Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
There was no Instagram post celebrating the achievement in advance this time. There was relatively little buildup from the news media. It was an event that might have dominated the news cycle in years’ past, but when LeBron James passed Michael Jordan on the N.B.A.’s career scoring list on Wednesday night, it was a triumph that somehow had been reduced to a footnote.
James came into the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Denver Nuggets needing 13 points to surpass Jordan for fourth place on the all-time list. Five minutes 38 seconds into the second quarter, he managed to force his way to the basket for a layup, giving him 14 points for the game and 32,294 for his career.