There is arguably no other player in NBA history with longevity comparable to that of LeBron James’. Usually, professional athletes decline after 10 professional seasons, or when they’re approaching their 30s. But the Los Angeles Lakers star man, who will be turning 40 in nine months and 24 days, remains one of the best players in the association, making history along the way such as being the first player to tally 40,000 points in the regular season.
But on Wednesday night, by suiting up against the Sacramento Kings, James inched ever closer to making longevity history yet again. As pointed out by ClutchPoints Twitter, by playing in his 1,477th game James has moved up to sixth on the all-time games played (regular season) leaderboard, surpassing Karl Malone.
Malone’s longevity is no joke either; after entering the league in 1985, the Utah Jazz legend did not miss more than two games in a single season for 18 consecutive seasons. (The Hall of Famer only missed a total of 10 games during that span). He was a bastion of good health for nearly two decades, and it wasn’t until he moved to the Lakers in 2003 when he encountered a plethora of injury problems (he missed 39 games, nearly quadruple the number of games he missed for his first 18 seasons).
But for LeBron James, in this era of load management, it’s an incredible feat for him to inch ever closer to the top five in number of games played. The current Lakers star hasn’t exactly been his healthiest self over the past four seasons, but for him to continue trucking along means a great deal for his legacy.
Now, it won’t be until next season (if James doesn’t retire yet) when the Lakers star would have his next chance to move up the leaderboard. At present, he sits 27 games behind Karl Malone’s longtime teammate, John Stockton, for fifth all time in games played. And then when James surpasses Stockton, he’ll have Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Robert Parish to look up to.
LeBron James can be the all-time leader in games played during the 2025-26 season, provided that he remains healthy until what would be his age-41 season.
More must-reads: