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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James enters Thursday's game against the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis needing 89 points to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA's career scoring leader.
James scored 28 points Tuesday in a 129-123 overtime victory over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden to increase his career total to 38,299 points in 1,407 games over 20 seasons. Abdul-Jabbar scored 38,387 points in 1,560 games over 20 seasons.
James is seventh in the league in scoring, averaging 30.2 points per game. If he maintains his average and does not miss a game, he would set the record Tuesday in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Crypto.com Arena.
As he regularly is, James is listed as questionable due to left ankle soreness. However, he has played in 10 of the Lakers' past 11 games, missing only Monday's game at Brooklyn.
James scored 21 points in a 116-115 loss to the Pacers on Nov. 28 at Crypto.com Arena in the teams' only other meeting this season.
The Lakers (24-28) are 13th in the 15-team Western Conference, two games behind the New Orleans Pelicans in the race for the conference's final spot in the play-in tournament.
Indiana (24-28) is 10th in the 15-team Eastern Conference, percentage points ahead of the Chicago Bulls in the race for the conference's final spot in the play-in tournament.
The game will be televised by Spectrum SportsNet at 4 p.m.