KEY POINTS

  • Former Laker Wilt Chamberlain holds an all-time NBA record even Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant never exceeded
  • Chamberlain once averaged 50 points per game in an 80-game NBA season
  • Even active NBA players LeBron James and James Harden might never close in on Chamberlain's record

A former Los Angeles Lakers superstar still holds an all-time NBA record even Michael Jordan and the late Kobe Bryant have never exceeded.

Through the years, the NBA has housed an array of dominant and record-breaking players. Jordan is without a doubt the greatest to ever play the game. However, a long-standing NBA record revealed that in terms of overall dominance and incredible scoring abilities, even MJ never equalled to Wilt Chamberlain.

Sportscasting recently discovered the seemingly unbeatable record still held by Lakers icon Chamberlain. To this day, Wilt is still the only player who has the most “50-point games” in the history of NBA.

Looking back at Chamberlain’s sheer dominance, his reign as the most prolific scorer and big man in the league spanned for over a decade. He spent 14 seasons in the NBA, between 1959 and 1973. In between those years, Chamberlain played for the Philadelphia Warriors, San Francisco Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers.

In his stellar career, Chamberlain won 4 MVP awards, 2 NBA titles, 1 Finals MVP award, and participated in 13 All-Star teams. What’s even more surprising is that Chamberlain ended his career with insane averages of 30.1 points and 22.9 rebounds per game. All in all Chamberlain has 68 individual records under his name. But the most notable one is his “118 50-point games.” This only goes to show that during Chamberlain ’ s prime, the fifty-point scoring game was not a rare feat for him at all. In fact, he even made the said milestone a regular thing in the league.

1. Wilt Chamberlain
“The Big Dipper” put up statistics that don’t seem humanely possible. Aside from having a 100-point game, Chamberlain once had a season where he averaged 50.4 points per game, and another season where he averaged 27.2 rebounds a game. Reuters

The majority of Chamberlain’s 50-point games came during the five-year period between 1960 and 1965. And to put this into context, during the 1961-62 season, Chamberlain averaged a staggering 50.4 points per game. What’s even more notable is that Chamberlain didn’t reach the said total because he scored big numbers in few games. In fact, he did it over the course of a full 80-game season.

The player with the second-most number of 50-point games in NBA history is Jordan, who was able to record 31. Bryant ended his career falling behind by 6 with 25 50-point games. Though it ’ s a bit too early to conclude that none of the active NBA players today can ever beat Chamberlain’s record, it’s safe to say that James Harden, who currently has 23 and LeBron James who has 12 might end up not even close to what the Lakers legend has compiled.

A series on Michael Jordan has broken viewing records in the United States and one is in the works on the late Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant received a lot of comparisons to Michael Jordan throughout his NBA career AFP / VINCE BUCCI