Stairway to Legends: A preview of NBA milestones in the 2025-26 season

The 2025-26 NBA season will kick off on October 22, and we are looking forward to another season that may go down in history, with new stars rising, classic moments emerging, and records being broken.

As the league prepares for its 80th season, several stars are expected to reach multiple milestones. Most notably, veteran leaders like James, Kai Durant and Jokic can continue to climb the statistical charts and etch their names deeper into league history. So, what other incredible achievements are worth noting this season? How close are these superstars to achieving these feats?

James reaches a new high

In December 2024, James officially became the first player in NBA history to play as a teenager and at the age of 40. After the Los Angeles Lakers selected Bronny in the 2024 draft, he and his son also became the first father-son duo to play side by side in the league. Now, as the all-time scoring leader, LeBron will set his sights on raising the bar even higher.

James will surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the historical scoring leader in 2023, and this season, he is expected to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the number of goals in sports games. James is still 350 goals away from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record (15,837 goals), and he has hit at least 400 sports goals every season (651 goals in the 2024-25 season), so he is likely to surpass the Lakers star again.

Entering his 23rd season, James will surpass Vince Carter and become the player with the most seasons in his career. If he can stay healthy, he's just 50 games away from surpassing Robert Parish as the player with the most regular-season appearances in NBA history. James may also surpass Reggie Miller in the opening game of the 2025-26 season and rise to sixth place in the history of three-pointers. He is currently only 2 three-pointers behind Miller.

Veterans continue to climb up the all-time scoring list

Durant is one of the stars who made the biggest changes this offseason. He was traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets in a historic seven-team trade in early July. In his 17th season and playing for his fifth NBA team, Durant is expected to be one of the players with the biggest changes in milestone statistics. He is 849 points away from surpassing Wilt Chamberlain and rising to seventh place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. As long as he doesn't suffer from injuries, Durant should be able to achieve this goal, as he has exceeded 1,000 points in all seasons in which he has played more than 35 games.

James Harden, Durant's former teammate with the Oklahoma City Thunder, is also expected to improve his ranking on the all-time scoring list. "Big Beard" is only 603 points away from surpassing Carmelo Anthony to reach the tenth place in history, and 910 points away from surpassing Shaquille O'Neal to reach the ninth place. Harden has scored at least 910 points in every season of his career (except his rookie season), and even doubled that total last season while playing for the Los Angeles Clippers, one of the league's oldest teams.

Changes in the assist leader list

Harden faces a greater challenge in the assist category. He is still 746 assists away from improving one place on the historical assist list. He is currently ranked 13th. He needs to pass Andre Miller (8,524), Gary Payton (8,966) and Isiah Thomas (9,061) to crack the top 10. In his career, he has only reached 746 assists in a single season twice. It seems more likely that he will surpass Miller this season and move into 12th place.

Harden's former teammate Westbrook currently ranks eighth in history with 9,925 assists. He is expected to become the eighth player in NBA history to reach 10,000 assists this season. In terms of ranking, if he can find a stable role with the Kings, he can continue to improve the ranking, surpassing Magic Johnson, Mark Jackson and Steve Nash, and rise to fifth place. He is just 411 assists away from joining Chris Paul and James in the top five all-time assists list, and he totaled 457 assists with the Denver Nuggets last season.

James will also climb up the historical assists list. He's just 508 assists away from surpassing Jason Kidd for third place, a mark he's reached in each of the past two seasons. Therefore, as long as James avoids injuries, he is expected to reach this milestone this season.

Long-range shooting milestone

Stephen Curry is expected to be on fire again in his 17th season with the Warriors. Curry is 292 away from becoming the first player to hit 5,000 three-pointers (regular season and playoffs combined). But we may not see that milestone achieved until later in the season, as he hit 311 three-pointers in the regular season alone last season and 357 the season before.

Thompson, Curry's former "Splash Brother", is still 108 three-pointers away from surpassing Damian Lillard and rising to fourth place in the history of three-pointers. With Lillard out for the season, Thompson is likely to reach that goal as long as he stays healthy, as he hit 216 three-pointers in his first full season with the Dallas Mavericks. He has the potential to move up to third place, but would need to hit 277 three-pointers to surpass Ray Allen, a number he has only reached in one season (2022-23) in his career.

The health of Paul George and the Philadelphia 76ers is also a big question mark this season. George, who is about to enter his 16th season, is still 102 three-pointers away from surpassing Kyle Korver and rising to eighth place on the all-time three-point list. In his last full healthy season with the Clippers, he hit 243 three-pointers in the regular season. If he can stay healthy, he could potentially do it again this season.

Conqueror of triple-doubles

Last season, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic set an NBA record. He scored the league's first triple-double of 30+ points, 20+ rebounds, and 20+ assists. He also led the league with 34 triple-doubles in a single season. This season, the Nuggets' triple-double master only needs 18 more triple-doubles to surpass Oscar Robertson (181 times) and rise to second place on the NBA's historical triple-double list, second only to Westbrook (203 times). As the Nuggets work to maximize their championship window, it's not impossible for Jokic to achieve that goal while becoming just the second player in NBA history to reach 200 career triple-doubles.

Lakers superstar Doncic can also continue his climb on the triple-double list. Doncic is 18 triple-doubles shy of becoming the seventh player to reach 100 career triple-doubles. The 26-year-old Doncic is also 26 away from surpassing his former Mavericks coach Jason Kidd and rising to sixth place on the all-time triple-double list.

Coaching wins record

Honors don't usually come in the form of records, but two veteran coaches, Doc Rivers and Rick Carlisle, can make history on the all-time wins list this season. Rivers, who is about to enter the 26th season of his NBA coaching career, is only 14 wins away from surpassing George Karl and rising to sixth place on the all-time wins list. Rivers is 49 wins away from passing Pat Riley for fifth place and 60 wins away from passing Jerry Sloan for fourth place.

Carlisle, who led his team to the Finals last season, is still 50 wins away from surpassing Rick Adelman and entering the top ten clubs in the history of wins.

Mini-game recommendations:Sniper Strike