About this chart race
The all-time scoring record has changed hands six times in seventy-nine seasons: Joe Fulks held it first, then George Mikan from 1953, Dolph Schayes from 1958, Bob Pettit from 1964, Wilt Chamberlain from 1966, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from 1984 and LeBron James from 2023. Kareem's reign is by far the longest at thirty-nine years, and it took LeBron twenty seasons to run him down. LeBron ends 2024-25 on 42,184 points, 3,797 clear of Kareem's 38,387. Wilt Chamberlain led the list for eighteen years and has since been passed by six men, leaving him seventh on 31,419. One record holder never appears on top here: Ed Macauley's reign lasted thirty-nine days inside the 1957-58 season and did not survive to the end of a year.
This animated ranking shows how career points changed across 30 series between 1947 and 2025. The bars re-order themselves as the years advance, so overtakes are visible as they happen rather than hidden inside a table. Use the list on the left to choose exactly who competes, drag the slider to jump to any year, or open the table view to read the underlying numbers.
As of 2025, LeBron James leads with 42,184 points.
Included in this race
LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain, Kevin Durant, Shaquille O'Neal, Carmelo Anthony, James Harden, Moses Malone, Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon, Oscar Robertson, Dominique Wilkins, Tim Duncan, John Havlicek, Russell Westbrook, Alex English, Stephen Curry, Reggie Miller, Jerry West, Patrick Ewing, Bob Pettit, Dolph Schayes, Julius Erving, Ed Macauley, George Mikan, Joe Fulks.
Source
Data from Basketball-Reference, cross-checked against Wikipedia's NBA career scoring leaders. Every figure shown comes from this source — nothing is estimated or generated.
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