James scored the historic basket with 10 minutes and 39 seconds remaining in the second quarter with a driving lay-up from the left side of the basket to give the Lakers a 37-32 lead.

But he described it as “bittersweet” after his Los Angeles Lakers side lost 124-114 to the defending NBA champions.

The crowd gave James a standing ovation during a timeout and the ball he used to reach the milestone was removed from the game.

LeBron James became the first NBA player to reach 40,000 career regular-season points in Saturday’s game against the Denver Nuggets.

James scored the historic basket with 10 minutes and 39 seconds remaining in the second quarter with a driving lay-up from the left side of the basket to give the Lakers a 37-32 lead.

But he described it as “bittersweet” after his Los Angeles Lakers side lost 124-114 to the defending NBA champions.

The crowd gave James a standing ovation during a timeout and the ball he used to reach the milestone was removed from the game.