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LeBron James passes Jason Kidd for third on the NBA’s career assists list and says ‘it means I had a lot of great teammates’ as the 76ers beat the Pacers
LeBron James had 11 assists in the 76ers’ 131-124 win over Indiana to reach 12,092 and pass Jason Kidd for third all-time, then said “it means I had a lot of great teammates.”
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LeBron James moved into third place on the NBA’s career assists list on Sunday afternoon, passing Jason Kidd in the final two minutes of the Philadelphia 76ers’ 131-124 win over the Indiana Pacers. James finished with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, seven rebounds and 11 assists, which took him from 12,081 career assists to 12,092. Kidd finished his career with 12,091. Only John Stockton (15,806) and Chris Paul (12,552) have more.
Asked what the milestone meant in his on-court interview after the game, James started with the people catching his passes. “It means I had a lot of great teammates. You got to have teammates that can put the ball in the hole,” he said. “So I think my job is just try to put it on time, on target, lead them to the hole, either from layups, dunks, threes, mid-range, whatever the case may be.”
Two passes in the last three minutes
James went into the fourth quarter needing four assists to tie Kidd and five to pass him. He found Jaylen Brown for a three 39 seconds into the quarter, set up Anfernee Simons for a floater, then fed VJ Edgecombe for a turnaround jumper that put the 76ers up 115-104 with 6:51 left.
Indiana cut the lead to 119-115 with a Quenton Jackson basket at 3:17. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope answered with a three from the top, and on the next trip James threw a bounce pass to Dean Wade for a dunk and a foul with 2:27 left. That was assist No. 12,091, level with Kidd.
The record pass came 68 seconds later. With 1:19 to go, James set up Edgecombe for a layup that made it 128-119. Edgecombe, 21, was born in 2005, almost two years after James made his NBA debut in October 2003.
‘I got a kick out of that from day one’
James, in his 24th NBA season and his first in Philadelphia, is the league’s career scoring leader, but he said passing was the first thing that made basketball fun for him. “From the moment I picked up a basketball, when I first started playing, like, recreation basketball, five-on-five, I always got a joy and a kick out of seeing my teammates score,” he said.
“It was a feeling that felt really good about me being able to help one of my teammates out that maybe couldn’t dribble as well, or in Little League,” James said. “I got a kick out of that from day one, and it just stuck with me. I understood the energy behind the pass. I understood how it can be infectious to the team. It’s something that’s been with me from the moment I ever played a game.”
He added that he does not take his place on those lists lightly. “Anytime I’m in any list in NBA history, I love the history of the game. I love the players that came before me,” he said. “It’s super honorable.”
He also thanked the crowd for turning up for a 1 p.m. ET tip. “We got some of the best fans in the world, if not the best. We knew it was going to be an early start, but they came out to support us,” James said. “It was our job to go out and play the game that we love to play, and play it at a high level and play with a lot of physicality. Hopefully we made them proud this Sunday afternoon.”
Caldwell-Pope: ‘Almost too many to count’
Caldwell-Pope, who won a title with James in Los Angeles in 2020, made the three that stopped Indiana’s run. He said the clutch shots come from “just being ready to shoot when I get the ball, you know, moving to open spots,” and from his teammates looking for him. “So just being confident and being ready to shoot,” he said.
Asked about James’ latest milestone, Caldwell-Pope said he had been talking about it with 76ers assistant coach Phil Handy, who also coached James with the Lakers. “I was just asking him how many milestones that we’ve been a part of with LeBron, and there’s just so many,” he said. “So, man, I’m just excited for him. Congratulations to LeBron, just moving into third. I’m always happy for him.” Told it was almost too many to count, he agreed.
Brown and Maxey carry the scoring without Embiid
Philadelphia played without Joel Embiid, who sat the first game of a back-to-back with right foot plantar fascia injury management, so Jabari Walker made his first start of the season at center and had 11 points and seven rebounds. Brown led the 76ers with 31 points on 12-of-18 shooting, 20 of them in the first half, and Tyrese Maxey added 27 with five threes. Wade had 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and seven 76ers scored in double figures. Philadelphia made 18 of 42 threes.
Pascal Siakam scored 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting for the Pacers, who were without Andrew Nembhard (sore left hip) and Tyrese Haliburton and fell to 5-9. T.J. McConnell had 12 points off the bench.
What’s next
The 76ers, now 11-3, play the second game of the back-to-back at Brooklyn on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET, which is 2:30 a.m. Tuesday in Cairo. Philadelphia had not yet said whether Embiid will play. James’ next passing target on the list is Paul, who is 460 assists ahead of him.
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