LeBron James breaks record, surpassing Chris Paul in NBA history
LeBron James (photo: Getty Images)
LeBron James has officially moved into second place in NBA history for career assists. This milestone came after the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Memphis Grizzlies, where the superstar recorded a double-double and helped his team secure the victory, according to the statistics portal StatMuse.
Historic milestone in game against Memphis
The landmark achievement came during the Lakers’ matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies, which ended with a 120–114 victory for the Californians.
LeBron James played 37 minutes on the court, recording an impressive double-double with 26 points and 10 assists.
With this performance, LeBron surpassed Chris Paul in the all-time combined assists leaderboard (regular season plus playoffs).
The Lakers star now has 13,793 career assists, eight more than Paul, who currently plays for the Los Angeles Clippers.
What a sequence from LeBron James!
Stays in front.
Deflects the pass.
Runs the floor.
Delivers the spinning dime.
High-IQ stuff from The King pic.twitter.com/hoYW6KdqI3
— NBA (@NBA) January 5, 2026
Who remains ahead
Despite this phenomenal achievement, LeBron James still trails the NBA’s all-time leader in assists, John Stockton.
The Utah Jazz legend dished out 17,645 assists over 19 seasons. To top this ranking, LeBron still needs 3,852 more assists.
Top 5 all-time NBA assist leaders (regular season + playoffs):
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John Stockton – 17,645;
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LeBron James – 13,793;
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Chris Paul – 13,785;
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Jason Kidd – 13,354;
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Magic Johnson – 12,487.
The uniqueness of the achievement
It’s worth noting that LeBron is already the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
Combining the status of top scorer with being one of the two best assist providers in history highlights the unparalleled versatility of the 23rd-year veteran.
Currently, the Lakers are playing confidently, holding third place in the Western Conference with 22 wins.
LeBron’s next chance to improve his stats comes on Wednesday, January 7, in a matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans. The game tips off at 3:00 a.m. Kyiv time.
