NBA Special Report: Top Ten all time NBA scorers
The last NBA season proved to be a very entertaining one. The NBA finals weren’t decided until the very last game, where the Lakers managed to edge on top. With all the drafts picks that have taken place, next season is surely to provide us with more exciting matches. Lebron James, Chris Bosh moving to Miami and Allen Iverson still in the free agency offers an interesting offseason story. However the new season now on our hands, we’ll discuss the top ten all time scorers of the NBA to date.
The number 10 spot in the all time top scorers is taken by Dominique Wilkins, who has scored 26,668 points in 1074 games. He also maintains the 12th best average of 24.8 points per game. He won two dunk competitions in 1985 and 1990.Wilkins was the league’s best scorer in 1986, where he averaged a huge 30.7 points a game. Wilkins was a part of 9 all-star games and won a gold medal in 1994 in FIBA world championships.
Oscar Robertson lays next with 26,710 points and an average of 25.7 points per game. Oscar spent ten seasons with Royals and he average never fell below 24.7 points per game. The highlight of Robertson’s career was that he never averaged below 12.7 points a game. His best average was 31.4 in the 1963-64 seasons. He was named the MVP in 1964 and was a part of the 50 players named that played in the NBA.
Hakeem Olajuwon is at number 8 with 26,946 points playing in 1238 games. He averaged 21.8 points per game. His devotion to the Houston Rockets can be seen from the fact that he played 17 out of his 18 NBA career seasons with then. He won the 1994 MVP, had 2 NBA titles to his name and is one of the greats of the game to have played without a doubt.
Elvin Hayes is at number 7 with 27,313 points while playing in 1303 games. Averaging 28.7 points per game, he was also named in the 50 top players to have played in the NBA. He won the title with West Unseld and was the 12 time NBA all star.
Moses Malone comes in next scoring 27,409 points. He played 1329 games. He played in 21 seasons out of which 19 were in the NBA, the most by any player till now. He won his first title in 1982-83 seasons with the 76ers. He won a total of 4 MVP titles with the last one coming in 1983.
The giant Shaquille O’Neal is at number 5. The former Phoenix Suns, Lakers and Miami Heat player has 27,617 points to his name playing in 1117 games. Averaging 23.4 points per game, he creates terror in hearts of his opponents. He average has never past 30 points per game and won the MVP award in all the Championship titles he won with LA Lakers. He also secured another title with the Miami Heat and has taken part in 18 all-star games.
Wilt Chamberlain is in at number 4 with a record of most points in a single game that is of 100. He joins Michael Jordon to be only the player to have scored more than 3000 points in a single season and managed it 3 times. He scored 31,419 points at the end of his career and maintained an average of 30.1 points per game, the second best of all time. He won the only two titles of his career at a stage when his average drastically fell. Ultimately winning titles in his last two seasons with the form he was not known for, he retired.
Michael Jordon, one of the undoubted legends in the history of NBA. He had a long line of awards with 6 NBA titles, ten scoring titles and five MVP awards. He scored 32,292 points in 1072 games. He had an average of 30.12 points per game. This average is the best average that a player has maintained to date. His return in 1995, when he returned from retirement still showed that Jordon was winning 3 more titles.
Karl Malone comes in at number 2 scoring 36,928 points having played in 1476 games. He had an average of 25 points per game, this being the 11th best of all time. Karl Malone had no titles to his name as he was not basically a shooter like Jordan was. He however managed to win 2 MVP awards. He was the 13th NBA all stars and was part of the top 50 greatest team players.
38,387 points scored by Kareem Abdul Jabbar is the ultimate bench mark to beat. He played in 1560 games, averaged 24.6 points and was the 14th best of all time. The greatest point scoring machine retired from NBA in with 6 NBA titles to his name, 6 MVP awards and 2 scoring titles. This coupled with him being the 19th NBA all star and also being part of the 50 greatest players to have played in NBA.
Besides these players, Allen Iverson occupies the 16th spot, Kobe Bryant is the 17th, Kevin Garnett is 26th and are still active players who can potentially reach the top ten in the near future. However, Kobe is expected to reach this milestone faster than the three. In addition, players like Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Lebron James are also in contention.
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