LeBron James moves up to fourth in the NBA all-time assists list

LeBron James may be on his way to setting the most famous record in NBA history while chasing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time record, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hit a few different milestones along the way. James started seventh all-time in assists that season. He quickly overtook the man who drafted him to the Los Angeles Lakers, Magic Johnson, putting him within striking distance of the top five.

Lucky for James, getting to No. 5 practically guaranteed getting to No. 4. Mark Jackson, formerly at No. 5, had 10,334 assists and Steve Nash, formerly at No. 4, had 10,335. James passed both tonight as he posted his 10,336 in the fourth quarter. Assist on a Thomas Bryant dunk to move up to fourth on the all-time assist leaderboard.

Along with the assists mark, James made a little more history against the Knicks on Tuesday. He finished the night with 28 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, giving him his first triple-double of the season. In doing so, he became the fourth-oldest player to ever have a triple-double, behind Elvin Hayes in 1984, Tim Duncan in 2014 and Karl Malone in 2003. With 106 career triple-doubles, James is fourth behind Jason Kidd -Time of just a single triple-double.

James still has a long way to go if he wants to break the top 3 on the all-time assists list. This place is held by his contemporary and close friend Chris Paul. Since Paul is an active player, we don’t know how many assists he will stop with. Both are chasing 12,091 No. 2 Kidd, a former Lakers assistant who is also close to James. Both will likely get there eventually, but that’s likely where their climbs end. John Stockton is the NBA’s all-time assists leader with 15,806. The distance between him and No. 2 Kidd is bigger than the gap between Kidd and No. 12 Andre Miller’s 8,524.

In the end, James has a realistic chance of eventually retiring as the all-time NBA leading scorer and #2 on the assist list. He will likely reach that first mark within the next two weeks. The assists will likely last for a few more years. Despite being in his 20th season, James, 38, is showing no signs of slowing down. He was just named an All-Star starter for the 19th time and was the top pick this year. So, yes, he still has a lot of basketball ahead of him, and that means there are plenty of records he can still break.