knocked off the Thunder in five games and then won a second when Miami defeated the Spurs in an epic seven-game series in 2013. The Spurs got their revenge the following year and James headed back to Cleveland.

Upon his return to the Cavaliers, LeBron James promptly led the team back to the NBA Finals in 2015 for the first of four consecutive title series matchups with the Golden State Warriors. LeBron & Co. lost three of those series but did win the franchise’s first-ever championship in 2016.

James signed with the Lakers ahead of the 2018-2019 season and missed the playoffs in his first campaign in LA before leading the team to the best record in the Western Conference in 2019-2020.

LeBron James sets a new NBA record with every postseason bucket he scores

In Game 5 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics, LeBron James passed Michael Jordan to become the NBA’s all-time playoff scoring leader. MJ had held the record for 19 years with 5,987 points, a record that fell when LeBron hit a left-wing 3-pointer with 2:40 remaining in the third quarter, which gave him 5,989.

Since then, every single point that James scores in the postseason sets a new NBA record. In his first postseason with the Lakers, LeBron has scored 401 points in the team’s first three series, giving him 7,312 career playoff points leading into his 10th NBA Finals appearance.

He’ll also tie Derek Fisher for the most postseason games played if the NBA Finals goes five games

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Already the all-time leader in points scored in the postseason, LeBron James may also set another league record during the 2020 NBA Finals. With 254 career playoff games, James sits in second place on the all-time playoff games played list behind only five-time NBA champ, Derek Fisher, who appeared in 259 postseason games in his 18-year career.

If the NBA Finals between the Lakers and Heat goes five games, LeBron would tie Fisher for the all-time record and would obviously set a new record if there’s a Game 6.

All stats courtesy of Basketball Reference