LeBron James is the NBA’s new career scoring leader.With a stepback jump shot with 10.9 seconds left in the third quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, James pushed his career total to 38,388 points and broke the record that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar held for nearly four decades.James outstretched his arms, threw both hands in the air, then smiled. Abdul-Jabbar rose from his seat and clapped. The game was stopped as some members of James' family, including his mother, wife and children, took the floor for a ceremony recognizing the moment.See photos from the record-breaking night in the video player above. Abdul-Jabbar — one of many celebrities and sports stars who made sure they were there to see history — became the league’s all-time leading scorer on April 5, 1984 and wound up retiring in 1989 with 38,387 points. It was a record that some thought would last forever, with very few even coming close. Karl Malone retired 1,459 points behind Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant was 4,744 points shy, and Michael Jordan was 6,095 points away.James passed them all, then caught Abdul-Jabbar, too. The 38-year-old, who finished with 38 points in the Lakers' 133-130 loss — did it in his 20th season. Abdul-Jabbar also played 20 NBA seasons.And now, King James — a moniker he’s had since high school, when he was just a kid from Akron, Ohio — is the NBA’s scoring king, with 38,390 points and counting.“A record that has stood for nearly 40 years, which many people thought would never be broken," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.Abdul-Jabbar held the ball aloft, then handed it to James, the ceremonial passing of the torch. They posed for photos with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, then with one another. James wiped away tears from his eyes, then addressed the crowd.“I just want to say, thank you to the Laker faithful. You guys are one of a kind," James said. “To be able to be in the presence of such a legend as great as Kareem, it's very humbling. Please give a standing ovation to the Captain, please."James then thanked his family and those who have supported him, including Silver and the late NBA Commissioner David Stern.“I thank you guys so much for allowing me to be a part of something I've always dreamed about," James said.At least 16 different players have, technically, been the all-time leading scorer in league history — most of those coming in the opening month of the league’s existence in 1946, when everybody was starting from zero and nine different players were atop the scoring list in the first 16 days.But only six have ended a season officially as the all-time leader: Joe Fulks, George Mikan, Dolph Schayes, Bob Pettit, Wilt Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar.James will be the seventh name on that list, and he’s likely to stay there for a long time. No active player is within 10,000 points of James, who is under contract for two more years and is on pace to become the league’s first 40,000-point scorer sometime next season. “Nobody will ever, ever touch it,” said Cleveland forward Kevin Love, a teammate of James on the 2016 title team. “The scoring record now will never be eclipsed. I don’t care. It will never, ever be touched. It will never happen again.”James could have had the scoring record long ago, if so inclined. But he always preferred passing. James is behind only John Stockton, Jason Kidd and Chris Paul on the all-time assists list. None of them were, or are, close to the scorer that James is. Of that group, Paul comes closest, ranking 38th in NBA history.And Paul is 17,000 points behind the new scoring king.“I hadn’t thought of it that way, but that is very true,” Silver told The Associated Press. “I think it even adds — right? — to this accomplishment for a guy who became a scorer because he determined that’s what was necessary to win. And you’re right, he probably doesn’t get enough credit for his selfless play, because there’s so much focus and attention on him. ... I think it makes it that much more special, that he’d rather be known for his assists than his baskets.”James is the only member of the NBA’s triple-quintuple club: at least 10,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists. There are 44 players to reach five digits in two of those categories.He’ll almost certainly be the NBA’s all-time leader in earnings whenever he retires; when adding in the $97 million he’ll make over the next two seasons, he’ll be past $500 million in on-court salary alone. He’s a 19-time All-Star selection, tying an Abdul-Jabbar record. If he plays in the game on Feb. 19 in Salt Lake City, he’ll set a record for appearances.Others, maybe, have been this good. That’s always a debate. But no one has ever been this good, for this long. James — a two-time champion in Miami, a champion in Cleveland in 2016 and a champion with the Lakers in 2020 — is averaging 30 points per game in his 20th season; only three other players have averaged more than 10 points per game this deep into their careers, none of those averaging more than Bryant’s 17.6 in his 20th and final season.“I never did the, ‘OK, if I play this amount of time and I average this’ thing,” James said. “I’ve never done that with anything in my career. I always said, ‘If it happens, it happens.’”It happened.

