How difficult is 40,000 points? Only James has achieved history, but these five people have had the chance to do it

Since James broke through the 30,000-point mark in the 2017-2018 season, people have high hopes for him to break Jabbar's total score record. At that time, many fans were even imagining whether he could achieve a 40,000-point feat one day in the future. As time goes by, James is getting closer and closer to his goal. In the end, he successfully surpassed Jabbar in the 2022-2023 season and became the new historical scoring leader. He averaged 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game that year, and he was obviously far from the time to retire. In addition, the outside world knew that he had broken through 40,000 points, which was basically a foregone conclusion.

2023-2024 season James successfully achieved this unprecedented achievement with a layup. After becoming the first player in history to score more than 40,000 points, James has not stopped his pace. After ending his 22nd season, his total score in his career has reached 42,184 points.

However, although only James has scored at least 40,000 points in NBA history, in fact, five players have challenged this feat before. So let’s see who they are and how many points they have scored in their careers!

5. Chamberlain (31419 points)

As the first player in NBA history to score 30,000 points, Chamberlain's scoring ability is obviously unquestionable. Since his first year in the NBA, he has won the regular season scoring champion for seven consecutive seasons, and his average score has never been lower than 30+. In Chamberlain's peak season, he averaged 50.4 points, 25.7 rebounds, 44.8 points, 24.3 rebounds respectively in the regular season. Until now, no one can replicate his performance.

However, although Chamberlain often played luxurious numbers in the regular season with his style of play, he often could not dominate the game in the playoffs, especially when facing a defensive center like Bill Russell, he was often disappointed. Later, Chamberlain began to transform. He learned to use his offensive threats more to create opportunities for his teammates, which not only helped him become the assist leader for a time, but also successfully won the championship.

But after the transformation, Chamberlain's total score naturally did not improve as quickly as before. In addition, the career life of players in that era was impossible to compare with modern players. Therefore, even a super giant like Chamberlain, he only played in the NBA for 14 seasons. If the NBA had the current training and medical conditions at that time, it would be no problem to play until he was 40 with Chamberlain's physical fitness. In this way, he would obviously have a great chance to get 40,000 points.

4. Jordan (32292 points)

Jordan, who performed amazingly as soon as he debuted, averaged 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.4 steals per game in his rookie season, and he was also selected for the All-A Second Team. Jordan was affected by an injury in the second year of his career, and his regular season attendance and condition were not ideal, but that year's performance against the Celtics scored 63 points in a single game proved that his upper limit was very high.

Then immediately from the third year, Jordan ushered in an explosion. His average score soared to 37.1 points this season, and later he became the only star since Chamberlain to win the regular season scoring champion for seven consecutive years. Later in the 1990s, Jordan led the Bulls to win three consecutive championships, but because he suddenly announced his retirement in 1993, his record of winning consecutive championships and being elected as the scoring leader was forced to be suspended.

Jordan made a comeback in the 1994-1995 season, and then he won the scoring awards in 1996, 1997 and 1998. However, after winning three consecutive championships again, he announced his second retirement. Although Jordan still made a comeback later, his condition was obviously no longer comparable to his peak period at this time. In the end, Jordan played in the NBA for 15 seasons, during which he won 10 scoring titles and his total score in the regular season reached 32,292 points.

3. Kobe (33643 points)

As the only player on this list who had to play as a substitute when he debuted, Kobe's performance was obviously not that outstanding at the beginning, and he averaged only 7.6 points per game in the rookie season. Fortunately, gold always shines. Since the second year, Kobe has gradually shown his talent, so he plays better and better, until he completely settled in the starting position and the second in command of the team. With his help, the Lakers also won three consecutive championships.

Later, Kobe began to be the only one. At his peak, he averaged 35.4 points per game, and then he led the Lakers back to the top. But Kobe, who had always maintained a good form, suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the later stage, which not only caused him to miss a large number of games, but since then his condition has not returned to his previous level. Therefore, fans who had imagined that he would get 40,000 points one day also had to let go of this expectation.

2. Karl Malone (36928 points)

Malone, who has been a 19-season career, has been a very outstanding scorer for most of this period. He averaged more than 20 points in 17 seasons, and at his peak, he averaged 25+ per game for 11 consecutive seasons. Moreover, Ma Long's two MVPs were obtained after he was 30 years old. He broke the record of the number of times he was selected at that time. From this we can see how long his peak was..

In the last year of the Jazz, the 39-year-old Malone averaged 20.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game, but for the sake of the championship, he later joined the Lakers. Here his ball rights were visible to the naked eye, which eventually led to him not only losing the hope of 40,000 points, but also not being able to win the championship as he wished. Therefore, this decision is undoubtedly a pity for Malone.

1.Jabbar (38387 points)

As a recognized evergreen in the NBA, Jabbar played in the NBA for 20 seasons. He was already 41 years old when he finally retired. In the past 20 years of career, Jabbar has made good use of his talents and advantages. Even at the end of his career, he can still provide enough game influence. Therefore, at the age of 40, he could still help the Lakers win the championship, and that year he averaged 14.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 blocks per game in the playoffs.

The reason why Jabbar was able to break Chamberlain's scoring record was not only his outstanding scoring ability, but also his attendance. In his 20-year career, Jabbar played 1,560 regular season games, and his total playing time was as high as 57,446 points. However, these two records have been surpassed by James, so it is understandable that his position as the historical scoring leader has been taken away. However, considering that Jabbar's total score is so close to 40,000 points, if he really wanted to make a comeback, he would still have a chance, but he finally chose to retire due to physical reasons.