Did TNT make right call to cutaway for LeBron James reaching 50,000 points?

What milestones are worthy of a cutaway? Viewers of TNT’s broadcast of the game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns might have found themselves asking that question on Tuesday night.

The milestone in question was LeBron James, who, between the regular season and playoffs, has now scored more than 50,000 points in his historic career. He achieved that milestone in the first quarter of Tuesday’s game between the New Orleans Pelicans and his Los Angeles Lakers. While TNT was not covering the Pelicans-Lakers game, it went to a split screen when the game began. While both games were shown on TV, the audio viewers heard was Bill Macdonald and Stu Lantz, the commentators for the Lakers on Spectrum SportsNet LA.

With LeBron James one point shy of 50,000 (regular season and playoffs combined), TNT went to a split screen on its broadcast of the Clippers vs. Suns game. https://t.co/hhwYkoBNvM pic.twitter.com/Xwv88Ezga2

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 5, 2025

As LeBron entered the game with 49,999 points, getting to 50,000 on Tuesday night was a matter of if, not when. That said, it took slightly longer than expected. The split-screen cutaway also remained on the screen for well over a minute after he nailed the three-pointer to get to 50,000 (50,002, to be exact).

It was not a quick trip.

LeBron got the basket to go over 50K about four minutes into the cutaway. TNT then kept it going for well over a minute before going to a commercial break.

When the break was over, the Clippers vs. Suns game was back on the full screen. pic.twitter.com/hnAnZKV99U

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 5, 2025

So, was it worth the lengthy cutaway?

The argument defending the decision is easy. LeBron is arguably the greatest player in the history of the game. And unlike past years, this isn’t just an overexposure of an otherwise unremarkable Lakers team. Los Angeles entered Tuesday as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. The Clippers and Suns, meanwhile, are nowhere near that strong. Los Angeles is currently in play-in position and Phoenix would do well (extremely well) to even reach that level. So, what’s the big deal? This is a no-brainer, right?

Sure, putting the Clippers and Suns on a split screen for six minutes isn’t the end of the world. That said, we can understand the frustration that their fans might have felt. Because despite the impressive achievement, this wasn’t a no-brainer cutaway? The biggest reason for that is LeBron’s greatness.

One thing you might have heard when TNT’s Adam Lefkoe said that the broadcast was going to stay in Los Angeles until James got to 50,000 is that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is second on the all-time list. As Lefkoe said, Abdul-Jabbar is “nearly 6,000 points behind.” For reference, between the regular season and playoffs, Abdul-Jabbar finished his career with 44,149 points.

Now let’s go back a little more than two years. On Feb. 7, 2023, James broke Abdul-Jabbar’s career regular-season scoring record. That achievement was so notable that when James reached it, the game was stopped immediately for a small ceremony to note James’ accomplishment — just as it had been 39 years earlier when Abdul-Jabbar broke the same record that was then held by Wilt Chamberlain.

Almost exactly one year earlier, on Feb. 12, 2022, James scored 26 points in a game against the Golden State Warriors, giving him 44,157 points between the regular season and playoffs. So, including the final eight points of that game, every point that James has scored for more than three years has set a new record. Naturally, that will continue to be the case for the remainder of his career as the nearest active player is Kevin Durant, who, through Tuesday, is at 35,225.

Make no mistake, we’re not trying to minimize how impressive 50,000 points is. The fact that nobody else even has 45,000 is a testament to LeBron’s talent and durability throughout an NBA career that is now more than two decades old. But given how much of a stranglehold he has on the record, was 50,000 worth a cutaway? If so, why won’t 50,138 be?