NBA legend and now Philadelphia 76 forward LeBron James still leads the way, with Kevin Durant fifth and James Harden passing Shaquille O’Neal into ninth.
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LeBron James is widely considered one of the best players ever. Three years after the four-time NBA champion and MVP became the first-ever to score 40,000 NBA points, James enters his 24th season in the league after signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. The soon-to-be 42 year old is aiming to win yet another title with a fourth team.
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For nearly 39 years, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the leading scorer in NBA history, thanks in large part to his legendary sky hook. Abdul-Jabbar, who was born as Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, changed his name after he converted to Islam in 1971. He played for just two teams, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers between 1969 and 1989. He played in the NBA all-star game 19 times.
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Karl “The Mailman” Malone played 18 seasons for the Utah Jazz before finishing his career with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004. He never won an NBA championship but he was a member of the US “Dream Team” that won Olympic gold in Barcelona in 1992. Bronze statues of Karl Malone and the guy who usually fed him the ball, John Stockton, stand outside of the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
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The shooting guard spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, leading his team to five NBA titles. In 2006 Bryant scored 81 points in a game against the Toronto Raptors, the second highest single-game total after Wilt Chamberlain, who scored 100 points in a 1962 game. At 34 years and 104 days of age, Bryant was the youngest player in NBA history to reach 30,000 career points.
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Michael “Air” Jordan was picked third overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 NBA draft. He would have scored many more points had he not interrupted his career with two retirements, in 1993 and 1999. During his first retirement from basketball, during which his No. 23 was retired by the Chicago Bulls, Jordan played minor league baseball. He ended his career with the Washington Wizards in 2003.
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Durant was named MVP in the 2014 season playing for Oklahoma City, but didn’t win his first title until he joined Golden State, where he won in 2017 and 2018. He then moved to the Brooklyn Nets, but battled injury. He moved to the Phoenix Suns, entering the top 10 scorer list in December 2023. He joined the Houston Rockets in 2025 and moved into fifth all-time in 2026.
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Who would have thought that a kid from Germany’s second division would make it to the NBA, let alone become a superstar? Drafted by Milwaukee Bucks in 1998 and then immediately traded to Dallas, Nowitzki became a legend at the Mavericks, securing a league MVP in 2007 and a championship in 2011. He remains the only player in NBA history to have played for one franchise for 21 seasons.
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Wilt Chamberlain played 14 seasons in the NBA, turning out for the Philadelphia / San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers. While playing for Philadelphia, the center set a single-game record of 100 points in a 1962 game against the New York Knicks. Prior to his NBA career “Wilt the Stilt” played a season with the Harlem Globetrotters.
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Defenders of “The Beard” are not envied: if you give him space, he hits the three. If you get closer, he dribbles past you and drives to the basket. Harden started his career with Oklahoma City, then played for Houston, Brooklyn and Philadelphia. In 2023, he forced a trade to the LA Clippers and in early 2026, he moved passed Shaquille O’Neal on the all-time scoring list.
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Listed at 2.16 meters tall (7 foot 1) and 147 kilograms (325 pounds), Shaquille O’Neal was one of the biggest men ever to play in the NBA. The center was drafted No. 1 overall by the Orlando Magic and went on to play for them and five other teams over a 19-year career. In 2000 Shaq became one of just three players to win the awards as NBA MVP, All-Star game MVP and Finals MVP in the same year.
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