CLEVELAND —

Stephen Curry got another 3-point record. LeBron James got another All-Star win.

Not a bad night in Ohio for the two All-Stars from Akron.

Curry turned boos to oohs and aahs with the greatest long-distance shooting performance in All-Star Game history, then James made a turnaround jumper that gave Team LeBron a 163-160 victory over Team Durant on Sunday night.

Curry made 16 3-pointers and scored 50 points, two off Anthony Davis' record. He was clearly hunting it, asking on the sideline during a sizzling third quarter what the record was.

“It’s pretty special, obviously being back in Ohio,” Curry said, seconds after being handed the inaugural Kobe Bryant MVP Trophy. “The trophy is very special. Very humble, very blessed.”

He missed his final 3-point attempt that would have allowed him to surpass Davis. But with James' team needing a basket to reach the target score of 163 points, they couldn't afford to keep feeding Curry.

So James pulled up from deep on the right side for the winning bucket, making him 5-0 in the format where the leading vote-getters in each conference draft teams.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points, and James finished with 24 in his old home. Joel Embiid led Team Durant with 36 points.

The All-Star Game's return to Cleveland was expected to be James' night. He is the Cavaliers franchise's greatest player, having led them to their only NBA championship in 2016.

Instead, he was upstaged by Curry, who was born in the same Akron hospital.

Curry finished 16 of 27 beyond the arc — sometimes well, well behind it. He launched a few from the All-Star 2022 logo near midcourt, running backward without even waiting to watch one go in.

He smiled when he was booed during pregame introductions, Cleveland fans not forgiving him for helping Golden State beat the Cavaliers three times in the NBA Finals from 2015-18.

But the fans were enjoying his show too much to keep going as the game went on, though the boos returned when he was presented the MVP award.

Related video above: LeBron accused of 'intentional elbow' in recent altercation with Pistons center Stewart

LeBron James' celebration of Thursday's overtime victory over the Indiana Pacers has landed the Los Angeles Lakers forward with a fine from the NBA.

The $15,000 punishment was handed to James "for making an obscene gesture on the playing court," said the NBA in a statement on Friday.

"The incident occurred with 1:17 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' 124-116 overtime win against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse," said the NBA statement.

James made the gesture after making a deep three-point shot.

The NBA has consistently fined players between $15,000 to $25,000 for performing a routine popularized by former NBA star Sam Cassell when he was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, reported The Athletic.

James was also warned for using "profane language during media availability in response to league imposed discipline," according to Byron Spruell, who is president of the NBA's League Operations in the NBA statement.

Last weekend, James was ejected after his elbow bloodied the eye of Detroit Pistons player Isaiah Stewart. That altercation then sparked a confrontational reaction from Stewart and an on-court scuffle.

Stewart was subsequently hit with a two-game suspension without pay by the NBA for "escalating" the situation and "repeatedly and aggressively" pursuing James, who himself received a one-game ban for the first time in his 19-year NBA career for "recklessly hitting" the Pistons center in the face.

This is only the second time he's been ejected from a game in his career.

After the Wednesday's win over the Pacers, James said the one-game suspension was "some bulls--t."

ST. BERNARD, Ohio — Roger Bacon High School boys basketball coach Brian Neal will step down at the conclusion of the coming 2021-2022 season, the school announced on Tuesday.

Neal has a 236-161 career record at Roger Bacon entering his 17th season as head coach. He has the most coaching wins in program history.

Roger Bacon opens its inaugural season as a member of the Miami Valley Conference with a non-conference game at Hughes on Nov. 26 (7:30 p.m. tipoff).

Neal was an assistant coach under the late Bill Brewer for the 2002 state title team. This season will also mark the 20th anniversary of the 2002 state championship victory over LeBron James and St. Vincent – St. Mary. Commemorations are planned at Roger Bacon during the 2021-22 season.

This season will also be particularly special for Neal and his wife, Dr. Amy Neal, as their son, Andrew, is a senior guard for the Spartans. Their daughter, Libby, is a freshman at Roger Bacon.

