Only Wilt Chamberlain (32 times), Kobe Bryant (6 times), Michael Jordan (5 times), Elgin Baylor (4 times), James Harden (4 times), and Damian Lillard have scored 60 or more points on multiple occasions (3 times).
James Harden is the most recent player to score 60 points in a game, doing so on April 13, 2017 against the Toronto Raptors. Prior to this achievement, only five players had ever scored 60 points in a game: Bill Sharpe, Sam Jones, Wes Unseld, Chamberlain, and Bryant. Of these six players, only Jordan and Bryant have done it twice.
The highest scoring game in NBA history was played by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1972 when they beat the New York Knicks 303-290. The lowest scoring game in NBA history was also played by the Lakers in 2001 when they lost to the Sacramento Kings 99-88. In that game, no one reached 30 points nor did anyone shoot 50 percent from the field!
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Jordan shoots six three-pointers in the first half of Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Portland Trail Blazers on June 3, 1992, before turning to the audience and shrugging his shoulders. The series was won by the Bulls in six games.
Mr. Jordan has arrived, straight into the record books. Jordan scored 61 points on Thursday night, becoming the first player in 24 years – and the only one other than Wilt Chamberlain – to surpass 3,000 points in a single NBA season. He now has 3,024 points with one game left against Boston tonight.
LeBron James, the third-highest scoring player in NBA history, has only scored 60 points or more once in his career... and it was with a broken nose. In other words, it's quite rare.
James is one of just eight players in NBA history to score 100 points in a game at some point in their careers. He also ranks first all-time for most games with at least one shot made from behind the arc (914).
He's also second all-time in three-point shots attempted (11,844) behind Ray Allen (12,405).
In addition, James is second all-time in free throws made (10,989) behind Allen (11,928).
Out of fairness, let's not forget about Kevin Durant. The best pure scorer in NBA history, he too has only scored 60 points twice in his career. First time was in 2007 when he was with Seattle SuperSonics. The second time was last year with Golden State Warriors.
So, there you have it. Both top players in the world of basketball have only scored 60 points once in their careers.
Only once in Jordan's career did an opponent player score 50 points or more against the Bulls (Dominique Wilkins 57, 12/10/86). Jordan scored 29,277 points from 1984-85 through 1997-98, accounting for 24.23 percent of the Bulls' total of 120,818 points.
Earnings Points: Jordan has 32,292 career points, which ranks seventh all-time as of this writing. On March 6, 2019, LeBron surpassed Jordan to become the fourth all-time highest scorer, displacing MJ in the record books.
Net Rating: With his 13th season coming to an end, LeBron is expected to finish with more than $100 million in earnings. The number of games he played last year (167) was the most ever by a player who did not win the MVP Award.
The Number: 23. This is the number of seasons it will take for LeBron to pass Kobe Bryant as the most prolific scorer in Lakers history. The two players are now tied with each having scored 24 times in their careers.
In 2014-15, LeBron broke the record of most consecutive game winners with at least one shot during a single season. He finished that season with 110 victories, which is the most ever by a player who did not win the MVP Award.
The List: In his first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron led his team to victory in every game they played. This is the only season in NBA history where this has happened.
LeBron became just the second player in NBA history to score at least 30 points in each quarter of a playoff series.
Jordan is the first NBA perimeter player to score 30 points per game while shooting 50.0 percent from the field in a single season! He repeated it five times! Jordan has the longest stretch of any player of 632 games without losing three consecutive games! He made sure that everyone knew he was still alive by averaging 26.4 points per game during that span.
In addition to his scoring prowess, Jordan was also a great defender who won championships with both the Bulls and Wizards. He played all 82 games for each of his first seven seasons in the NBA and was selected to 11 All-Star Games during that time. In 1995, he became only the second player in NBA history to score 30 or more points in eight consecutive games when he had 35 against the New York Knicks. The other player to do so is Michael Jordan himself!
After leaving basketball to pursue a career in baseball, Jordan returned to the court in 1996 at the age of 24. By this point, he was one of the best players in the NBA and was joined in Chicago by Scottie Pippen, who had been drafted by the Bulls straight out of high school. The duo formed one of the greatest front lines in NBA history and helped bring four championship rings to Chicago. In 2001, Jordan finished his career as a Wizard after playing his last game as a member of the Washington Wizards.
Jordan has 30 games with at least 50 points from 1984-85 to 1997-98 (his Bulls years). Dominique Wilkins had the next greatest total during that time period, with seven. Despite Jordan missing nearly a season and a half to play baseball. He still ranks first all time.
Here are the other top five highest scoring seasons by a player who didn't miss any games: Karl Malone, Dell Curry, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant. The only players who can even come close are Wilt Chamberlain (1180 points in 1960-61) and LeBron James (988 points in 2003-04).
The best way to understand how great Michael Jordan was is by looking at the numbers he put up while playing for the Chicago Bulls. From an average of 28.5 minutes per game during his first season with the team, to near 40 minutes by the end of his sixth year, Jordan played more than 35 minutes a game every season except for 1995-96 when he missed the first part of the season due to injury.
During those six years, he averaged 91 games per season, 1,737 points per season, and 56.4 percent from the field overall and 47.6 percent from three point range. Those are very strong numbers no matter what era you look at them in.
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