Basketball star LeBron James sets his sights on breaking a historical NBA record

The backstory: Basketball icon LeBron James, 38, is in his 20th season and continues to dominate the court. He's got a remarkable record of about 30 points per game on average, four championships across three teams, 19 All-Star appearances, and he's even got a shot at being MVP – again (he's won four times before). Now, he's on his way to breaking the four-decade-old record of fellow Lakers idol Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 38,387 career points set in 1984.

More recently: The Los Angeles Lakers had a rough weekend, losing to the New Orleans Pelicans 131-126. The Lakers were up by eight points with only 10 seconds left, but a crucial mistake at the end of the third quarter cost them the win. James scored 27 points and was pretty upset with the team's mistakes, but he's still determined to win big.

The development: James is headed back to LA to face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, which could be his chance to mark his status as one of the greatest players in the game. He's only 36 points away from breaking Abdul-Jabbar's record. With two big games this week against the Thunder and the Bucks, fans are buzzing, and tickets are selling like hotcakes as people scramble to get a front-row seat to witness this historic moment.

Key comments:

“Maybe It’s Me,” wrote LeBron James on Twitter.

“I just want to win,” said LeBron James after the Lakers lost to the Pelicans on Saturday in New Orleans. “You know, you play the game the right way and see what happens.”

“In that juncture of the game, it’s disheartening. It’s disappointing. But, I mean, you just gotta be aware. All antennas have to be up,” said Lakers coach Darvin Ham after the game. “You have to constantly strive to be improve possession by possession by possession on both sides of the ball. And we just had a lapse. We had a mental lapse.”