“I have been a part of the Roger Bacon high school basketball program every day since I was 14," Brian Neal said in a release.

"I am now almost 50. In that time I have grown from being a student, to an alum, to a coach and a teacher. The sideline at Fogarty Center has been my home away from home since 1991. It is where I have been able to watch hundreds of young student-athletes mature into leaders, forge friendship bonds that will last a lifetime, and learn the sacrifices it takes to fulfill their potential. They have my unending respect for pouring themselves out for their teammates and their school, and my eternal gratitude for giving me the ride of my life, and while I have been incredibly blessed to be the head coach of a successful program, any success attached to my name is only possible because of the dedication of the players and coaches I have been blessed to work with."

Neal plans to continue his roles as chair of the mathematics department and teacher at Roger Bacon.

"He enjoys his teaching job," Rossi said. "He is a great math teacher. So I think when you're in a situation like that and you have a coaching responsibility to go along with that - I think that just helps."

Neal became the boys basketball program's all-time coaching wins leader in January 2016 when he earned his 171st career win and surpassed the late Bill Brewer (170 wins).

Neal, who started as the Roger Bacon head coach in the 2005-06 season, has earned numerous awards including the Associated Press Division III coach of the year honor in 2013. He was named a Greater Catholic League coach of the year eight times.

The Spartans won eight league titles, 10 sectional titles, seven district titles and three regional championships under Neal. Roger Bacon was the Division III state runner-up in 2017.

Roger Bacon athletic director Steve Rossi said Neal is very organized during the season and has been able to adapt as a head coach over the years with the personnel in his program.

"His ability to remain focused during the season and he's just put together a process for himself and the program that has created success," Rossi said. "...He has an ability to welcome in new groups of athletes and students."

Neal was an assistant coach on Roger Bacon's 2002 state championship team that famously defeated LeBron James and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 71-63 in the Division II state final at Value City Arena in Columbus.

The son of Roger Bacon’s iconic marching band and music director Wesley Neal, Brian Neal grew up in the hallways of the school and graduated in 1990.

As a student, Neal met his wife, Dr. Amy Neal ('93), and played basketball for Spartans legend Jim Rice.

After beginning his post-college career in corporate America, Neal decided he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, becoming a math teacher, and returning to his alma mater to teach and coach.

Neal's first stint as an assistant was with his former coach, Jim Rice. He worked for Rice for one year before Rice retired from coaching. He was then hired to work with the Roger Bacon girls basketball program and head coach Tom Singleton.

During the 1994 season the team finished as the Division II state runner-up, and in 1995 earned a 28-0 record, claiming the Division II state championship.

Neal moved back over to the boys side with Brewer, and was an assistant coach when the Spartans made history in 2002 with a state title for the ages.

"The one thing about Brian is that since 1994 he's been part of every significant basketball victory boys and girls at Bacon," Rossi said.

It started in 1946 with 11 teams and 160 players. The shot clock was nearly a decade away, the 3-point line was a couple generations away. Buildings were smaller. So were the players. And it wasn’t even called the National Basketball Association.

The NBA, 75 years ago, was different in almost every imaginable way.

Over the coming months, The Associated Press will look back at what the league was on and off the court, how it became what it is and where it’ll be going over the next 25 years as it moves toward the century mark.

The series will recall those humble beginnings, with Ossie Schectman — who scored the first basket in league history — making $60 a game. It’ll show how what was happening in the country seemed to mirror what was happening in the league, from the league’s path toward integrating in the 1950s, to its stance on social issues and race relations today.

In those earliest of years, teams lost plenty of money. Some of the inaugural franchises only had inaugural seasons, folding after Year 1. There was no robust following and the NBA had little to no impact on societal issues.

And all the players were white.

“None of us who were playing at that time knew what this would be,” Schectman, who played for the original New York Knicks, said in a 2010 interview, three years before his death. “We didn’t know if this was going to work out and become something.”

