Observation of milestones in the new season: James scored a number of firsts, Curry scored 5,000 three-pointers, Du & climbed the score

Translator's note: The original text was published on ESPN, and the data in the text were as of the time of publication (local time on August 19), and the dates and times involved were all local time. The views in the article have nothing to do with the translator and the platform. The 2025-26 NBA season will kick off on October 21, and we look forward to another historic season that may be full of rising stars, major moments and records broken.

As the league prepares to celebrate its 80th season, many stars are about to reach many milestones. Most notably, veteran leaders like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Nicola Jokic can continue to climb on the data list and further engrave their names in league history. But what other incredible honors are there to be a look at this season, and how far are these superstars going to achieve them?

We will parse the milestone data worth paying attention to in the 2025-26 season, with some stars consolidating their lead in the historical data list, while others will rank among the top ten, tied with familiar names.

LeBron will reach a new height

In December 2024, James officially became the first NBA player in history to span his teenage years and forties. After the Lakers selected Brownie James in the 2024 NBA Draft, the father and son also became the first father and son combination in the league to play at the same time. Now, LeBron, the historical scoring champion, will seek to raise this standard to a higher level.

James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 2023 to become the scoring leader in history, but this season, he can surpass Abdul-Jabbar to become the first person in history to hit the first place in history. James is still 350 sports goals away from Abdul Jabbar's record (15,837), and James has hit at least 400 goals per season (651 goals in 2024-25), and is likely to surpass this Lakers' celebrity again.

Entering his 23rd season, James will surpass Vince Carter to become the player with the most seasons in his career, and if he can stay healthy, he is only 50 games away from surpassing Robert Parish to become the player with the most regular season appearances in NBA history. In the 2025-26 season, James may surpass Reggie Miller and rise to sixth place in the all-time three-point shooting list, because he is only two goals away from this record. The veterans continue to climb on the all-time scoring list, Durant is one of the biggest stars in the offseason transfer market this year, and was traded by the Suns to the Rockets in a historic seven-team deal in early July. In his 17th season and playing for the fifth NBA team, Durant is expected to be the player with the most milestones in the new season, as he is only 849 points away from surpassing Wilt Chamberlain to the seventh place in the NBA's all-time scoring list. Unless he is injured, Durant should be able to reach this milestone, as he scored more than 1,000 points in all seasons he has played in more than 35 games.

Durant's former teammate James Harden in the Oklahoma City Thunder can also improve his ranking in the historical scoring list. Harden is only 603 points away from surpassing Cameron Anthony to rise to tenth place, and 910 points away from surpassing Shaquille O'Neal to rise to ninth place. Harden scored at least 910 points in his career, except for his rookie season, and last season he scored twice that number when he played for the Los Angeles Clippers, one of the oldest teams in the league.

The assists leaders climbed the mountain Harden wanted to climb on the assists list, and he needed to send 746 assists to enter the top ten of the all-time assists list - he is currently ranked 13th. He needs to surpass Andre Miller (8,524), Gary Payton (8,966) and Isiah Thomas (9,061), and only two career times in his career to score 746 assists in a single season. It looks like he is more likely to surpass Miller this season and move to 12th place.

Harden's former teammate Russell Westbrook is currently ranked eighth in history with 9,925 assists and may be the eighth player in NBA history to reach 10,000 assists this season. If he can find his next player this season, Westbrook can also continue to climb on this list, surpassing "Magics" Johnson, Mark Jackson and Steve Nash to rise to fifth place in the assists list. He is only 411 assists away from following Chris Paul and LeBron James and making it to the top five all-time assists, and he sent a total of 457 assists in the Nuggets last season.

But Westbrook's goal will be a moving target, as James will also continue to climb on the all-time assists list. He is only 508 assists away from surpassing Jason Kidd to third place in the assists list, and he has reached that number in the past two seasons, so if James avoids injuries, he is expected to reach this milestone this season.

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Stephen Curry should be fully fired again in his 17th season for the Warriors. Curry is still 292 away from becoming the first player to hit 5,000 three-pointers (total of regular season and playoffs). But we may not see the birth of this record until late in the season, as he hit 311 three-pointers in the regular season alone last season, and 357 the previous season.

Curry's former "Splash Brothers" partner Klay Thompson is still 108 three-pointers away from surpassing Damian Lillard to rise to fourth place in the history three-point list. With Lillard's season reimbursement, Thompson is highly likely to reach this milestone if he stays healthy, as he hits 216 three-pointers in his first full season for the Mavericks. He may move to third place, but he needs to hit 277 three-pointers to surpass Thunder Allen to receive this honor, and he has reached this number only once in his career (2022-23 season). The health of Paul George and the Sixers is also a big question this season. George, who is about to enter his 16th season, is still 102 three-pointers away from surpassing Kyle Korver to the eighth place in the history three-point list. In his final season with the Clippers, he hit 243 3-pointers during the regular season when he was fully healthy, and he is expected to reach that number again if he can stay healthy and play steadily.

Triple Double Masters

Last season, three-time MVP winner Jokic set an NBA record, scoring the league's first triple-double with 30 points, 20 rebounds and 20 assists, and also led the league with a total of 34 triple-doubles in the season. This season, the Nuggets' triple-double master has surpassed Oscar Robertson (181 times), and has risen to second place in the history of the triple-double list, second only to Russell Westbrook (203 times). As the Nuggets strive to seize its championship window, it is not impossible for Jokic to achieve this milestone while becoming the second player in NBA history to complete 200 triple-doubles.

Lakers superstar Luca Doncic can also continue to climb on this list. Doncic is still 18 times away from becoming the seventh player with a triple-even in his career. Doncic, 26, is still 26 times away from surpassing his coach Jason Kidd when he was in the Mavericks and rising to sixth in the history triple-double list.

Let the record speak for it

In addition to player records, the number of career wins of some senior coaches is also worth paying attention to: Doug Rivers and Rick Carlisle may create history on the historical winning list in the new season. Rivers, who is about to coach the NBA's 26th season, is only 14 games away from surpassing George Carl to the sixth place in the historical victory list. However, after the Bucks traded Lillard back to the Trail Blazers to compete for the championship around Giannis Antetokounmpo, the direction of the team's new season is still unclear.

If the Bucks can perform well, Rivers will be 49 games away from surpassing Pat Riley to fifth place, and 60 games away from surpassing Jerry Sloan to fourth place.

Carlisle, who just led the team to play the finals, is still 50 games away from surpassing Rick Adelman to enter the top ten of the historical winning list.