By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With four minutes left in the first half, Mike James scored his 13th point of the game and everything stopped. Monaco’s star became the top scorer in the history of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague surpassing Vassilis Spanoulis, he got the ball which he sent to the basket for this historic feat and he was visibly moved.
As he admitted after the game, the moment was overwhelming.
“I don’t know, I will have to think about it a little bit more, I will have more time to think about it and reminisce about it later”, he replied when asked what this record meant to him.
However, he didn’t forget to mention the previous leader, three-time EuroLeague champion Vassilis Spanoulis. As he said: “It’s a blessing, it’s amazing to even have this opportunity, to be mentioned in the same breath with somebody like Spanoulis in general. I am just proud of myself, I am just happy and it’s a lot of good emotions”.
In the press conference he did after the game, he added that he already talked with Spanoulis: “We did talk yesterday a little bit. I have always been a big fan of his and I hope he is a big fan of mine. Every time we talk is all love and respect between us so hopefully I will talk with him again tonight”.
After a historic night, a press conference about making history
Mike James takes a bow #EuroLeague pic.twitter.com/BkqTPuDf0N
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) March 7, 2024
Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic gave credit to his star and explained how the whole team was waiting for the record to be broken: “We have to appreciate the moment and celebrate our hero and go further. Everyone including him wanted to get over with the record because we didn’t have peace until then. However, we found a way to win and all is well”.
And his teammates started the post-game party in the Monaco locker room.
Locker room celebration for @TheNatural_05 🎉 pic.twitter.com/n1a7goVtBA
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) March 7, 2024
After all, this night belongs to celebrations, even if Mike James didn’t want to reveal how he would spend it together with his friends who came over to Monaco to witness him making history. “I will not tell you”, he said with a smile when asked about it on the flash interview after the game.
Still, James was asked about his future with Monaco since his contract expires this summer and he elaborated a bit: “Obviously we have talked a bit about this. We have a solid working relationship and what it’s supposed it will be, will be and we will figure it out”.
A journey full of ups and downs
Mike James’ EuroLeague trajectory was one of a kind as the EuroLeague press release explains: “Now in his 10th season in the EuroLeague, the 33-year-old guard netted 467 points in 45 games for Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (2014-16), 522 in 37 appearances for Panathinaikos (2016-18), 595 in 30 contests for EA7 Emporio Armani Milan (2018-19), 1,112 in 55 fixtures for CSKA Moscow (2019-21), and now 1,760 in 104 games for Monaco (2021-present).
It has been quite the journey for James, after all. Having started out as a role player in his first few games at Baskonia, it didn’t take long for the Portland native to firmly establish himself as one of the EuroLeague’s best players with his scoring and playmaking. There was a jump in his production when he arrived in Athens, but it rose further upon his move to Italy.
In that 2018-19 campaign with Milan, James scored by far his most points in a season to that point (595, beating the 328 he recorded from the 2016-17 season) and posted his best scoring average at 19.8 points per night. He also set what back then a new career high in points with the 35 he netted in a 92-89 defeat at Real Madrid on March 20, 2019. Due to his exploits on that end of the floor, he ended up winning the Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy and was named to the All-EuroLeague Second Team for the first time. In short, James had established himself as a star in the league.
Those performances caught the attention of CSKA, where James once again improved his scoring average, posting 21.1 points per game across 28 appearances in his first season in Moscow. He came just 5 points short of matching his season tally with Milan, having played two games less.
In James’s second campaign with CSKA, a year in which he posted 19.3 points per night and scored 522 points in 27 games, he had his two best scoring nights in the EuroLeague. After setting a new personal best with 36 points in an 87-96 triumph at Khimki Moscow Region on December 11, 2020, he bettered that tally a few months later with 37 points, which remains his career high to date, in a 105-103 double-overtime loss at Valencia Basket on February 4, 2021.
Making history in Monaco
Following a brief stint in the NBA with the Brooklyn Nets, James returned to the EuroLeague in search of a new challenge. Despite Monaco having just won the BKT EuroCup, the 33-year-old took his talents to the principality club. Ever since, James has shined on a night in, night out basis and helped turn Monaco from a EuroLeague newcomer into a Final Four force.
The 2021-22 season, his first in Monaco, saw the club surprisingly reach the EuroLeague Playoffs on the back of a record season by James, as he set career bests in games played (38), points scored (622), rebounds grabbed (121), assists made (219) and steals (47). Despite having an MVP-level season in the eyes of many, the first MVP award of his career passed him by. He did, however, earn his first selection to the All-EuroLeague First Team.
Perhaps inspired by the personal disappointment of the prior campaign, with Monaco falling in a five-game series to Olympiacos and James not earning MVP honors, he went a step further in 2022-23 and guided the Monegasque club to its first-ever Final Four. Last season, he broke the 600-point mark for the second season in a row, having scored 605 in 38 appearances. Another All-EuroLeague selection came, too, as he was named to the All-EuroLeague Second Team.
So far this year, James has had his best scoring average since landing in Monaco, posting 19.3 points per contest, after putting up 16.4 in 2021-22 and 15.9 in 2022-23. It seems that he knew that history was in his sights, as he revealed to former CSKA teammate Kyle Hines during an episode of the A Quarter with Kyle Hines podcast, which was released in early January.
“I think I had an idea that I was getting close a couple of years ago, because Chris Singleton actually brought it up to me. He was like, ‘Yeah, you’re going to break the all-time scoring record,’” James recalled. “He showed it to me and I’m like, ‘Man, I ain’t that far, though.’ Then this summer, me and my friends were sitting down and talking, I’m like, ‘Man, I really am close. I might get it this year if some stuff goes my way, it could happen.’ It’s just crazy to think about.”
Photo credit: EuroLeague