Schectman scored the first basket in Basketball Association of America history; it wasn’t called the NBA until three years later, but the NBA counts those years as part of its own. It was an underhand layup for the Knicks in a game at the Toronto Huskies on Nov. 1, 1946, the first two points of 13.7 million in league history and counting.

In time, Schectman got his answer: The NBA, indeed, would become something.

Today, the 30 NBA franchises are worth at least $100 billion combined, possibly much more than that. The league has a fan base that stretches to each corner of the globe and a reputation for being a leader when it comes to social issues.

Richard Lapchick, the son of former New York Knicks coach Joe Lapchick and researcher on social and racial issues within sport, said the league's platform has always provided an opportunity to be a conduit for change — perhaps never more so than now.

“I genuinely believe that the NBA, with Adam Silver as its current leader, is in this for the right reasons and has the support of the largest integrated labor force in America in terms of percentage of the population," Lapchick said. “They're also very wealthy, so they can use their resources — and this is new — to invest in social justice campaigns in their communities."

There has been a major commitment by players to spark change in recent years, from additional and almost unprecedented levels of support for historically Black colleges and universities, to LeBron James leading a voting rights and registration push that wound up playing a significant role in the 2020 presidential election.

Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer believes he knows why basketball tends to make such an impact on society.

“I’ll say something a little silly,” Ballmer said. “How many sports can you really see the players? Football, you’ve got helmets on. Baseball players are quite remote, in center field. Even soccer, hockey, you have guys who are moving super-fast with helmets. People can relate to the players in basketball. You can see them. You can feel them.

“There’s fewer players which means you get more interviews and get to know certain personalities more than you would in just about any other sport,” he added. “Actually, that’s a significantly important aspect of why basketball becomes much more at the forefront of societal change.”

Like with many things, the early days were the toughest.

The Philadelphia Warriors — now the Golden State Warriors — won the league’s first title in 1947, over the Chicago Stags. By the time the next season started, four of the 11 original teams had folded; the league added a team from Baltimore and played with eight franchises for the second season.

A 60-game schedule was pared down to 48 to save money on travel. Maurice Podoloff, a hockey executive who was the BAA’s first president and ultimately the first NBA commissioner, was tasked with saving the league and winning a battle with the rival National Basketball League for players and attention.

In May 1948, the battle was won. Four teams left the NBL — Indianapolis, Rochester, Fort Wayne and Minneapolis, who had arguably the biggest name in basketball at the time with George Mikan — for the BAA.

“Maurice Podoloff charted the unknown for the NBA,” the late David Stern, who was the NBA commissioner for 30 years, said when Podoloff died. “He took an idea and nurtured professional basketball through its formative years. It is through the efforts of sporting pioneers like Podoloff that the NBA has become an everyday part of the American sporting scene.”

By 1949, the NBA had turned a corner. The league was up to 17 teams, more than doubling what it was. Teams were turning profits. The rebranding to the NBA was complete. And with the evolution in the boardrooms complete, it was time to evolve on the floor as well.

While the race barrier had been broken — Wat Misaka, a Japanese-American player, was drafted and played for the Knicks in 1947 — it was barely noticed, in part because he played only three games. The first Black players were three years away from joining the league, changing the face of the game for good.

As the country was changing, moving on from World War II and into the civil rights movement, the NBA was in lockstep. Change then led to unrest and division, just as it did in recent years across the U.S. But the NBA pressed on, then and now.

“That’s what this country is all about and should be about,” NBA great and Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West said. “It’s about fair play. And for years, there hasn’t been a lot of fair play in this country. I think the NBA has been a front-liner in that, and it’s great to see.”

NBA star LeBron James will become a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox, according to multiple outlets.

James, along with longtime business partner Maverick Carter, became partners in Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Red Sox MLB team, along with Liverpool FC of the English Premier League, NASCAR team Roush Fenway Racing, regional sports media network NESN, Fenway Sports Management and FSG Real Estate.

James owned a small share of Liverpool FC prior to this deal with Fenway Sports Group, according to USA Today.

Major League Baseball will need to approve the Red Sox portion of the deal.

James is currently playing with the Los Angeles Lakers.

James and Maverick are the first Black partners in Fenway Sports Group, according to the Boston Globe.