The Streak is Dead: The End of a 19-Year Guarantee

The Morning After: Reflecting on the End of LeBron’s 1,297-Game Streak

December 5, 2025

The sun rose this morning on a slightly different NBA landscape. For the first time in nearly two decades, we are living in a world where LeBron James is coming off a single-digit scoring performance.

One of the most unbreakable records in modern basketball didn't end with a whimper, nor with an injury. It ended yesterday, fittingly, with a pass.

Last night, for the first time in nearly 19 years, LeBron James finished an NBA regular-season game with fewer than 10 points. In a nail-biting 123–120 victory over the Toronto Raptors, James—now 40 and in his 23rd season—posted just 8 points on 4-of-17 shooting.

With seconds remaining in yesterday's contest and the game tied, James had the ball in his hands and the streak on the line. A drive to the rim could have secured his 10th point and extended the record to 1,298 games. Or at worst, he misses the shot and the game goes onto overtime, giving James five more minutes to make his 5th field goal. Instead, seeing the defense collapse, he whipped a pass to the corner where Rui Hachimura buried the game-winning three.

"LeBron is acutely aware of how many points he has," Lakers coach JJ Redick said after the game. "He did it like he's done so many times. He made the right play."

The streak is officially over. But the number that remains is staggering: 1,297 games.

To understand the sheer magnitude of this consistency, we have to look back to when it started. The last time LeBron James failed to score double digits prior to last night was January 5, 2007. The next night, January 6, 2007, he scored 19 points against the New Jersey Nets, beginning a run that would span five presidencies and an entire technological revolution.

Here is what the world looked like the last time LeBron James was held to single digits.

The World of January 2007

The iPhone Did Not Exist. On January 5, 2007, the "smartphone" as we know it was still a rumor. Steve Jobs would not walk onto the stage at Macworld to announce the first iPhone until four days later, on January 9. The most popular phones in the world were the Motorola Razr and the Nokia N95. There was no App Store, no Instagram, and certainly no TikTok.

Streaming Was a Dream: Netflix was a thriving business, but it dealt exclusively in red envelopes. The company announced it would begin streaming movies directly to PCs in mid-January 2007, a service that launched with a paltry 1,000 titles. Blockbuster Video was still the dominant place to rent a movie on a Friday night.

Social Media Was in Its Infancy: Facebook had only recently opened to the general public (previously restricted to students) and had roughly 12 million users—a tiny fraction of the 3 billion it has today. Myspace was the undisputed king of the internet, and Twitter (now X) was less than a year old, used mostly by tech insiders at South by Southwest.

The Pop Culture Landscape

• #1 Song: The airwaves were dominated by Beyoncé's break-up anthem "Irreplaceable," which sat atop the Billboard Hot 100.

• #1 Movie: Ben Stiller’s "Night at the Museum" was the box office champion, fending off The Pursuit of Happyness.

• TV: The Sopranos had not yet aired its controversial finale. Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones were years away from premiering.

  

The Basketball Landscape

• Kevin Durant was a freshman at the University of Texas.

  

• Luka Dončić was a 7-year-old attending elementary school in Slovenia.

  

• Steph Curry was a freshman at Davidson College, still two years away from his breakout NCAA Tournament run.

  

• The Seattle SuperSonics were still an NBA franchise.

  

The Economy and Politics

George W. Bush was in the White House. Nancy Pelosi had just been sworn in as the first female Speaker of the House on January 4, 2007. The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 was looming on the horizon, but in early 2007, the Dow Jones was hitting record highs, and gas averaged $2.24 -$2.29 a gallon.

The End of an Era

The 1,297-game streak was never about perfect attendance; James certainly missed games due to injury and rest over the last two decades. The record was about a guarantee.

In a league of high variance, where even the greatest stars have off nights or get shut down by a defense, James provided a singular constant. Every single time he laced up his sneakers and stepped onto the court, for 1,297 consecutive appearances, you could write him down for double digits in permanent marker. He played through cold streaks, illnesses, and ankle turns, and every time, he found a way to get 10.

Until yesterday.

The streak has joined Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak and Cal Ripken Jr.’s iron man run as records that define an era. But as the buzzer sounded in Toronto, James didn't look at the box score. He looked at Rui Hachimura, raising his arms in celebration of a win.

The streak is dead. Long live the King.