The Oklahoma City Thunder went into Game 2 of the NBA Finals hoping to even the series against the Indiana Pacers after a heartbreaking loss on Thursday. Sunday's game ended up in a 123-107 blowout win in favor of the Thunder, with Game 3 set for Wednesday in Indiana.
The Thunder were led by MVP Shai Gilgeous‑Alexander, who followed up a 38-point performance in Game 1 with 34 points, bringing his Finals total to 72 points—an NBA record for the first two games of a Finals debut (via NBA PR).
Gilgeous‑Alexander also crossed 3,000 combined points this season, becoming just the 12th player in NBA history to achieve this feat.
Following the win, the NBA took to its official history account on X to announce the accompanying list included Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Luka Doncic, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Bob McAdoo, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rick Barry, and Elgin Baylor.
However, fans were surprised to find out that Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James was absent from the list, despite appearing in 10 NBA Finals.
“Mr. 50K points isn’t on this list? Tough,” one fan wrote.
“LeBron has been to 13 Finals and can’t do this?” another fan added.
“The fact that King James isn’t on this list, like not even once is extremely wild considering he’s the all‑time leading scorer,” a third fan mentioned.
“Nobody is going to care about that longevity talk soon,” a fan predicted.
“Where is LeGoat,” another fan remarked
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23).
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23).
David Banks-Imagn Images
It is worth noting that James narrowly missed making the list once—he totaled 2,999 combined points in the 2018 season, which supported the Cleveland Cavaliers' Finals run before they fell to the Golden State Warriors.
While James' absence comes as a major surprise, his exclusion from this specific milestone doesn’t diminish his career legacy. With over 50,000 combined career points, he remains the NBA’s all-time scoring leader and came within one point of this historic list.