In a building buzzing for another chapter of the Los Angeles rivalry, LeBron James delivered a vintage performance even as the Lakers fell 103-88 to the Clippers.

The 21-time All-NBA forward poured in a season-high 36 points, adding four rebounds, three assists, and two steals in a losing but historic effort.

With that outburst, James moved past Michael Jordan for yet another prestigious scoring milestone for players in their forties. The achievement extended a larger pattern that has seen him become the oldest player to log multiple high-volume scoring nights after turning 40, a realm Jordan briefly entered during his Washington stint but never sustained.

The record that links two legends

Officially, the latest mark comes on the heels of James already surpassing Jordan earlier in 2025 for the most 30-point games in NBA history, a record he claimed with his 563rd such outing. Saturday’s explosion against the Clippers added a new wrinkle, as James continued to stack 30-plus and 35-plus performances at an age when most stars are long retired.

Context matters when comparing eras, and Jordan only played part of a single season at 40, while James is closing in on his 41st birthday. Yet even with more opportunities, maintaining this level of usage and efficiency in a 22nd season under the NBA’s current pace and spacing demands has cemented James as the league’s defining outlier.

Impact beyond a single loss

The Clippers snapped their skid and controlled the game, but James turned an ordinary regular-season loss into another data point in the greatest-of-all-time debate. His ability to summon 35-plus on a given night, even as the Lakers battle inconsistency and injuries around him, underscores how central he remains to Los Angeles’ playoff hopes.

For James, the record is another chapter in a career already defined by longevity milestones, from passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leading scorer to stretching the boundaries of what a 40-year-old NBA superstar can look like. For the league, every such performance reinforces a simple truth: the standard Jordan set has not just been chased, it is now being actively rewritten by a player still adding to his own legend in real time.