The Opening Tip

Must watch games

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1. This is the NBA’s version of 4,256 hits

The benchmark for a great NBA scorer is 20,000 points. LeBron doubled that on Saturday, founding the 40,000-point club.

Whatever he ends up with -- likely somewhere in the 43-45,000 range -- will become the NBA’s version of MLB’s unbeatable lifetime record: Pete Rose’s 4,246 hits. 

LeBron’s 40K-plus record won’t be beaten because it’s fucking ridiculous.

Via Twitter user @forumbluegold: Just to reach 40,000, a rookie next season needs to average 24.4 PPG and not miss a game for 20 years.

The ‘best’ chance among active players is probably Luka Doncic (25 years old, 10,930 career points). 

It takes all-world conditioning, eerie consistency, the motivation to want to play that long, all-world talent, employability and the ability to adapt to several eras and future rule changes. And only LeBron will ever have all of those things.

[WATCH: LeBron’s 40,000th point]

2. Daily GIF: (Anticlimactic) history

The player known for logo 3-pointers broke the NCAA’s all-time scoring record on a technical free-throw from a flop. We even had Gus Johnson on the call ready to go wild. Shame.

[READ: Caitlin Clark is 1 of 1: 'We've never seen a woman play like this']

3. Trivia

4. Numbers we found interesting but couldn’t find a higher use for

31 rebounds

Jusef Nurkic grabbed 31 rebounds in last night’s loss to the Thunder. It was the most in one game since Kevin Love’s 31 in 2010. Before that, it was Dennis Rodman’s 34 on this exact day in 1994.

22.1 PPG

We’ll just pick one ludicrous stat from the Celtics’ recent dominance: During this 11-game win streak, Boston’s outscoring its opponent by an average of 22.1 PPG, most ever during any 10-plus-game win streak.

3,685 points, 2,593 shots

Just an interesting stat: Caitlin Clark currently has 3,685 points on 2,593 shots. Pete Maravich at LSU had 3,667 on 3,166 shots.

23,002 points

Stumbled upon while perusing Basketball Reference: DeMar DeRozan has 23,002 career points, which is 40th all-time. It’s not even a debate. He’s making the Hall of Fame.

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