Corrections and clarifications: In a previous version of this story, the year Kareem Abdul-Jabbar entered the NBA was misstated. It was 1969.
We know LeBron James is about to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
But who did Abdul-Jabbar pass? And when?
And what about the league’s all-time leading scorers before that?
Just six players have held the NBA’s scoring title, with Abdul-Jabbar atop the list the longest – it’s been almost 40 years since he passed Wilt Chamberlain in 1984.
James will become the seventh when he jumps Abdul-Jabbar sometime soon. At James’ scoring rate, he will score more than 40,000 points, and it may take another 40-some years before a player eclipses James.
Let’s take a look at who has been atop the NBA’s all-time scoring list:
Joe Fulks, 8,003 points
Joe Fulks became the first professional player in modern basketball to score 1,000 points in a season.
Fulks, who spent his eight-year career with the Philadelphia Warriors, won the scoring title (23.2 points per game) in the league’s first season in 1946-47 and led the league in scoring (22.1 points) the following season. Known for helping introduce the jump shot to the game, Fulks averaged a career-high 26 points in 1948-49 and retired after the 1953-54 season. Fulks attended what is now Murray State where his jersey is retired. Fulks set a then-NBA record with 61 points in 1949 and that remained the best single-game scoring effort until Elgin Baylor had 64 in 1959. Fulks, whose post-basketball career was the director of recreation at a state penitentiary, was killed in 1976 by his girlfriend’s son during a drunken argument over a handgun. He was 54. Fulks was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978.
COUNTDOWN: How close is LeBron to setting the NBA all-time scoring mark?
George Mikan, 10,156 points
Mikan entered the league in the 1948-49 season from DePaul and was a scorer from the start, putting up at least 30 points in five of his first 10 games. Like Fulks, he didn’t play long, just six-plus seasons, but Mikan averaged 23.1 points (and 13.4 rebounds). He was a six-time All-NBA selection,…
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Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2023-01-25 00:09:46
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