It should come as no surprise if legends Wilt Chamberlain or Michael Jordan dominate or sit atop any scoring record in NBA history.
The duo sits atop the leaderboard for most scoring titles and highest career scoring average. Jordan leads the way with 10 scoring titles and a career points average of 30.12 points while Chamberlain has seven scoring titles to his name with a career scoring average of 30.07
However, when it comes to the most 50-point games, nobody can touch Wilt.
Not even close.
The Big Dipper dominates the leaderboard, having scored 50 or more an NBA record 118 times, in a total of 1,045 career games, holding a huge lead over second-placed Hall of Famer Jordan.
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In fact, many of Chamberlain's 50-point games came in the two seasons from 1961 to 1963 when he scored 50 or more as many as 75 times with 45 in the 1961-62 season — the campaign when the big man averaged an NBA record 50.4 points per game. He had more 50-point games in that season alone than any other player has in their entire career.
Jordan has 31 50-point games to his name in 1,072 career regular-season games.
| Player | 50-point games | |
| 1. | Wilt Chamberlain | 118 |
| 2. | Michael Jordan | 31 |
| 3. | Kobe Bryant | 25 |
| 4. | James Harden | 23 |
| 5. | Elgin Baylor | 17 |
| T6. | Rick Barry | 14 |
| T6. | LeBron James | 14 |
| 8. | Damian Lillard | 12 |
| 9. | Allen Iverson | 11 |
| 10. | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 10 |
After the two legends, the late Kobe Bryant ranks third with 25 50-point games. His position is under threat from James Harden, the highest active player on this list.
The Beard is one of four active players on this list with the other three being LeBron James, Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry.
James has had two 50-point games in the last week alone.
LeBron has scored 50+ points twice in the last 7 days.
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 12, 2022
He is 37 years old. pic.twitter.com/5HLluTlgX8
Half of Lillard's 50-point games came during the prolonged 2019-20 season, recording two of his six during the eight seeding games in the Orlando bubble.
In fact, that season Lillard scored 60 or more thrice, becoming only the second player in NBA history after Chamberlain to do so.
Curry is the latest entrant into the top 10, as he ties Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for 10 with 10 career 50-point games.
Curry recorded three of those 10 games in the 2020-21 campaign when he won the scoring title with a scoring average of 32.0.
| Player | 50-Point Games | |
| 1. | James Harden | 23 |
| 2. | LeBron James | 14 |
| 3. | Damian Lillard | 12 |
| 4. | Stephen Curry | 10 |
| 5. | Kevin Durant | 8 |
| 6 | Kyrie Irving | 6 |
| T7. | Bradley Beal | 5 |
| T7. | Russell Westbrook | 5 |
| T8. | Anthony Davis | 4 |
| T8. | Carmelo Anthony | 4 |
| T8. | Jayson Tatum | 4 |