Who has next for LeBron’s points crown: Luka? Tatum? Anyone?
James Harden averaged 36 points a few seasons ago. Devin Booker once scored 70 in one game.
There are many more players doing much more scoring now than when LeBron James began his NBA career in 2003-04. Tracy McGrady led the league with 28 points per game that season, a mark that nine players would currently be surpassing.
With the faster pace of play and the plethora of 3-pointers, there are plenty of chances for players to pile up the points. But a look at Harden shows how hard it will be for even an elite scorer to keep doing it long enough to challenge wherever the scoring mark is when James finally retires.
He averaged 36.1 points in 2019-20 and 34.3 the next season. Maintain those kinds of numbers for 75 games a season and a player would be flirting with 40,000 points in a mere 15 years — though that still probably wouldn’t be enough to reach where James will put the record that’s now 38,390.
But then circumstances changed. A trade first to Brooklyn and then Philadelphia meant having to share shots with fellow AllStars, and a severe hamstring injury robbed Harden of much of his explosiveness. He hasn’t even averaged 25 points since and now doesn’t get much past 20.
Count Booker among those who think James will never be caught.
Still, perhaps there are some players who will have a chance. Maybe it’s Luka Doncic, who like James has lived up to the hype that followed him into the NBA. Or maybe it’s Victor Wembanyama, who will try to do the same starting next season.
Maybe it’s a player who hasn’t even been born yet, just as James wasn’t when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set the previous record in 1984.
Here’s a look at some of the possibilities:
• Jayson Tatum, Boston: Tatum went toe-totoe with James in the 2018 Eastern Conference finals, when he finished with more points in a postseason than any rookie other than Abdul-Jabbar. The All-NBA forward averaged better than 26 points the last two seasons, is at nearly 31 per game this one and doesn’t turn 25 until next month.
• Luka Doncic, Dallas. Playing professionally in Spain before coming to the U.S. had him ready to make a quick splash in the NBA, and he’s averaged better than 27 points in four of his five seasons.