Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is now the NBA's 6th all-time leading scorer after passing Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki while playing against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.

The four-time MVP reached the milestone when he hit a jumper with 7:35 left in the third quarter of the game, which the Lakers ultimately lost 1o6-110.

LeBron came into Saturday night's Western Conference showdown with 31,167 career points, 21 shy of Nowitzki's, and scored 35 points to usurp the German veteran and jump to sixth place.

LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki
via mavsmoneyball.com

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The new Lakers star is now aiming for Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan, who scored 31,419 and 32,292 in total over the course of their careers respectively.

The top three career scorers all played for the Lakers, so James could be in fine company before his ride is over, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,292), Karl Malone (36,928) and Kobe Bryant (33,643) all perched at the top.

Nowitzki, meanwhile, reckons the three-time champion can pass Abdul-Jabbar to go top if he maintains his current level.

"If he stays healthy, the way he's looking and moving, he has a chance at Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]," Nowitzki said ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "His numbers have been unbelievable. He doesn't seem to slow down. The stuff he was doing last year in year 15 was incredible. If he keeps this up, he can pass Kareem."

LeBron reached two other milestones in the loss to San Antonio, passing Shaquille O'Neal to go sixth in career field goals scored with 11,339 - Shaq scored 11,330 - and recording his 432nd career 30-point game to go ahead of Bryant in fourth place on that particular list.

"Guys that I've played against, played with, watched before I even got to the league, admired, was in awe of," James said in reference to Shaq and Dirk after the game.

"Dirk's always been one of my favorite players, and I think Shaq is the most dominant player to ever play this game. So for me to be in the same conversation with those guys in anything that we're talking about as far as basketball, it's a tribute.

"As far as being humble and knowing where I come from, being from Akron, Ohio, a small town that most African-American kids don't make it out of. So anytime I'm able to do something like that, I give it all back to my hometown and the kids that are just like me."

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