March 21, 2026: LeBron James Breaks the NBA Record for Games Played

NOTE: Although this entry is from after 2022, I have backdated all entries from after that year to the corresponding date in 2022.

March 21, 2026: The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic, 105-104 at the Kia Center in Orlando, Florida. Luka Dončić scored 33 points to lead all players in the game.

LeBron James, 41 years old, started, played 34 minutes, and scored 12 points. It was the 1,612th NBA regular-season game of his career, making him the all-time leader.

He surpassed the record set by Robert Parish, who played in 1,611 games from 1976 to 1997, mostly with the Boston Celtics. He had broken the record set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played in 1,560 games from 1969 to 1989, with the Milwaukee Bucks until 1975, then with the Lakers.

Unlike some of James' records, this one is a bit dubious, as he was a pioneer it what became known as "load management": Not just skipping some games, which would make the record more impressive, but limiting his time on the court, making it less so.

Given his age, it was understandable that LeBron only played 60 games in the 2025-26 season. But he hasn't played in at least 72 since 2017-18, which is the only one of his 23 seasons in which he's played in all 82 games.

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March 21, 2026 was a Saturday. There were 9 other NBA games that day:

* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Washington Wizards, 132-111 at the Capital One Arena in Washington. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 124-101 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Golden State Warriors, 126-110 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 111-106 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 138-131 in overtime at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Darius Garland scored 41 for the Clips.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Miami Heat, 123-122 at the Toyota Center in Houston. Bam Adebayo scored 32 and had 21 rebounds.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 134-119 at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Utah Jazz, 126-116 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns, 108-105 at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 7-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Cole Caufield had 3 goals and 2 assists.

* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Seattle Kraken, 5-2 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* In an "Original Six" Matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Dallas Stars, the former Minnesota North Stars, 2-1 at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* And the Buffalo Sabres beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.