LOS ANGELES — LeBron James has never viewed himself as a scorer.

He has long said his scoring journey happened organically, with him preferring to be the playmaker setting his teammates up for assists rather than scoring himself.

But now James, 40, is poised to become the first player in NBA history to reach 50,000 points across the regular season and playoffs. He sits one point away from the mark heading into the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. The league doesn’t include points from NBA Play-In Tournament games and the In-Season Tournament final in players’ official regular-season or playoff points totals, meaning James is at 49,999 points.

Tuesday’s game tips off at 10:30 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena.

The likely scoring feat would be the latest in a long list of career accomplishments for the four-time MVP and will serve as a testament to his unprecedented longevity, consistency, availability and postseason success.

Here’s a look back at some of James’ career milestones with him on the verge of achieving another.

First NBA basket

Date: Oct. 29, 2003

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft entered the league with arguably more hype than any prospect in NBA history. Nike released a commercial previewing the game and alluding to the immense pressure he faced. James’ first basketball was a 16-foot pull-up jumper off a pass from Ricky Davis. The 18-year-old rookie finished with 25 points, six rebounds and nine assists in a 106-92 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

“I was nervous as hell,” James said in an interview with the Lakers ahead of the 2023-24 season. “I’m not even going to hold y’all. It was my first game in the NBA. It was something I always dreamed about. But for me to have my first shot go in, for it to be a jump shot, I always had dreams that it would be a layup or dunk or a free throw. But for it to be a jump shot, it was pretty cool, and it just settled me for the rest of the game.”

20 years ago in Sacramento, @KingJames made his first career bucket.

Today, he returns on the anniversary of his NBA debut. pic.twitter.com/q0mzzpPF1V

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 29, 2023

10,000 regular-season points

Date: Feb. 27, 2008

After spraining his ankle in the first half, James returned in the second half to reach his milestone. He dunked over Kevin Garnett in transition to become the youngest player in NBA history to reach 10,000 points in the regular season. Throughout James’ Hall of Fame career, he’s been the youngest to every 1,000th point. The Cleveland Cavaliers lost the game to the Boston Celtics 92-87.

“It doesn’t make me happy to do it in a losing effort,” James told reporters. “To be in the record books is a tribute to my teammates, myself and my family.”

20,000 regular-season points

Date: Jan. 16, 2013

James became the youngest player in NBA history and the 38th player overall to join the 20,000-point club after he drove past David Lee and Klay Thompson on the left wing to drain a jumper inside the free-throw line. The Miami Heat beat the Golden State Warriors 92-75.

“The best part about it is, I was in a rhythm, too, so it wasn’t one of those forced shots,” James told reporters. “I was able to get the switch on David Lee and get to the elbow and make a shot. It’s pretty cool.”

LeBron becomes the all-time leading playoff scorer

Date: May 25, 2017

Nearly six years before he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the regular-season record, James eclipsed Michael Jordan as the all-time leading playoff scorer with a 3-pointer from the left wing in Game 5 of the 2017 Eastern Conference finals. James scored 35 points in the Cavaliers’ 135-102 win over the Celtics, which clinched Cleveland’s third straight NBA Finals berth and James’ seventh consecutive trip.

“I wear the number because of Mike,” James told reporters. “I think I fell in love with the game because of Mike, just because of what he was able to accomplish. When you’re watching Michael Jordan it’s almost like a god. So I didn’t think I could be Mike.”

30,000 regular-season points

Date: Jan. 23, 2018

James became the seventh player in NBA history with 30,000 career regular-season points when he hit a jumper in the first quarter of the Cavaliers’ 114-102 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. The 33-year-old James joined Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Dirk Nowitzki on the list of 30,000-point scorers (at the time).

“It’s just a special moment,” James told reporters. “It’s something I never set out to do. I’m not even a score-first guy when it comes to playing basketball. … For me to sit here and be the youngest player ever to reach 30,000. … I put a lot of work into my game and it’s been a byproduct of that.”

Breaking the all-time regular-season scoring record

Date: Feb. 7, 2023

The image of James launching a stepback jumper over Oklahoma City’s Kenrich Williams will be etched in the annals of NBA history. The shot put him past Adbul-Jabbar, who held the scoring record for almost four decades. The game was stopped for a brief ceremony, in which NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Abdul-Jabbar and James’ family celebrated his historic milestone.

“I just played the game as it’s supposed to be played tonight, as I’ve always done,” James said. “Didn’t press myself. Didn’t over-exude too much energy. When it comes to the record, I felt pretty good. I felt in a good rhythm, and once I get in a good rhythm, then I feel like I can make any shot on the floor. To break the record, I was able to get to a really good spot on the floor where I’m really comfortable with and get to one of my patented fadeaway shots. I know a lot of people wanted me to go to the skyhook to break the record or one of my signature dunks, but my fadeaway is a signature play as well. And I was able to get it and it touched nothing but the bottom of the net, and that was pretty cool.”

GO DEEPER

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40,000 regular-season points

Date: March 2, 2024

James began the game only needing nine points to become the first player in NBA history to reach 40,000 points in the regular season. Early in the second quarter, he spun past Denver’s Michael Porter Jr. and finished with a left-handed layup. James finished the game with 26 points in the Lakers’ 124-114 loss to the Nuggets.

“Being the first player to do something, it’s pretty cool in this league,” James said then. “Just knowing the history, the greats that’s come through the league and then you see some of the greats on the floor tonight, it was great to compete. But for me, the main thing, as always, is to win, and I hated that it had to happen in a defeat.”

GO DEEPER

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(Photo: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)