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“Michael Jordan holds the highest career average against 16 NBA teams”: MJ, Wilt Chamberlain, Kevin Durant and LeBron James are members of an exclusive list

Amulya Shekhar
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"Michael Jordan holds the highest career average against 16 NBA teams": MJ, Wilt Chamberlain, Kevin Durant and LeBron James are members of an exclusive list

Michael Jordan holds the record for highest points per game average against 16 different franchises. Wilt Chamberlain is next with 6 teams.

Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain are the two highest-scoring NBA players of all time. Before MJ retired, Wilt held the record for highest points per game average.

Jordan averaged over 31 points per game during his 13 seasons with the Bulls, which would have been a comfortable lead in that stat. However, in his comeback with the Wizards, his career scoring average dipped a few notches.

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Jordan was still much, much better at scoring than Wilt – his postseason average bears that out. While Wilt’s average falls sharply to 22+ points per game, MJ’s average shoots up to 33.4 ppg. This is clear proof of Jordan elevating his game and Wilt being the Harden of his era – so to speak.

Michael Jordan has Wilt Chamberlain beat with the highest scoring average against 16 NBA teams

MJ holds the career scoring average record against the following franchises – Blazers, Jazz, Suns, Celtics, Hornets, Cavaliers, Rockets, Heat, Nets, Pacers, Hawks, Magic, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Bucks, Spurs.

Of these teams, the Bucks and Celtics already existed as teams when Wilt was playing. This means MJ averaged more points than Wilt Chamberlain despite the latter having up to 30% more possessions on a per-game basis.

Wilt Chamberlain holds this record against 6 teams – Lakers, Sixers, Knicks, Wizards (then the Bullets), Pistons (then in Fort Wayne) and the Kings (then the Cincinnati Royals).

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Kevin Durant is next on the list, holding the record against the Thunder, the Warriors and the Grizzlies. LeBron James has the record against the Chicago Bulls, while Adrian Dantley owns the Mavericks record.

Allen Iverson, Kyrie Irving and Joel Embiid are the leaders against the Raptors, Pelicans and Clippers respectively.

About the author

Amulya Shekhar

Amulya Shekhar

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Amulya Shekhar is a sports junkie who thrives on the thrills and frills of live sports action across basketball, football (the American variant works too), parkour, adventure sports. He believes sports connect us to our best selves, and he hopes to help people experience sports more holistically.

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