Last season, the NBA set a minimum of at least 65 games played for players to be eligible for individual postseason awards in an effort to curb load management. The early returns were promising, too. So why stop there? Historically, the scoring champion has been decided by a player’s points-per-game average. But what if we changed that to total points scored?
Today, we’re going to take a look at the seasons in which the NBA’s top scorers (judged by total points scored) were not the scoring champions because they didn’t have a high enough points-per-game average.
There have been several such instances in NBA history, as long ago as 1969-70 and as recently as 2022-23.
Crazily enough, Kobe Bryant’s legacy would be even more impressive had scoring champions been decided by total points scored. Bryant had two scoring championships in his career, one in ’06 and one in ’07. But in 2002-03, he scored 54 more total points than Tracy McGrady but lost the scoring title due to scoring average. And in 2007-08, Bryant outscored the scoring champion, LeBron James, by 73 total points, but again lost the title due to his lower average.
This change would have given Bryant a ridiculous four scoring titles in his career, tying him with Kevin Durant and George Gervin for the third-most ever.
For what it’s worth, although James would have lost the ’08 scoring title to Bryant if it were judged by total points, he was actually the total points scored champion in 2017-18 over James Harden, so he would still have one scoring title in his career in this scenario.
Oh, and if we were handing out scoring titles by total points scored, His Airness, Michael Jordan, would have 11 scoring titles instead of 10, because in 1984-85, he actually scored 504 more points than Bernard King, the year’s scoring champion by points average.
Not too shabby.
Below, check out the years where the NBA’s top scorers by total points were not scoring champions.
Vernon Biever/NBAE via Getty Images
Top scorer: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2361 points, 28.79 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Jerry West (2309 points, 31.2 ppg)
Carmine Galasso/North Jersey Media Group via USA TODAY NETWORK
Top scorer: Michael Jordan (2313 points, 28.21 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Bernard King (1809 points, 32.89 ppg)
Top scorer: Alex English (2414 points, 29.8 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Dominique Wilkins (2366 points, 30.33 ppg)
JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images
Top scorer: Shaquille O’Neal (1289 points, 26.31 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Allen Iverson (1284 points, 26.75 ppg)
Top scorer: Jerry Stackhouse (2380 points, 29.75 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Allen Iverson (2207 points, 31.08 ppg)
Chris Chambers/Getty Images
Top scorer: Paul Pierce (2144 points, 26.15 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Allen Iverson (1883 points, 31.38 ppg)
AFP PHOTO/Heather HALL
Top scorer: Kobe Bryant (2461 points, 30.01 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Tracy McGrady (2407 points, 32.09 ppg)
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
Top scorer: Kevin Garnett (1987 points, 24.23 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Tracy McGrady (1878 points, 28.03 ppg)
Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Top scorer: Kobe Bryant (2323 points, 28.33 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: LeBron James (2250 points, 30.0 ppg)
Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Top scorer: Kevin Durant (2280 points, 28.15 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Carmelo Anthony (1920 points, 28.66 ppg)
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Top scorer: James Harden (2217 points, 27.37 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Russell Westbrook (1886 points, 28.15 ppg)
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Top scorer: James Harden (2376 points, 28.98 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Stephen Curry (2375 points, 30.06 ppg)
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Top scorer: LeBron James (2251 points, 27.45 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: James Harden (2191 points, 30.43 ppg)
Larry Robinson-USA TODAY Sports
Top scorer: Trae Young (2155 points, 28.36 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Joel Embiid (2079 points, 30.57 ppg)
Dustin Satloff/Getty Images
Top scorer: Jayson Tatum (2225 points, 30.07 ppg)
Actual scoring champion: Joel Embiid (2183 points, 33.08 ppg)
