LeBron James recently became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. What was long thought impossible to match, as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 points were the best mark for decades, has been surpassed.
But there are other records in the NBA that numbers, common sense and logic tell us will be nearly impossible to beat. However, just like when making NBA picks, it’s important to never say never.
Average Minutes Per Game
If there’s one record man in the NBA, it’s Wilt Chamberlain. Everyone knows his historical mark in scoring (we’ll get to that) and his dominance in rebounds, but there is a facet of his game perhaps less known.
Chamberlain was a phenomenon of nature, and the 48.5 minutes per game he played in the 1961-62 season proved it perfectly. He played almost everything in that game, extensions included.
Free Throw Percentage
The Spanish basketball sensation Jose Manuel Calderon had a good career in the NBA and holds one of the most unattainable records. In the 2008-09 season, he scored 148 of the 151 free throws he attempted. That gave him a remarkable 98.1% completion from the line that seems very difficult to match.
Expulsion For Personal Misconduct
This is probably the craziest and most unexpected – and certainly the most unwanted – record there is. Playing with the Dallas Mavericks, Bubba Wells was tasked with fouling Dennis Rodman as quickly as possible to send him to the free-throw line as many times as possible.
The plan did not end well, however. Rodman landed nine of his 12 free throws, and Wells was ejected just 2 minutes and 43 seconds into the game.
Points In A Match
Chamberlain makes another record appearance, a further example of his ability to dominate the courts. This one, though, is probably his best known: the 100 points he achieved on March 2, 1962, will forever be enshrined in the annals of basketball.
The one who came closest to him was Kobe Bryant with 81 points in 2006, but that in more than five decades is the closest he has been to matching his mark says a lot about how difficult it will be to reach those figures.
On March 2, 1962, in a 169–147 victory over the Knicks, Chamberlain scored 100 points (59 in the second half). The match was not televised, and there are no images or videos, but his legacy lives on.
Average Points In A Season
The previous record is achievable. It would be difficult, but many players could force a lot to reach the mythical and round figure of 100 points if they have the night and their coach allows it. What does seem impossible, even with all the right combination of ingredients, is that someone returns to average the 50.3 points per game with which Chamberlain finished the 1961-62 season.
Highest Number of Triple-Doubles In A Season
In the 1961-62 season, Oscar Robertson inscribed his name as the first and only player to achieve the feat of averaging a triple-double over the course of an entire season (30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 11.4 assists). It took 55 years for someone to break that record.
Russell Westbrook tied Robertson in the 2016-17 season with 31.6+10.7+10.4. However, he wasn’t done. He surpassed him and did it three more times, two playing with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2017-18 and 2018-19. He did it again with the Washington Wizards in 2020-21, and now has 43 triple-doubles as of February 2023.
Most Three-Pointers
Stephen Curry has already set a record for most three-pointers, and he’s not even close to being done. On average, he lands 250-300 shots from beyond the paint each season, and at this rate, he’ll hit 4,000 in just a few short years.
Ray Allen held the record for most three-pointers in a season until last year with 2,973. Curry is now well above that, sitting on 3,302.
