Scheduled
Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons
2026-27 · Regular season
Interactive: LeBron James, Year 24 — the first 24th season in NBA history, step by step
Scroll through LeBron James' record 24th season: 43,440 points, 1,622 games, 20.9 points at 41, the $8 million Sixers bet and opening night at Madison Square Garden.
In this article
LeBron James with the Lakers at Cleveland, Jan. 28, 2026. Photo by Erik Drost, CC-BY-4.0, resized.WhyNBA Interactive
LeBron James, Year 24
No player in NBA history has started a 24th season. Tonight at Madison Square Garden, LeBron James does it in a 76ers jersey. Here is the career he brings, the numbers that still hold up at 41 and the bet Philadelphia made on him.
LeBron James with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo by Keith Allison, CC-BY-SA-2.0, resized.Chapter 1
A season nobody has played
LeBron James has played 23 NBA seasons. Nobody else has played 24. That changes tonight, when the 76ers open at New York.
He arrives as the league’s all-time leader in points and in regular-season games played, with four championships and four MVP awards behind him.
0seasons played before tonight
0regular-season games, the most ever
0career points, No. 1 all time
0career rebounds
0career assists
0All-Star selections
He also has 125 regular-season triple-doubles, fifth on the all-time list. In the playoffs he has added 8,521 points in 302 games.
Dwyane Wade and LeBron James with the Heat at Washington, March 30, 2011. Photo by Keith Allison, CC-BY-SA-2.0, resized.Chapter 2
Three teams, one total
Every one of those 43,440 points came for three franchises. Philadelphia is the fourth.
Cleveland had him for 11 seasons across two stints. Miami had four, with four trips to the Finals and titles in 2012 and 2013. The Lakers had the last eight.
- Begins his career in Cleveland
- Joins Miami; titles follow in 2012 and 2013
- Returns to Cleveland; wins the 2016 title
- Joins the Lakers; wins the 2020 title
- Signs with the 76ers
Regular-season points by team
0games for Cleveland
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LeBron James with the Lakers at Cleveland, Jan. 28, 2026. Photo by Erik Drost, CC-BY-4.0, resized.Chapter 3
What is left at 41
As a rookie in 2003-04 he averaged 20.9 points. Last season, at 41, he averaged 20.9 again, with 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists in 60 games, and made his 22nd All-Star team.
The scoring has come down from the 30.3 he put up in 2021-22. The workload has too: 33.2 minutes a night last season.
Points per game, last six seasons
His last game as a Laker was a loss to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference semifinals. He said afterward he needed to decide whether he still loved the game. In July he gave his answer.
“I still truly love this game, and I have more to give.”— LeBron James, announcing his move to Philadelphia
Tyrese Maxey with the 76ers, April 2026. Photo by Chensiyuan, CC-BY-SA-4.0, cropped.Chapter 4
The Philadelphia bet
James signed a two-year, $8 million deal, about $44 million less than he made last season alone. The second year is a player option.
Philadelphia went all in around him. It sent Paul George and four draft picks, including first-rounders in 2028 and 2031, to Boston for Jaylen Brown, who averaged a career-high 28.7 points last season.
Projected starters, 2025-26 points per game
Maxey led the league with 38.0 minutes a night. Edgecombe finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. Embiid, 32, has played 96 regular-season games over the last three seasons.
The franchise has not been past the conference finals since 2001.
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0playoff trips in the last eight seasons
0wins last season, seventh in the East
Madison Square Garden, 2007. Photo by Laslovarga, CC-BY-SA-3.0, resized.Chapter 5
Opening night at the Garden
The Knicks raise their first championship banner in 53 years before tip-off at 7 p.m. ET, which is 2 a.m. Wednesday in Cairo. Last May they swept the Sixers in the East semifinals on the way to that title.
The Garden has been good to James. In 34 career games there, his teams are 24-10.
0points per game at MSG
0assists per game at MSG
0wins in 34 games at MSG
- Sixers debut at the champion Knicks
- Home opener against Cleveland
- First game back in Los Angeles, against the Lakers
- Turns 42 at Phoenix, set to become the seventh player to play an NBA game at 42 or older
Twenty-three seasons ago he scored 20.9 points a night as a teenager in Cleveland. He scored the same last season in Los Angeles. Philadelphia is betting that what is left is enough to end a title drought that dates to 1983. The first answer comes tonight, on the Knicks’ banner night, at the Garden.
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