James Harden averaged 36 points a few seasons ago. Devin Booker once scored 70 points in a game.
There are many more players scoring more points now than there were when LeBron James began his NBA career in 2003–04. Tracy McGrady led the league in scoring that season with 28 points per game, a mark that would be surpassed by nine players currently in the league.
With the fast game pace and a large number of three-pointers, there are plenty of opportunities for players to score points. But one look at Harden shows how difficult it will be for even an elite scorer to threaten the points record after James finally retires.
Harden averaged 36.1 points in 2019-20 and 34.3 the following season. To maintain these types of numbers for 75 games in a season, a player would be flirting with 40,000 units over 15 years, though it won’t be enough to reach the mark that James now holds.
Right now this record is at 38,390 but it has to go higher.
Also, circumstances change. A trade first to Brooklyn and then to Philadelphia represented Harden sharing shots and an injury robbed him of much of his explosiveness. He hasn’t averaged even 25 since then and isn’t over 20 now.
Count Booker among those who think James will never be caught.
“You can do it for five seasons or 10 seasons, but not 20, which is what he accomplished. I don’t think it can be repeated,” the Suns star said.
Still, there may be some players who have a chance. Perhaps it is Luka Doncic who, like James, has lived up to the expectations carried with him when he came to the NBA.
He may be a player who hasn’t even been born yet, just as James wasn’t when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set the record in 1984.
Have a look at some possibilities:
– Jayson Tatum, Boston: Tatum matched James in the 2018 Eastern Finals when he finished with more postseason points than any rookie besides Abdul-Jabbar. The All-NBA forward averaged more than 26 points over the past two seasons, is closer to 31 in this one game and won’t turn 25 until next month. At this rate, if he can last another 13 years, he may fight James again.
-Luka Doncic, Dallas. He was quickly drafted into the NBA while playing professionally in Spain before coming to the United States, and has averaged 27 points in four of five seasons. He already has over 8,500 points and will not be 24 until the end of the month.
-Devin Booker, Phoenix. Booker may be as good as anyone in the league, as he showed when he scored 70 points in Boston in 2017 as a 20-year-old, or when he had three games over 40 in December. He turned 26 only a few months ago, but he already has 12,000 points. If he improves on his average of 27.1 points per game over 12 years, it could make things interesting.
