LeBron James finally did it. He passed up the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and now has the most total points of any player in NBA history. The man may have a lot of detractors among fans. But, it’s hard to imagine even them having much to say about this one. And admittedly, that’s just how it should be.
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However, there is a caveat here. With this achievement, many have resorted to calling James the inarguable king of scoring the basketball. And yes, while the man certainly has a case, ‘inarguable’ is hardly the word we’d use.
So, with that in mind, we decided to look into points per game. And we didn’t just look at his. We didn’t just look at Michael Jordan’s. No, we also looked at the all-time leaderboard to really put into perspective what’s going on here.
Let’s dive into it.
Does LeBron James have a higher points-per-game average than Michael Jordan?
During his time in the NBA, Michael Jordan played a grand total of 1072 games. However, coming far ahead of him is LeBron James, having played an incredible 1410 games.
However, unlike total career points, the number of games for points per game doesn’t matter all that much. No, this is an average of the number of points each player scores per game.
March 6, 2019- LeBron James passes Michael Jordan on all-time scoring list. pic.twitter.com/h8McDD2hKy
— Sports Central (@CarmeloJreal) February 7, 2023
And as much as LeBron James fans will hate to hear it, Michael Jordan comes out on top for this one, with 30.1 points per game.
In comparison, the King averages a slightly lower 27.2 points per game.
So simply put, James loses this head-to-head battle. However, does the bigger battlefield here outshine them completely? Or do these two find themselves dominating there as well?
Where do Michael Jordan’s and LeBron James’s Points Per Game averages rank all time?
Fans of Michael Jordan are going to relish this one.
On the all-time rankings, His Airness ranks 1st with his points per game average. After him lie Wilt Chamberlain (30.1), Elgin Baylor (27.4), Kevin Durant (27.3), and then finally at 4th, LeBron James.
So no, LeBron James just can’t be held as the inarguable king of scoring.
At least, not just yet.