LeBron James passes Michael Jordan for career field goals made

DALLAS -- While outdueling Luka Doncic on the court Friday night, LeBron James also managed to one-up Michael Jordan in the record books.

James passed Jordan for fourth place on the all-time field goals made list en route to a 35-point, 16-rebound, 7-assist night in the Los Angeles Lakers' 129-114 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

His fast-break layup with 6 minutes, 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter was the 12,193rd made field goal in Game No. 1,235 of his career. Jordan had 12,192 in 1,072 games.James needed 324 fewer field goal attempts to get there.

"Any time you're in a marathon and you're able to have feats throughout that marathon, I think it's just pretty cool to be linked with the greats," James said, referring to the grind of the regular season, during his on-court interview with ESPN's Jorge Sedano after the game.

"You said the name Michael Jordan; it just means so much to me. Any time I'm linked with his name, with his greatness and what he was able to do with the game. Hopefully, I continue to make him and all the other greats proud. Any time I'm linked with them. Hopefully, I can continue to make my family and my fans proud, as well."

Last season, James passed Jordan for fourth place on the all-time scoring list, an accomplishment that was dampened by the disappointment of a lost season for the Lakers.

Things are different this campaign, of course, with Friday's victory extending the Lakers' win streak to seven and improving their overall record to 31-7, good enough for first place in the Western Conference.

After the game, a reporter asked how the feat would cause others to reflect on James' legacy in the future.

"I think my legacy will speak for [itself] when I'm done," he said. "I don't really talk about my legacy."

Next up on the all-time field goals made list at No. 3 is Wilt Chamberlain (12,681). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (15,837) is first, and Karl Malone (13,528) is second.

James also passed Artis Gilmore to move into 50th on the all-time rebounding list, upping his career total to 9,176 boards.

James is out for Saturday's game at the Oklahoma City Thunder with an illness and flu-like symptoms. He will enter the next game he plays needing three assists to pass Isiah Thomas for No. 8 on that all-time list.

"He's just special. You know what I mean? There's not enough adjectives, really, to describe LeBron James," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. "He's a guy that's going to be setting milestones or breaking records every few games, seemingly, probably, for the rest of his career. So it's pretty awesome."