NBA News: Thursday, January 26th, 2023

The news surrounding the NBA is really going to start heating up over the next few weeks as it is almost time for the All-Star Game and then the Trade Deadline. There have already been some minor moves, but you should expect things to really start to heat up over the next few weeks. 

Beyond the trade talk, there have been plenty of other news stories to come out of the NBA over the last few days as well. Here is a look at some of the biggest news stories surrounding the league on Thursday, January 26th.

James Inching Closer

LeBron James entered the 2022-23 NBA season with a realistic chance at passing up Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leading scorer in NBA history. James has been able to remain healthy throughout the year, and he continues to get even closer to breaking that historic record. 

After the action on Wednesday night, James is now just 158 career points away from breaking the record that was once deemed unbreakable. The current mark set by Abdul-Jabbar is 38,387 career points, and James has passed up Karl Malone to move into second place on the all-time list. 

James has played 1,405 career games, and he is going to break the record in far less games than what it took Abdul-Jabbar to set the mark. If James continues to score at his average of 27.2 points per game, then he would be on track to become the all-time scoring leader on February 7th.

Davis Finally Returns For Lakers

It seems as if the Lakers have been in the news a lot over the last few weeks, but the best story for them is what occurred on Wednesday night. All-Star center Anthony Davis finally made his return to the floor, and he did so by coming off of the bench for the Lakers. 

Davis hadn’t come off the bench in an NBA game since 2013, but that was how the Lakers brought him back into the fold. He scored 21 points in his return and played a key role in the Lakers pulling off a win over the San Antonio Spurs. 

The Lakers held Davis to just 26 minutes on Wednesday night, and they are going to continue to monitor his workload moving forward. He should start to see more time in the coming weeks, but the Lakers have to prevent future injuries from happening.

Suns’ Sale Moving Forward

The Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury are going to have a new owner soon, and that could happen within the next two weeks. Mat Ishbia is going to be purchasing the two teams for $4 billion, with the largest portion of that sale being on the Phoenix Suns. 

The sale has to be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, and that is expected to take place in the early part of February. Current owner Robert Sarver has been suspended by the league since September, but he has still had the final say in most roster decisions. 

Ishbia agreed to purchase the teams back on December 20th, and the two sides have been working to complete the deal since that time.

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All Media on this page by Associated Press.