LeBron James moved to fifth on the all-time scoring lists on Wednesday night as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 126-117. James scored 44 points - his highest tally since joining the Lakers in July - to reach 31,425 points and surpass the 31,419 points of the former Lakers centre Wilt Chamberlain.
Only Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are ahead of 33-year-old James.
Paying tribute to Chamberlain, who died in 1999, James said: "He was one of the most dominant forces we ever had in our game, along with Shaq O'Neal and one of the greatest Lakers to play the game.
"Any time my name is mentioned with some of the greats, I always think back to my home town and how far I've come. That's it for me."
The Lakers' fourth consecutive victory allowed them to rise to seventh in the Western Conference of the NBA with eight wins and four defeats.
"It's still a process for us," James added. "We want to try and get better every day. And I believe we've done that since the start of training camp.
"We've got better since September and into October, and now we've got better in November. We just want to try and continue it."
