Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

James, the Los Angeles Lakers star, scored the record-breaking 38388th point that had eluded generations of superstars.

Philadelphia’s Harden (33 years old) and the Lakers’ Russell Westbrook (34) are next and thousands of points behind Durant. As players like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and James Harden made the 3-pointer a core part of the game over the past decade, James sharpened that tool, too. Few have embodied the term the way he has. He has dealt with injuries in recent years with the Lakers, but he has carried on in between absences like he had something to prove. Instead, he became skilled enough at every facet of the game to remain relevant, and dominant, for 20 years. When the moment came, Abdul-Jabbar, in a black jacket bearing his jersey number, 33, came onto the court with N.B.A. Then he raised them up and looked up into the stands at the thousands of people who had come to see him make history. That was the end of James’s rookie year. He broke the record on a fadeaway 2-point shot in the final seconds of the third quarter of Tuesday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But the 38-year-old James, in his 20th season, is still pouring in points as one of the best players in the N.B.A. He had tears in his eyes. LOS ANGELES — Lakers forward LeBron James is the leading scorer in N.B.A.