TORONTO — One of the most historic streaks in sports history ended with LeBron James’ hands in the air. The player who had scored at least 10 points in nearly 1,300 straight regular-season games needed one more basket to move it along another game.
Instead, James whipped a pass to teammate Rui Hachimura in the corner for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
Thursday night, for the first time in an NBA regular season since Jan. 5, 2007, James failed to eclipse the double-digit mark. He finished with eight points and 11 assists in the Lakers’ 123-120 win over the Toronto Raptors.
He raised his arms in triumph, a wild way for the statistical anomaly to come to a close.
RUI HACHIMURA FROM THE CORNER FOR THE WIN OFF THE LEBRON JAMES DIME!
🚨 @TISSOT BUZZER-BEATER 🚨
Everyone Gets 24 pic.twitter.com/6J38hGVRYK
— NBA (@NBA) December 5, 2025
The streak, which lasted 1,297 regular-season games and predates the announcement of the first iPhone, ended on a night when James couldn’t get a shot to fall. Toronto’s Scottie Barnes swatted a jumper with a minute left on what would be his final field goal attempt of the game.
James’ run of double-digit scoring games dwarfed the second-longest streak in NBA history, set by Michael Jordan across 866 straight games from March 25, 1986 to Dec. 26, 2001. James had two playoff games where he failed to score 10 since the streak began.
The run began after James scored just eight points in a 95-86 Cleveland win against the Milwaukee Bucks in early January of his fourth NBA season. He scored 19 in the following game to begin the streak.
There have been several close calls before Thursday night.
The streak nearly ended on March 20, 2021, when Solomon Hill crashed into James’ leg and he suffered a high ankle sprain. James, who had seven points at the time, surprisingly stayed in the game and hit a 3 on the next possession before he exited. He missed more than a month with the injury.
He scored 10 points on a 4-of-16 shooting night last December against the Timberwolves, one of eight times in which he scored exactly 10 during the streak.
James’ streak also nearly ended Monday night in a blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns. He entered the fourth quarter with just six points, but hit a 3-pointer with just under seven minutes left to get himself to 10. The basket cut Phoenix’s lead to 22 points. James subbed out a minute later.
Former NBA veteran Chandler Parsons suggested James was stat-padding.
Chandler Parsons says LeBron stat-padded to get 10 points last night and believes the Lakers are catering to his legacy instead of focusing on the season 🤯
This is also the first time Chandler has seen LeBron look his age. The end could be near. @MichelleDBeadle |… pic.twitter.com/CUPOLDTCOT
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) December 2, 2025
“I got to be honest, I didn’t like it,” said Parsons on FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back” show. “This was the first time in my life I saw an older LeBron James, who played and looked like his age. After sitting out the night before against New Orleans, I thought this was a perfect night for him to just go crazy and kind of carry this team to a victory. Luka (Dončić) went nuts early on, Austin Reaves was struggling, and LeBron James, he did not look like himself.
“For me, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen him like that. It was a nice gesture for (Lakers coach) JJ (Redick) to keep him in there, and he definitely was hunting for it, and he was not coming out until he got it. This just felt like the first step on the way out — catering to his legacy instead of focusing on this season and the game that was already over. Congrats, I guess, but I just didn’t love it, and it was just obvious what he was doing.”
James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, is playing in his record 23rd season. He missed all of training camp and the first 14 Lakers games this season because of sciatic nerve irritation.
—Shakeia Taylor contributed to this story.
