By Maya-Claire Glenn, Devin Malast, Mark Siquig
March 07, 2024
Iowa Hawkeyes superstar guard Caitlin Clark and Los Angeles Lakers Superstar LeBron James both achieved a career milestone this past weekend. James is the first player in NBA history to surpass 40,000 career points on Saturday, March 2 in a 124-114 home loss against the Denver Nuggets. Clark is now the NCAA Division-I all-time leading scorer for men’s and women’s basketball as Iowa beat Ohio State on Sunday, March 3.
James would blow past Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. and score a left-handed layup at the 10:46 mark in the second quarter. He was showered with loud cheers from the fans and high-fives from his teammates as Crypto.com Arena exploded after a Lakers timeout.
He finished the game with 26 points and totaled 40,017 career points that night. He became the all-time leading scorer in NBA history last season, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and now surpasses another historic feat in his already hall-of-fame career.
“Obviously, I’m never thinking about a milestone when I’m out there battling, but when it happens obviously we acknowledge it,” James said, according to the CNN article by Homero De La Fuente. “Being the first player to do something is pretty cool in this league, becaus
e you just know the history, you know the greats that have come through the league and then you see some of the greats on the floor tonight. It was just great to compete.”
Clark was 18 points away from breaking “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s historical mark of 3,667 career points, and she sank a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the first half finally becoming the greatest scorer in college basketball.
According to the CNN article about her record-setting performance by Eric Levenson, She says that the record was not on her mind. “Not really, but when they announce it and everybody screams, that’s when I knew.”
The Hawkeye’s sharpshooter exploded onto the scene last season when she led Iowa to the national championship with her unavailable shooting from deep and playmaking. Iowa would lose to another college star in Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers in the championship.
Nonetheless, Clark has emerged as a fan favorite and a future WNBA star as she declared to enter the draft after her senior season.
“I’m just very thankful for all these people that are going to stick around and support us and have supported us over the course of my four years,” Clark said. “It probably won’t hit me until a little bit later but just gonna enjoy it with my family and my teammates and just really thankful to be in this place.”
The 22-year-old senior is known for her sharpshooting ability and playmaking and has caught the attention of many basketball fans. That includes Lebron James, as he praised her on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
James and Clark drew the attention of many sports fans around the world this weekend as they both achieved a career milestone. Clark is a projected first-overall pick in this upcoming WNBA draft and James is not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon.
