In the season premiere of The Shop, which dropped on Friday, LeBron James — the NBA's all-time leading scorer (including playoffs) said he believes his scoring prowess has been historically under-appreciated. On Saturday, he dropped 56 points on the Golden State Warriors, propelling the Los Angeles Lakers to a 124-116 victory.

“The crazy thing is, I'm not a natural scorer,” LeBron said from the barber's chair. “I love getting my guys involved. I've always been that way. The point of seeing my teammate succeed off my pass. I've always been that type of guy. And to sit on the top of the food chain in the most points scored in the history of the game, it's weird to me. When they talk about the best scorers of all-time they never mention my name.”

“Does that piss you off?” Maverick Carter asked.

“Yeah, it pisses me off.”

Against Golden State — in a buzzy atmosphere at Crypto.com Arena, and once again inspired by a Los Angeles Rams star courtside — LeBron didn't just validate his words. He put on a dazzling show. Late into his 19th season, he tied the third-highest single-game point total of his career.

More importantly, LeBron's latest instance of theatrical brilliance actually resulted in a desperately-needed win for the reeling Lakers, who had lost four straight and 11 of 14 games and hadn't experienced the joys of victory since Feb. 16. LeBron is averaging more points per game (28.8) than he has since 2009-10, but that prolific production has regularly been “wasted” in losses, as David Fizdale artfully lamented on Christmas.

“Right now, I don’t give a damn about the 56,” LeBron reflected postgame. “I’m just happy we got a win. That’s just literally the first thing that came to my mind. We needed pretty much all of them, going against a team that’s so explosive offensively.”

LeBron shot 19-of-31 from the field, 6-of-11 from deep and 12-of-13 from the free-throw line. He grabbed 10 rebounds and threw down numerous highlight-reel jams. He drilled three consecutive triples that ignited a third-quarter surge and electrified Crypto.

“When he has it going like that, there’s really nobody on their team that can do anything about it,” Russell Westbrook said. “Tonight, he forced his will and had his hands on the game at all levels. It was really big, especially tonight in games like this where we needed to win.”

By the way, the 37-year old is doing it on a bum knee.

LeBron is on pace to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's regular-season career points record next year. He will likely surpass Karl Malone for the No. 2 spot in the near future — potentially on March 21st in Cleveland. His career PPG average (27.1) ranks fifth all-time. His PPG (28.7) in the playoffs ranks sixth. He is the all-time leader in playoff points scored.

More impressive than any accolades or milestones, though, might be how LeBron has gracefully evolved his skillset — with his shooting, his post game, his willingness to play the 4 and 5 — in ways that have allowed him to remain at the top of his profession after two decades.

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“There’s really no words for it. An incredible performance. The best to ever do it in my opinion,” lauded Lakers head coach Frank Vogel. “The biggest thing is what he’s done to transition his game at this stage of his career with his shooting. It's just an example for every player, to put the work in to his craft. To go 6-11 from three, 12-13 from the free=throw line, still have the power to attack the basket the way he has, and the stamina. Just remarkable to be doing at this stage of his career.”

Fittingly, the dagger three for the Lakers, by Carmelo Anthony, came off a LeBron James assist.

“Once LeBron told me, ‘Get strong-side corner,' I knew something was about to happen,” Melo said. “Something good was gonna come from that.”

LeBron scoring nearly half of his team's points is probably not a tenable blueprint to success for the short-handed Lakers, who are at risk of falling out of the Play-In zone with 19 games remaining — most of which will be against playoff teams. For one night, though, LeBron provided a glimmer of hope — and a stark reminder of his elite ability to get buckets.