Who Is the Leading Scorer in NBA History?

We all know that Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. But did you know that he is also the leading scorer in NBA history? That’s right, MJ holds the record for most points scored in a career, with a whopping 32,292.

Introduction

In honor of NBA’s 80th anniversary, we’re looking back at the league’s all-time leading scorer. This is a list of the top 10 scorers in NBA history as of February 2020.

The list includes both active and retired players. It is topped by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is also the league’s all-time leader in minutes played and games played. Karl Malone is second on the list, followed by LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant.

Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan, and Malone are the only players on the list who have not won an NBA championship. Bryant has won five championships, while James has won three.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the leading scorer in NBA history. He is also the all-time leading rebounder in NBA history. He played 20 seasons in the NBA, winning six NBA championships with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a 19-time All-Star and a 10-time member of the All-NBA First Team. He was named the NBA MVP six times, and he was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Karl Malone

Karl Malone is the NBA’s leading scorer with 36,928 points. Malone played for the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Lakers during his 19-year career. He was a 14-time All-Star and a two-time NBA MVP.

LeBron James

LeBron Raymone James Sr. (/ləˈbrɒn/; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in NBA history. His accomplishments include four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, four NBA Finals MVP Awards, two Olympic gold medals, an NBA championship, and the all-time NBA scoring record. James played high school basketball at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, where he was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA superstar. A prep-to-pro, he joined Cleveland in 2003 as the first overall draft pick. Named the 2003–04 NBA Rookie of the Year, he quickly established himself as one of the league’s premier players; he won his first MVP award in 2009 and was named to his first All-Star team in 2005. By his third season, James had become a championship contender with the Cavaliers, although they ultimately failed to win a title with him. After failing to win a title again in 2010, he left Cleveland for the Miami Heat in a highly publicized ESPN special titled The Decision.

Michael Jordan

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American former professional basketball player and the principal owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 15 seasons in the NBA, winning six championships with the Chicago Bulls. His biography on the official NBA website states: “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.” Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

Jordan played three seasons for coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina. As a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels’ national championship team in 1982. Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984 as the third overall pick in the NBA draft. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from sinfully long distances, earned him nicknames such as “Air Jordan” and “His Airness”. He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a “three-peat”. Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the beginning of that fourth title run, he returned to play for Chicago midway through 1994–95. He helped lead an improved Bulls team to an unlikely fourth championship threepeat that year. Along with Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, Jordan became one of one only four players to win eight NBA championships; he has been inducted into both
the Basketball Hall of Fame and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Wilt Chamberlain

Wilton Norman “Wilt” Chamberlain (/ˈtʃeɪmbərlɪn/; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American basketball player who played as a center and is considered one of the greatest players in history. He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the University of Kansas and also for the Harlem Globetrotters before playing in the NBA.

Chamberlain stood 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall, and weighed 250 pounds (110 kg) as a rookie before bulking up to 275 and eventually to over 300 pounds (140 kg). He set numerous notable records during his career, including becoming the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game or average more than 40 and 50 points in a season. Chamberlain is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points. He is also the only player to score 14 or more points in every single game he played in his entire career, averaged 30.1 points per game throughout his NBA career, amassed 55 triple-doubles, registered 118 double-doubles (50+ point games), and was selected to 13 All-Star Games and 10 All-NBA First and Second Teams. Although he suffered several injuries during his career, he continued to play at a high level until his retirement in 1973.

He was inducted into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA’s 35th Anniversary Team of 1980, chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History of 1996, and enshrined in both college (Kansas) and professional (Philadelphia) Halls of Fame. The biggest concern with Chamberlain’s legacy is how much his teams actually won when he played on them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the leading scorer in NBA history. He has scored a total of 38,387 points in his career. This is over 7,000 points more than the second leading scorer, Karl Malone.